A small bit of news today: apparently Lost on Purpose has been in heavy rotation on a radio station somewhere in Spain. I think it's Madrid. Here is a link to the show's tracklisting.

You can also listen to all the shows via this etherweb thing, but I don't know why you'd want to do that unless you just want to hear a couple songs that aren't available as mp3s.

Of course, you could also buy the album. No pressure.

I can't post a picture today for some reason...

I got a great email from an anonymous Canadian in response to my Sicko post the other day. He (is that giving away too much info) has graciously allowed me to post it here:

I read your blog entry on Sicko and I feel like I got to give you some infos about that. I am a French Canadian which means that I speak French and that I enjoy socialized medicine. I have a few friends in pharmacology (I am studying law/intellectual property/biotechnological law) and I can tell you that the pharmaceutical industry has never slowed down in Canada.

Here's why. Even if the government is paying for health care, you get to purchase some of your drugs yourself. Usually, people here have an insurance policy provided by their employer covering an average of 85% of the cost of medication. You can get an additional insurance policy for the remaining 10-15%. As for the poor and unwashed, the government has a policy for them. They need to be eligible to social security but most of the people are anyway.

So the pharmaceutical industry still makes money. They create new medications which the government pays for. In order to lower the costs, the government finances part of the research through public funds and universities. You see, most of the research is done by students and their professors. The government finances their education (yeah going to law school here costs me about $2000 a year lol) and the pharmaceutical industry provides them with the newest research fields and they pay for the results.

In our medical system, nobody gets left apart. The waiting for some surgeries might be slightly longer but they make sure it won't be damaging to your health. Come live in Canada, you'll enjoy it lol!

Let me tell you a story about my Thanksgiving shopping woes. I'm trying to buy an xbox 360, and I've done all the research in the world on the system. I want to buy the Pro Holiday Bundle (with two, albeit worthless, free games), and I want to make sure I get an HDMI-enabled unit and the new Falcon motherboard. 99% of people reading this will have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure.

I also wanted to get a deal on the system. I finally had my Black Friday chance so I bought a system at Circuit City and got a free controller. While standing in line I had ample time to look over the box and found nothing but good news - it was manufactured on 10/12 by team FDOU (again, you have no idea what this means) and its power consumption was 175 watts. Therefore, I likely had a Falcon motherboard. It also had HDMI. It was exactly what I was looking for, and I was overjoyed.

Then I took it home and the power supply didn't work. I called Microsoft support and I tried different power outlets all over my house, and even drove to my girlfriend's to try it out. No dice.

So I called Circuit City, and they told me to bring it in and they would replace it. Of course, when I got there, they had sold out of the system. They credited my account and now it's as if nothing ever happened. The free controller deal is over, and I'm still without an xbox 360. And now, as a matter of principle, I can't just go out any buy one without getting some kind of deal. So I am forced to wait. This vexes me. I am terribly vexed.

A lot of things have been going on but I haven't felt like writing about them for some reason. I am forcing myself to write this.

I watched Sicko last night. It was better than I thought. It's very, very compelling, and even though I'm sympathetic to the issue it pulled me even more in that direction. I remember being in high school and a teacher or textbook was discussing socialized medicine and the main counterargument, as I remember it, was that American medical companies were responsible for the vast majority of innovation in Western medicine because they were driven by profit. If American health care was controlled by the government than creating a new drug would no longer be a gold mine - it's value would be capped.

However, according to the movie British doctors make more money if they make more people well. I'm sure a government could reward medical research corporations the same way. Even an innovation contest, like the X Prize, could work in the medical (or any) system, ie - set a goal and reward for researchers to attain.

It would be good to see the other side of the story, where the American system bests the Canadian/European one. Undoubtedly there are myriad examples. But I think a utilitarian approach is best for approaching nationwide medical issues, and it'll be hard to justify the low level of care so many millions are experiencing in America today.

Don't get me started on how much vacation time Europeans get. It's ridiculous and unfair, and I am insanely jealous.

I am notoriously behind the times when it comes to new music. So after many unfulfilling trips to Amoeba music the past few months I finally found a 'new' band I really like - Silversun Pickups. Most of you are probably yawning right now, since you like "Lazy Eye" when it came out last year, but so what.

I can't remember when I first heard of Silversun Pickups - it was probably two years ago at least. I just lumped them into the same category as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - LA bands that played around the Eastside and started getting big. I had heard BRMC and was pretty unimpressed, so I never paid SSPU any attention.

Well, they're good, and if you're lamer than me and haven't heard them yet go to their website and listen to "Little Lover's So Polite". I really wish I wrote this song.

FYI - I first heard them at The Well, a bar with a killer jukebox on the first floor of my office building. It was one of those moments where I heard the song and immediately asked 'who is this?'. It's that good.

I used to read Bill Simmons' column over at ESPN page 2 all the time - like I didn't miss one for at least two years running. But then I discovered the Wages of Wins, and my feelings began to change. Now, Bill openly admits that he is an entertainment-focues writer, and that he writes about sports from a fan's perspective. And that's fine. But he has an awfully big readership, and therefore has a lot of sway, and he explicitly derides statistical analysis. So I haven't read many of his articles lately.

