when you manage to make chris hedges seem like the grounded, rational, less alarmist person in the conversation, you know you're a complete fucking idiot...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7P9P5lke-o

untitled (pretentious mix)

this is the version that i modified from the cakewalk output, but i ended up rejecting it because i added some guitar and synth parts that don't really work well with the track. i do a lot of improvisational noise, and wanted to integrate that aesthetic, but, instead, it just comes off sounding a little pretentious.

it wasn't long before i realized my error, but i hadn't saved a version i could go back to so i was sort out of luck. what i ended up doing was cutting the middle part out of the track when i used it for the reflections ep, then just dropped it from the symphony altogether.

nor can this be effectively reconstructed from the source, due to it having multiple paste overs after the cakewalk mixdown that are impossible to locate in the file. the result is something like a little reverb/delay on the track. it's consequently a unique, discarded mix that must simply be left as is.

dated to sept 10, 2002. uploaded, unmodified, on dec 14, 2014.

http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/untitled-pretentious-mix

i don't entirely agree with the ideas in this article, but it makes a very good point - the tar sands are not economically viable when oil is cheap.

i disagree with the idea that they'll keep pumping. if it lasts a while, it very well might shut them down. they'd be losing money. and, that's not why they're doing this.

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/j-l-granatstein-low-saudi-oil-prices-are-just-part-of-a-long-game