Chris profile picture

Chris

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me



These guys are pretty cool:

As are these dudes:

A friendly public service announcement from my union, AFSCME!

Also, check out this really great short film about Naomi Klein's new book, The Shock Doctrine, made by Klein and Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men). Neoliberalism is bad for you, folks.

My Interests

    Books Activism Politics Democratic socialism The welfare state Social and economic democracy Ending wars Secularism Labor unions History Hockey Scandophilia, Anglophilia, Francophilia, Judeophilia Libraries Listening to music and going to shows Dancing Laughing Makin' out

I'd like to meet:

People who are into the same junk I am into.

Music:

  • American Analog Set, Animal Collective, The Arcade Fire, Architecture In Helsinki, Art Brut
  • B-52s, The Bats, Battles, Beat Happening, Belle and Sebastian, Blondie, The Blow, Blur, Broken Social Scene, James Brown, The Buzzcocks
  • Camera Obscura, A Certain Ratio, The Chills, The Clash, The Clean, The Clientele, The Concretes, The Cure
  • Daft Punk, David Bowie, Deerhoof, Delta 5, Devo, The Dismemberment Plan
  • El Perro del Mar, Electrelane, The Embassy, Brian Eno, EPMD, Eric B. and Rakim, ESG
  • The Field Mice, Frog Eyes
  • Gang Of Four, The Go-Betweens, Grandmaster Flash, Guided By Voices
  • Heavenly, Hello Saferide, Hot Chip, The Human League
  • I'm From Barcelona, Islands
  • Michael Jackson, The Jam, Josef K, Joy Division, Justice
  • The Kinks, The Knife, KRS-ONE
  • LCD Soundsystem, Jens Lekman, Le Tigre, Loney, Dear, Los Campesinos!, Love Is All
  • M.I.A., The Magnetic Fields, Martha & The Vandellas, Curtis Mayfield, The Modern Lovers, Morrissey, My Bloody Valentine
  • The National, Neutral Milk Hotel, New Order, Notorious B.I.G.
  • Of Montreal, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Orange Juice
  • Panda Bear, The Pastels, Pavement, Pet Shop Boys, Peter Bjorn and John, Pinback, Prince
  • Radiohead, The Raincoats, Roxy Music
  • Sally Shapiro, Shocking Pinks, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Sleater-Kinney, Sly & The Family Stone, The Smiths, Smoky Robinson & The Miracles, Sonic Youth, The Specials, Spoon, Squeeze, Sufjan Stevens
  • Talking Heads, Tapes n' Tapes, Television, Television Personalities, The Tough Alliance, A Tribe Called Quest, TV On The Radio
  • The Vaselines
  • Wolf Parade, Stevie Wonder, Wu-Tang Clan
  • XTC
  • Yo La Tengo

    • Movies:

      24 Hour Party People Annie Hall, Another State of Mind Bananas, The Battle of Algiers, The Bicycle Thief, The Big Lebowski, Bottle Rocket Les Carabiniers, Casablanca, Children of Men, Control The Darjeeling Limited, Dr. Strangelove Election Ghost World High Fidelity The Life of Brian Manhattan, Metropolis, Monsieur Ibrahim Pan's Labyrinth Reds, Repo Man, The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore The Squid and the Whale Taxi Driver, The Triplets of Belleville, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story Waiting For Guffman Zoolander

    Television:

      Arrested Development Chappelle's Show, The Colbert Report, Curb Your Enthusiasm The Daily Show Flight Of The Conchords The Office The Simpsons The Young Ones

    Books:

      Benjamin Camus Chabon Davis DeLillo Dos Passos Fitzgerald Gramsci Greene Hemingway Hornby Marx Orwell Roth Silone

    I realize the above list is somewhat phallocentric, and I'm trying to change that. Favorite periodicals include Dissent, Harper's, The New Yorker, New Politics, Left Business Observer and The Baffler.

    Heroes:

      Eugene V. Debs Michael Harrington Martin Luther King, Jr. Mark Messier George Orwell A. Phillip Randolph Jonathan Richman Bayard Rustin (before he went crazy) Norman Thomas

    My Blog

    Best of 2007!

    Top 10 Albums Jens Lekman: Night Falls Over Kortedala LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver Battles: Mirrored M.I.A.: Kala Feist: The Reminder Animal Collective: Strawberry Jam / Panda Bear: P...
    Posted by Chris on Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:52:00 PST

    Immigration foes wrong...again!

    Here's a report about some empirical research you cite at your family holiday gathering when one of your racist relatives goes on an anti-immigration rant. Apparently undocumented immigrants actually ...
    Posted by Chris on Tue, 27 Nov 2007 07:18:00 PST

    The best reference question...ever.

    A patron phoned me at the reference desk just now to ask me this crucial reference question - "can you please tell me what time it is?" A bit flabbergasted, I could not answer immediately, but I quick...
    Posted by Chris on Fri, 23 Nov 2007 06:16:00 PST

    In which I pimp Swedish pop music on ESPN.com

    Yes, it's come to this. My obsession / evangelization efforts have reached hitherto unimaginable levels. Just click here and scroll down. You might see a name you recognize....
    Posted by Chris on Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:23:00 PST

    Jens Lekman Is An Unstoppable Force

    I feel sorry for you if you did not see him perform tonight in New York or last night in Philadelphia. I saw him twice. While I recognize this verges on the obsessive, I don't care. Best two shows eve...
    Posted by Chris on Sun, 28 Oct 2007 10:00:00 PST

    Libraries give Google the finger

    As reported in yesterday's New York Times, library systems are starting to reject Google's and Microsoft's offers to digitize their book collections and make them available online at no cost to the li...
    Posted by Chris on Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:13:00 PST

    SEPTA subway platform fans ironically embody the nature of SEPTA

    While waiting on the subway platform at 15th Street to pick up the Market-Frankford line this morning, I experienced somewhat of an epiphany. The fans that they have down on the subway platform ironic...
    Posted by Chris on Tue, 24 Jul 2007 01:25:00 PST

    Pitchfork 2007 Retrospective

    It's good to be back in Philly, but Pitchfork 2007 in Chicago was one mindbending experience. Now that I've been able to catch up on some sleep, let's recap. The vast majority of the artists put on a...
    Posted by Chris on Tue, 17 Jul 2007 02:33:00 PST

    Memo to McCain: Gay sweaters are better than Cosby sweaters

    Apparently, John McCain feels that his poor showing thus far in the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 is attributable largely to the "gay sweaters" that his campaign managers ha...
    Posted by Chris on Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:24:00 PST

    Farewell, Leetchie

    One of my favorite athletes of all time, former Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch retired today after 18 seasons. Sometimes I don't think people realize just how good Brian Leetch was in his prime. His ...
    Posted by Chris on Thu, 24 May 2007 11:02:00 PST