Paul Wesley

Well said. There used to just be "the news," "the radio," and "the television," and Madonna was just relentlessly present on all of those media for a solid decade. The icons of today -- even Beyonce and Taylor Swift -- they just don't have those universal platforms that reach every demographic. These days, pretty much nobody is listening to terrestrial radio or watching live performances on network TV (outside of maybe Super Bowl halftime).

Did they move to S Lamar and Oltorf (by that Office Depot) at some point? Or am I thinking of a different place that carried 2" tape?

One of my all-time favorite movie scenes:

I just think it's weird how hypersensitive Clarence Thomas is to the *possibility* that people will discount his Yale education, thinking that he only got in because he's black. And I wonder if it's crossed George W Bush's mind a single time that maybe his own Yale credentials are tainted by the fact that he was a legacy admission.

It's a smokescreen. A double-bluff. A red XK27 technique.

Here's one of the four or five most well-known Fox anchors telling viewers not to be distracted by Russian mercenaries pointing their missiles at the Kremlin, and reminding viewers to keep in mind what really matters in the world: Hunter Biden. Her last sentence: "They (the media) are covering everything about Russia and the Wagner Group as if it really matters to the US right now!" Sorry I couldn't find a shorter clip... and obviously, the chyrons were added by this YouTuber doing commentary and they're not the Fox chyrons.

I don't know how the internal power struggle within Russia will play out, but it seems like the odds of Russia holding on to Crimea just went way down, right? I mean, a lot of these Russian conscripts got sent into Belarus under false pretense, they're fighting a pretty brutal war, and they're going to find out one way or another that the Wagner guys just moved against Moscow. And then they're going to be told to get ready for tomorrow's Ukrainian offensive. Smaller countries that get invaded (Vietnam, Ukraine, Afghanistan - by both Russians and Americans) - they don't have to win all the battles. They don't even need to win the majority of the battles or the most important strategic battles. They just need to outlast the invader's will to keep fighting. It's hard to imagine how the Russians (and their soldiers) are going to sustain their will to fight and die after the events of the last 24 hours... even if they have a hard time determining what the fuck just happened.

I think that the moment that a big story breaks is the best time to flip on Fox News. The contrast between real news and what they do becomes even more stark. I was at a friend's house and he had CNN on when the Access Hollywood tape dropped. CNN aired it. Repeatedly. We flipped over to Fox, and there were talking heads saying, "Apparently the media is releasing a tape trying to embarrass Trump. Do you think the left is going to politicize this tape to hurt Trump?" And then all the talking heads talked about what liberals were doing to Trump... but THEY NEVER PLAYED THE TAPE. Which is sort of the antithesis of "We report. You decide." Not only did they decide, they didn't even report. Anyway, last night I was scrolling through BBC, MSNBC, CNN. Each one: "IS RUSSIA BREAKING INTO CIVIL WAR?" I flip over to Fox: "Experts think Biden is too old to lead," and there was a whole panel discussing his age. Back to the other stations: "RUSSIAN MERCENARIES MARCHING ON MOSCOW!" An hour or so later on Fox: "Lawmakers demand answers for Hunter Biden's favorable treatment" (or something along those lines). Then a panel talking about how the DOJ needs to be investigated because Trump got indicted but Hunter got a plea deal. Because, you know. "DEEP STATE UNFAIR TO TRUMP!" This was over a period of hours. I finally went to bed a little after 2 am. People who watch this shit literally are missing the biggest news stories of the year. Today's Fox News isn't even a propagandized version of the news. It's not even news. It's just an endless loop of conspiracy theories and manufactured grievances.

locodos, I think I misunderstood you. I thought you were saying you knew Russia would join liberal democracies, but I just reread your post and you were saying the opposite. My bad. Too late to edit, unfortunately.

I hope that's true, but you could make a pretty strong case that in the past 10 years, the modern liberal world (India, Israel, Turkey, America, the UK) is turning away from the modern liberal world.

https://www.soundopinions.org/show/917 Second half of this - "Why do adults stop seeking out new music" is interesting. https://switchedonpop.com/episodes/listening-2-daft-punk-homework They did a whole series on Daft Punk that is pretty good. https://switchedonpop.com/episodes/return-of-the-funk-guitar-cory-wong-breaks-down-dua-lipa-jessie-ware-and-nile-rodgers Breaking down funk guitar. https://switchedonpop.com/episodes/dua-lipas-disco-fever More analysis of old funk showing up in modern tracks. https://www.texasmonthly.com/podcasts/series/one-by-willie/ Very good Texas Monthly podcast where musicians and celebrities each talk about their favorite Willie Nelson track. https://www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com/ongoing-history-daily-yet-another-version-of-the-hips-fully-completely/ Alan Cross visits fellow Canadians' Tragically Hip's classic album (haven't listened to this yet but I'm about to)