The other day I saw that he wrote up an NBA preview, and a few of his predictions are laughable. He has Milwaukee in the playoffs, and the Cavs as a lottery team. Really? The Cavs are the same team except for Varejao, and while that will hurt them does it really take them from 52 wins to 39? And who is new on the Bucks this year? You guessed it - Bobby Simmons, Bill's pet ever since he did an interview with him after the '05-'06 season.

They also have Jinlian Yi, who might actually be solid. But the Bucks sucked last year and that's all they got.

He also has Denver finishing with the same record as the Spurs, which illustrates the same scoring bias that plagues the rest of the NBA. Denver is the same team as last year after the Iverson trade, the same trade that improved the 76ers. Iverson is not good, and neither is Carmelo. They are both average. The Nuggets are all about Camby, Nene and Reggie Evans (do they still have him? He may have been traded).

I love his writing, it is very entertaining, but when he acts like a know-it-all it is immensely frustrating.

Interesting news today ladies and gentlemen. I spent an hour or so last night putting the new album up on Songslide, a site that allows the purchase of individual songs - but the purchaser gets to pick how much he/she pays. So it's basically just like the new Radiohead album experiment (which I like very much by the way) except that they have a really cool slide thing that you use to pick the price. Anyhow, I have a link over to the left you can use to get to my page. Please, if you like the music but don't want to buy a whole album, just buy one song. I'm asking for this because I want to support cool ideas like Songslide as much as myself.

And, sadly, the Cavs resigned Pavlovic yesterday for too much money. So of the two holdouts they signed the one they need the least, and he will take minutes from more productive players (Devin Brown and Gibson). It's a sad, sad day today.

Paypal order buttons for the new album have been up for a few days and I finally got around to setting up a separate page for international orders. Everything is accessible via the 'music' link.

Suddenly (somehow) the Browns have a winning record, and I haven't seen a single game all year. It's times like these that I miss Cleveland...

Here's a bold statement: the next release will feature a ton of violin. I'm about a week away from buying one (I've been learning how to play the past few days) and I'm loving it. The problem is, I don't have a lot of money, and I have no clue how one should go about buying a violin. I've seen some for as low as $150 - they're probably crap, but there are definitely guitars at that price that are more than serviceable for a beginner. I just don't know.

Any thoughts on this issue are most welcome.

Wow, I found a really good review that just came out... of Anniversary (for those not 'in the know' Anniversary is my last album - it's two years old).

It's a German website that seems to only review free netlabel offerings, and they just got an English version online in September. Here is the review (plus comments).


Lost on Purpose - Anniversary (Sundays in Spring)
October 16th, 2007 · 3 Comments

Lost on Purpose - Anniversary EP - FrontGuitar Folk-Pop | Lost on Purpose is L.A.-based one-man indie band Will Holland. His “Anniversary” EP was released on Belgian Sundays at Spring-Netlabel back in 2005 and can cope with most of the commercial indie Pop outlets easily. Elliot Smith, The Shins, Modest Mouse? Don’t spend your expensive listening time on them, get this unpolished nugget into your ears!

Next to V.O., Pokett and Sepia Hours, Lost on Purpose has always been my favourite in the Sundays in Spring-back catalogue. Will’s EP opens with “London”. Acoustic guitar, harmonica, good vocal-harmonies and some sketches of piano, that’s everything Will Holland needs to construct a clever indie Pop song.

“Ohio 2″ afterwards is based on a wonderful piano-backing and the layered vocals that sound a bit like Minnesota’s finest Low. Phew! “Lonely Road” is a up-tempo masher with tight acoustic guitar and four-to-he-floor handclaps, while “Thank you Music Guru” comes off with sugar-sweet vocal chords and intimate guitar-play. Like Yo La Tengo backing up for Elliot Smith. While everybody needs to quote influences from British bands nowadays, Will Holland’s American indie Pop-music is like a glass of aged whiskey in a display of neon-coloured alcopops

3 responses so far ↓

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1 dana // Oct 16, 2007 at 6:28 pm

oh, this one is truly lovely. i am thirsty for more acoustic and folk music. why not writing something about aerotone.de?
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2 Bettina Rhymes // Oct 17, 2007 at 3:03 pm

yeah, aerotone will definitely be featured here. i’ve been able to lay my hands on aer.010 already and this one is awesome, once again.
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3 dana // Oct 19, 2007 at 12:11 pm

yeah please lay your hands on this release :) curious reading how you describe the music.

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Ok, so only one comment has anything to do with me. But I like the phrase 'lay hands'. 'lay your hands on this release'. Translation is fun.

I also like anyone who refers to my music as an 'unpolished nugget'.

The Indians are out of the playoffs, and my new CD is out the door.

It's called not if but when. I will have ordering capabilities and sample songs up soon (well, some of the songs are versions of the las aranas ep). Soon as in a few hours or up to one (1) day.

It's time to bask in the glow of accomplishment. I'm thinking Portal...

After all, I need something to do for seven (7) days until the NBA season starts.

This CD is a collection of songs from the past two (2) years, since Anniversary was released. I have no idea what to think of it anymore. It's just a bunch of songs. I tried to make them good.

Hope you like the music.