Episode 21:  This expansive episode of the podcast welcomes guest Rantologist and fellow slacker Steve Angiolino, explores our Constitution and Julian Assange, and vibes with the beats of Maceo Plex. Oh, and Patty surprises Christian and Rob, once again, with a real story of our modern world.

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Meandering Rant: “Textification of American Language” by Steve Angiolino

Book Report: The First Amendment and Freedom of Expression

Music Segment: “Vibe your Love” by Maceo Plex.  Here’s the sexy video!

Also mentioned:
Rebel Rave TV - High quality videos of underground dance music culture

Lullaby Renditions of Pink Floyd

If you’re like me you probably remember the good ole college days of drinking excessively and  listening to Pink Floyd.  Well now you can pass that on to your children! Well, maybe not the excessive drinking… but you get the point.

Check out Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Pink Floyd and you too can send your kids to the Dark Side of the Moon!

Sadly this will likely be the death knell for the mix-tape as well.  And what am I going to do with my 80′s Metal cassettes??

From "We Blog Cartoons"

Alright, I admit it.  I have iPad envy… and its not because my iPhone is small.  Well, maybe it is.  Anyway, I was out the other night chilling with the family having some sushi and the table next to me of college kids had a new iPad and were showing it off.  And damn!  It is as cool as it looks on TV.  I haven’t actually had the chance to hold one and play with it but it does look seriously cool.

One thing that can go away is the constant media attention to it.  I can’t turn on the TV or radio without someone talking about iPad this or iPad that.  Its everywhere! Which is probably why they have sold 500k of them already.

Does everyone who writes and article or has a blog feel compelled to write about the thing?  Oh wait.  Anyway, I don’t think I will be able to get a P.O. from the wife to get one anytime soon so I will have to learn to live with envy.

And my iPhone is not small.

Lamentations about what we lack – the time to make memories, and our (in)ability to recollect them – drives us through the conversation of this Slackcast. We close with the memory-haunting music of St. Vincent.

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Links:

Meandering Rant on Time by Chris

Book Report: Memories (or lack thereof)

Music Segment: St Vincent

Here's to you MTV!

Well, its official.  MTV has announced their focus on Millennials, casting aside Generation X… the generation that made MTV.  Sad news indeed.  I’d like to give a big FU to MTV.  Not just for this recent admission, but for the crap they have been broadcasting for the past 20 years.  There was a time when MTV was about music television.  It was certainly a revolutionary, but simple, concept that changed music forever.  Play popular music but with supporting video.  It changed everything.  No longer were we sitting by the radio listening to music while doing something else.  Now we were completely focused on the music as a total sensory experience.  And when I say focused, I mean sitting like a zombie starring at the TV, one music video after another… completely enthralled.  It was a perfect formula and our generation shaped it.

Then something along the way happened.  Something terrible.  MTV changed focus from what made them great, music television, to a soap opera channel.  I blame the Real World and it was all down hill from there, recently culminating with Jersey Shore.  While this metamorphosis was occurring, MTV did still try to retain the Generation X market via MTV2.  This worked for a while but ultimately failed.  I want my MTV!

As I mentioned, we shaped MTV, but in a way it shaped us as well.  It changed how we absorbed music and how we responded to it on a social level.  Do you remember going into school on Monday after seeing the latest and greatest new MTV Video over the weekend???  MTV Network President Van Toffler said “Millennials are really about authentic reality and family” and that MTV “played up the camaraderie and famliy elements on Jersey Shore to appeal to them”.  What???  Has he seen Jersey Shore???  If this is any reflection on what Millennials are about, or if they are at all being shaped by MTV’s content… God help us all.

Certainly on some level I can understand MTV now focusing on Millennials.   They spend the most time in front of the television and apparently care far less about music than our generation had.  I wonder though, would Gen-Xers spend some of our prime time viewing hours watching MTV if there were still something that appealed to us?  Its hard to say because, despite their recent admission, MTV cast us aside many years ago.  So, again MTV… FU.  How’s that for cynical?

~cg

Slackers, like me and Chris(tian) and Rob and you, are not incapable of doing stuff.  We are actually really capable, and we actually do stuff. It is just that, when given the choice, most times we’d rather not.  Well, that isn’t totally true – we like to do the stuff we like to do, just not the stuff we’re supposed to do, or stuff we have to do, or stuff that sucks.

I find myself in total, almost constant, conflict.  Do I do the laundry, or surf the web for strange pets-in-costume photos?  It is important that I visit my parents and help them take out the their garbage, but just one more episode of Anthony Bourdain’s snarky world-travel show can’t hurt,  and then, I’m out the door – I promise.  Believe me, besides you, I am the least-disciplined person you know.

The place where my slacker-factor has the most negative impact is in the area of EXERCISE.  Can you relate, you couch-loving snack-forager?  Even the word sucks – ex-er-size.  It sounds like an awkward and uncomfortable way to cancel out the beautiful size of me.  I suppose that that is the point, but does it have to sound so dorky?  “I’m going to exercise.”  Sure…some people call it “working out”, but that involves WORK, and I’m not into that.

I suppose if you could exercise an actually look cool, which you can’t, or maybe if you could hang out with Henry Rollins or Iggy Pop at the gym, which you can’t, maybe it would be appealing.  But Rollins and Iggy are like the anti-slackers, and that would bring up so much additional guilt…forget it.

So, how does a slacker survive in this responsibility-filled, money-oriented, you-gotta-work society?  Often, in a bitter, and begrudging way.  Really, we seek out other slackers who can bring things to the table to assist our lazy-asses. Who wants to reinvent the wheel, when some other guy is into sharing his wheels with his friends?  The network of slackers is huge, and we’ll bring it to you, when we’re motivated.  We wanna help you, friend, enjoy the moments of your life, with minimal effort.  Let’s use this networking and technology crap to ease the pains of your intended efforts and relieve you from the toils of your existence.

~pp

<Hear this amazing rant, as well as other nonsense, on the podcast TSF4: Mary’s Gone Slackers, is NOW ONLINE!>

We’re mysteriously hungry for crackers, thirsty for new music, high on caffeine but not motivated enough to get this podcast done in a more timely manner. Subscribe with iTunes

Links:

Meandering Rant on Slacking by Patty Pino

Cool Products Book Report featuring:

• Keurig Coffee Machine
• Mary ‘s Gone Crackers
• Walk Fit Shoe Inserts

Music Segment on Ghostly International and the iPhone application, Ghostly Discovery