Harvard Plans to Name First Female President[New York Times] CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 9 — Harvard, the nation’s oldest university, plans to name Drew Gilpin Faust, a historian of the Civil War South, to be the first female president in its 371-year history, university officials said Friday.
Her selection by a search committee, if ratified as expected by the Board of Overseers on Sunday, would make Harvard the fourth Ivy League university to name a woman.
It comes two years after Lawrence H. Summers, then president of the university, set off a storm by suggesting that a lack of intrinsic aptitude could help explain why fewer women than men reach the top ranks of science and math in universities...[READ MORE]
Sports
Miller Puts Park Name On The Line In NASCAR Bet With Budweiser
Here's the story from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: On Friday morning, Miller sent out a news release challenging Budweiser to a NASCAR bet. As part of the bet, Miller is putting its naming rights to Miller Park on the line.The challenge would pit the #2 Miller Lite car against the #8 Budweiser car, with the season-long NASCAR points leader winning the bet.
What! Are you kidding me! You're putting the fate of Miller Park in the hands of NASCAR? If somehow Miller Park ends up becoming Budweiser Stadium or something, that might be reason enough for me to disband as a fan of the Brewers.
Music
Full SXSW lineup announced. You're a lucky fan if you're going.
Hold Steady's Party Mix
As first posted on Punknews.org,
In a somewhat usual story, VH1 recently spoke with acclaimed rock act The Hold Steady and had the band assemble a "party mix" of the best drinking anthems.
Among the selections are classics from The Replacements, ("Here Comes A Regular" and "Beer for Breakfast,") The Pogues, ("Sally MacLennane") and newer songs from Dillinger Four and Jawbreaker. Regarding Dillinger Four's, "Doublewhiskeycokenoice":
"One, because, again, that's my drink. When [Minneapolis'] Triple Rock [Social Club] opened Patty [Costello, D4 bassist] and I started drinking that. No Coke in my drinks in the summer, when I do greyhounds and after Memorial Day I go back to whiskey and after the first snowfall it's double whiskey Coke, no ice."
and Jawbreaker's "Kiss the Bottle" :
They wrote almost all great drinking songs, but that one is really good because it also discusses the highs and lows associated with partying. I think that's an important thing to capture in any song about drinking or drugs. [Sample lyric, "I kissed the bottle/ I should've been kissing you/ You wake up to an empty night/ with tears for two."]
You can check out the whole list here.
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Featured Album: Klaxons Myths of the Near Future [2007]
I've been reading all about the Klaxons on this blog and that blog and decided it was about time to finally post some music from this great band that's generating quite a buzz.
Such has been the hype and hoopla surrounding Klaxons from the moment they waved a glowstick around their badly coiffed heads that it�s been almost impossible to gain a sense of perspective of what's been going on. Factor in the bandying of a new genre name based on the kind of punning best found on the front page of a red top, and it's enough to send most sane people frothing at the mouth screaming, Raving, I'm raving!�.
Throw into the mix the kind of DIY haircuts that should, by rights, impose anyone into a state of self exile under a pile of duvets for at least a month (or until the emergency tonsorial services arrive to save the day) and you've got an eminently punchable band and a new album to hate, right?
Er...wrong. One spin of 'Myths of the Near Future' is enough to get even the most casual of listeners punching the air in delight. Displaying levels of creativity that have been in short supply of late, this is music that should consign the carbohydrate tedium of The Kooks and Razorlight into the musical dustbin.
Myths Of The Near Future is infused with an infectious sense of joy that offers as many hedonistic thrills as it does optimism. "Two Receivers" sets the pace as pounding, distorted beats usher in layers of keyboard washes that entice with a seductive urgency and it�s immediately clear that we�re dealing with something special. "Atlantis To Interzone" is the most obvious concession to anything vaguely rave (musically, at least) as Klaxons blare incessantly but most satisfying of all is Klaxons' non-reliance on a single idea.
"Golden Skans" is a piece of strategic genius; hi-jacking the airwaves, it brought Klaxons in front of a wider audience that finally managed to get past the whiff of bullshit that surrounded the band and in the context of the album offers respite before the teeth-grinding, skittering electro-punk of "Totem On The Timeline".
Again, a sense of perspective is called. Myths Of The Near Future would be so easy to enthuse endlessly over; in reality this album won�t bring peace to the Middle East, solve the blood diamond trade or solve the problem of the capital�s public transport system but ultimately it does what it�s supposed to as it revels in its own energy and sense of fun that's free from artifice while soundtracking the here and now. And really, you can't ask for more than that, can you.
Review by Julian Marszalek
Klaxons - "Two Receivers"
Klaxons - "Atlantis to Interzone"
Klaxons - "Golden Skanz"
Klaxons - "Four Horsemen of 2012"