A Valentine for You

Having done a lot of gratitude posts lately, I was a little hesitant to go forward with the following concept for Valentine's Day.  I'm also conscious of not blowing up anyone's spot.  I guess it's ok to put people's names in these blog entries, but I do want to respect the privacy of everyone, especially the people for which I am most grateful.

But then I thought again.  The world needs nothing so much as it needs joy, equanimity, compassion, and kindness.  In that spirit, Happy Valentine's Day to everyone, but especially to the following people.  I'm keeping names out of it, but I'll be as specific as I can so you know when you're getting shouted out.

The Anthem.  Get Your Damn Hands Up

• To my family, for everything ever but especially for their support over the last year.
• To my professional colleagues who have stood by me through the last year.  I learned that the upper boundary of the best behavior from caring, dedicated professionals is much higher than I had thought.
• To my friends  who have been with me from the jump.  I could not have made it through without you.
• To my friends who I just connected with over the past year.  You've made life in North Carolina richer and more fun than I thought possible.
• To everyone who has contributed to my yoga practice ever.
• To all the students I have had the pleasure of teaching.
• To the airplanes and internet providers that keep me close with all of the above.
• To the sun, the moon, the sky, the earth, and the spirit.
• To Lindsey Andrews, whose former FB profile pick I've been looking for an excuse to steal for months.  Words to live by.

Three Songs Worth Your While

I've been wanting to write about music but can't settle on any one topic, so you get more bang for the buck.

1) "Hymn Eola (Southern Nights Remix)" TONSTARTSSBANDHT: I guess I am kind of surprised that I haven't heard more bands doing the Animal Collective thing since Animal Collective got so popular with the last album.  I'm not the hugest Animal Collective fan, but I'll support anyone that wants to go off the psychedelic deep end.  The title of this track is pretty evocative of its sound: pretty, distant, vocals and a relatively sparse background track that centers around a "bass line" that is actually just dudes singing through a very mild autotune effect.  I like to listen to this track and stare out the window thinking abut summer and puppy dogs.

2) "Marshmellow Yellow" Peaking Lights: Did someone say psychedelic?  Look, when you make a psychedelic dub record, I am all in.  Repetition, mood, and esoteric sounds are the name of the game here.  You're going on a weird little trip to a place where the bass line is just a little unsettled, where little snatches of Moogs and guitar peak in and out at unexpected places, and a guygirl croons one word for eight minutes. Don't be scared.  The whole effect is pretty trancelike and fantastic.

3) "Sweet Louise" The Belle Brigade: Something for those of you aren't as down with the far out sounds.  This is about as straight ahead folk rock as you can imagine.  It's also the song you want to fall in love with and to.  Impossibly pretty.

The patron saint of all music posts is Paul Westerberg.

Romney Won the Nomination Last Night

The media's job is to attract eyeballs, so I imagine they are in full spin mode this morning.  "Romney and Santorum were a virtual tie."  "More than 75 percent of Caucus goers voted for 'Not Romney.'"  "We move on the New Hampshire with nothing decided."

They're all lying to you.  Romney got as big a win last night as he could have expected, and the contest to nominate Barack Obama's opponent is all over but the shouting.

I am not Nate Silver, so I can't give you the exact mathematical probability.  But I can translate the order of finish into terms anyone can understand:

1) (tie) Mitt Romney and a Crazy Person
3) A Crazy Person
4) Newt Gingrich

Now, if you support one of the Crazy People, don't get mad at me.  Get mad at the rest of the world, because I am only speaking in terms of electability, and

Brother

Bruh

Dawg

Champ

Everyone thinks your boy is crazy.  Your boy has no change of getting the Republican nomination.  None.

Besides, if you want to listen to people pretend to take your guy seriously, the media will try desperately over the next few days to convince you that one of the Crazy People is a real challenger to Romney, because they want to keep you watching the Campaign Show as long as possible.

But back to Romney.  If Romney was going to lose the nomination, Iowa was a place he should have lost fairly decisively.  Iowa's Republican voters skew conservative, which is the part of the Republican electorate with which Romney was supposed to have trouble.  Romney gets to move on to New Hampshire next, which contains a much higher percentage of his natural constituency.  Combined with the momentum of a better-than-expected showing, Romney is about to mollywhop everyone else in New Hampshire.

I have to cut this short to catch a plane.  I will finish this thought tomorrow with the only possible dark cloud on Romney's horizon and why it's highly unlikely to stop him.

Anyway, I just skimmed what Silver wrote about last night, and it seems like he's saying the same thing I am except more artfully and precisely