For a long time, I've thought that the first 5 years or so of the Fender Custom Shop (late 80's to mid 90's) were the sweet spot of workmanship/dollar. It seems like the care and attention that those guitars got is a lot more like the 5K+ "Masterbuilt" series guitars of today. And until recently, those early-run Custom Shop guitars didn't have the perception of being "vintage," so you could get them for a fair price. Maybe you still can(?). Chad said he'd "never need another acoustic," and that's how I feel about my late-80's Custom Shop Tele (bought it used and it got relic'ed the old fashioned way) and my early-90's Custom Shop Strat (that I bought new). I have the Goredho approach to buying/selling guitars just to try out. I've owned several Gibson SG and several Gretsch hollow-bodies. Bought them all used and sold them for about what I paid. Just never bonded to them because they didn't feel like "me." But I'll never buy another Tele or Strat... no reason to. For whatever reason, I don't kick the tires on acoustics in the same way. I think that Martin J-40 is the only acoustic I've bought in the last 10 or 15 years.

My first 6-string was a Yairi, and I still have it. I was probably 13 or 14 and it was lawn-mowing money. My mother (very gifted pianist and the mainstay of the church's musicians for all my life) asked the youth pastor at our church (whose day job was in a music store) for guitar-buying advice. He knew of a guy who was selling the Yairi, and he brought it to our house one evening. He was very proud of it and told her, "This is a steal." I paid $250. I think it's a DY-52, which has same dimensions as a Martin D28. Anyway - the point of this story - as the decades went by, I "upgraded" to a Taylor 714 and a couple boutique-ish guitars (Larrivee, Bourgeois), and the Yairi was relegated to the closet for a long, long time. One day I decided to restring it, and I got to shoot it out against these (also freshly restrung) instruments that cost 10X as much. And I'll be damned if the Yairi didn't 100% hold its own sonically. It might have been the best-sounding of the herd. My assumption that it was a lower-tiered instrument couldn't have been more wrong.

I share this philosophy 100%.

Ha ha. The sides of the guitar are just for showing off. The top is where the soul-stirring sound is created (that's spruce, right?). Edit: ... and you've posted clips of that guitar, and I agree that it sounds glorious.

2K will get you a great guitar.... something that excites you. So don't "settle." My .02- Yes: Iconic brands, iconic models, traditional woods (cedar, spruce, rosewood). I'm also pro-used instruments (polarizing topic) because I think buying used brings another layer of quality within budget - a 3K instrument that's like-new and you can get for 2K. No: I'm kind of anti-exotic woods. In general, I don't think there's a huge sonic payoff. Yes, they're more unique, but they don't have the same economy of scale in production and in my experience you're paying significantly more money for something that doesn't sound any better than the sitka spruce that we've been making guitar tops and piano sound boards out of for centuries. In general, I like big Gibsons and small Martins, but that's an over-simplification. My main acoustic is a Martin J-40 (fairly big-body), and I bought it used - I think for exactly 2K, which was a very good price. There are a few 000-28 that I've played that I like better.

I don't think it would be confiscated unless you were bringing in 50 of them (i.e. intent to distribute). People bring back fake handbags and fake Rolexes on every flight, right? That said, I'm totally unqualified to even speculate. Maybe one of you secret lawyers can make a sock and answer without revealing yourself.

I’m completely serious when I say this… I honestly would have guessed that these guys would be able to offer up MUCH more reasoned and persuasive public arguments for themselves. In other words: Samuel Alito is terrible at this job.

Very cool, Goredho. Fralin just makes the best-sounding stuff, right?

Interesting guitar, and I was surprised they're only $450. You'll be able to get a used one in a year for even cheaper. Could be a fun little low-budget sidepiece sort of like a fun little low-budget sidepiece.

Too late to edit this sentence... but y'all know what I meant.

Also, I think Texas will be fine. The overall level of competition will step up, but so will the overall talent level at Texas. I mean, barring a decimating run of injuries or portal departures, the Texas OL of 2024 will likely be one of the two- or three-best offensive lines in college football.... just loaded with 5-star athletic freaks. Compare that offensive line to the patchwork bunch of below-average JAGs on our 5-7 team that got embarrassed by Arkansas... Those guys probably weren't in the top-60 offensive lines in CFB. After a more than a decade of trying to sell recruits on Strong/Herman and a second-tier league, Texas now has a chance to get back to the days of monster recruiting classes like the ones from 2000-2005 who were fixtures in the top-5.

I don't know what Saban interview that was, but just before Bama started their decade+ of dominance, we saw Alabama's big run-stuffing safeties get spread out and beaten by Utah's little slot receivers. A year or two later, Texas got them in a championship with similar offensive personnel and the guy who - at the time - was one of the most accurate QB in CFB history. I think Texas wins that matchup more often than not, but Bama knocked him out of the game and won it. Credit to them. But - to the point - those Bama teams of the late 2000's were built to beat LSU 6-3. It's pretty obvious that Alabama is a completely different team on both sides of the ball now. I mean, there's no argument that the top teams in the SEC have had more NFL-caliber talent for a long time compared to those in the Big 12. But it's also hard to argue that in 2023, the SEC schematically looks a LOT more like the Big 12 of 2008, and not the other way around.