More language resources

There is a collection of high quality language resources over at http://fsi-language-courses.com/. Included are links to some great podcasts, some of which are available on iTunes.

Rita Golden Gelman

"Risk-taking, trust, and serendipity are key ingredients of joy. Without risk, nothing new ever happens. Without trust, fear creeps in. Without serendipity, there are no surprises. "

- Rita Golden Gelman
Nomad since 1986

How rich are you?

If you're reading this, pretty rich, I'll wager. Certainly when compared to the rest of the world's population. Take the test, and then think about it.

Pandora and the Mountain Goats

On a recent trip, I had the opportunity to sample some of the stuff on Pandora. Pandora is a customizable internet jukebox/radio station; I'd heard about it on the Inside the Net podcast.

You build it based on your musical tastes; give it the seed of a song or a group, and it will roll your own radio station. As you hear new stuff (and you will hear new stuff), you tell it if you like the new selections or if you don't think they're appropriate for that station. The nice thing is, you can create multiple radio stations, and listen based on your mood. It's all browser based; no need to download a client. Very cool.

That's where I heard The Mountain Goats, and they fit perfectly in with my musical tastes.

My favorite lyrics, from their song Game Shows Touch Our Lives:

Dug up a fifth of Hood River gin
That stuff tastes like medicine
But I'll take it
It'll do...

People say friends don't destroy one another
What do they know about friends?

Folklife and new bands!

More new bands at Folklife! I saw a couple of excellent groups, both local, both blue-grassy.

The first was a tight hippy-bluegrass group from Portland called Cross-eyed Rosie. You can sample their wares at tapers.org.

The second was self labeled "world-grass" band Spoonshine from Anacortes. The have some clips on their site where you can hear their newgrass style played along with a nice African-style acoustic guitar.

Asylum Street Spankers

I've been a fan of Bloodshot Records for a while, even though I didn't know it. Anyway, I just found out about this awesome band on Bloodshot, the Asylum Street Spankers. This Austin group is raucous, funny, irreverant and kick ass. Kind of a country-punk, bluesy, swing sound. Check them out.

The Motorcycle Diaries

Great movie. It has fantastic cinematography and a compelling story. The film moved me to actually read about Ernesto Guevarra, a man about whom I previously knew nothing. Highly recommended.