Before the Bell Tulls - Best Classical Rock Performance

Matthew Hogan | Comments (0)
May 18, 2008 04:41 PM

Before I die, God, please allow me to play all of Glenn Cornick's Bach bourree-bolstering bass guitar on this most excellent adaptation of a "classical" composition by a rock-era band (Jethro Tull). Yes, to play all the way from the traditional opening through the jazz and hard rock adaptation breakouts,...[More]

My Kermit the Frog Nightmare

Matthew Hogan | Comments (5)
March 12, 2008 11:55 PM

I had a moral nightmare the other night while asleep. It was Kermit the Frog. He was singing that song about it not being easy to be green. And he sang it to its conclusion about acceptance, and the wonders of the ordinary....[More]

Your American English Accent Divined

Matthew Hogan | Comments (9)
January 26, 2008 02:11 PM

For this side of the Atlantic people only, a test of American English regional accents. It came out correct for me, divining my Noo Yawk origins, although the results appear to be generically regional (N. East) in determining accent origin rather than very local. But for each of doze of...[More]

Transcription Software q's: "Dragon Naturally Speaking"

Matthew Hogan | Comments (5)
January 13, 2008 10:41 PM

Although I never met a dragon, and certainly not one which speaks naturally, there is software with a related name. If anyone has thoughts, suggestions, recommendations, advice, offers, counteroffers, estoppel, promises, considerations, puns, etc. on "Dragon Naturally Speaking" or any other software where one can drone on verbally and have...[More]

Population Control Propaganda Slipped Casually In

Matthew Hogan | Comments (4)
December 15, 2007 08:57 PM

In the middle of a Washington Post story on China now experiencing a population increase, in part due to the erosion of its totalitarian forced one-child policy, this paragraph of population control propaganda slips in without even the decency of legitimate weasel words like "many say" or "officials say" or...[More]

The Declaration of Independence, modern edition

Matthew Hogan - July 5, 2008 09:34 AM | Comments (0)
Filed Under: American Culture , Egghead Stuff , Random Personal , US Politics

My belated July 4th present is an idea I have had germinating several years: rendering the US Declaration of Independence, my all-time favorite historic document, into a more modern prose and lingo, to see how it sounds . Despite my normal wise-guyish tendencies, this is not satire or sacrilege (at least not intentionally), but an exercise that might hopefully make the old document more relevant, accessible, and comprehensible. I am somewhat arbitrary; I keep some of the older language -- "men" stays as "men", "creator" as "creator" -- though the "manly firmness" line (minds out of gutter, please) I adapt to "firm steadfast". I take some liberties with editing as well. It is a work-in-progress and it is clear from the changes that the slightly antiquated inflated prose of the original has its timeless unique beauty and appropriateness, and the original language can still hold up well. (But I still have trouble with the structure and meaning of the "denounce our Separation" phrase.) And a little irony is allowed: I do get to use "military contractor" in an ironic but accurate way.


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Wanted: A Cure for Envy Deficiency

Matthew Hogan - June 24, 2008 11:53 PM | Comments (6)
Filed Under: American Culture , Egghead Stuff , Random Personal , Rants- General , Religion , US Politics

People work and even pray to acquire virtues. But I need a vice. A certain particular one. Forget "vice", let's use an old-fashioned word - "sin", because it's one of the classic seven deadly ones. Now, I am not short of vices, but one I do lack feels like some kind of vitamin deficiency. So I beg divine favor to give me some of that four letter word which sounds like a two-letter word: envy.

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R.I.P. Harvey Korman

Matthew Hogan - June 3, 2008 10:10 PM | Comments (3)
Filed Under: American Culture , Humor Attempts , Random Personal

For those of us of a certain age in the USA, Harvey Korman was a funny performer on TV and in Blazing Saddles, among other things. (:"The Count de Monaaaay") But I especially liked this write up by a contemporary to myself in age who described us being raised, through Korman on the Carol Burnett show, “on a borscht-based diet of slapstick, ethnic exaggerations and groan-inducing puns." Holy cow! That's my range of humor exactly. Curse you, Harvey Korman. RIP, and now go do... that voodoo ... that you do ....so ....well. Looks like I'm not the only one to wish him that.

Giving to Good Will

Matthew Hogan - May 30, 2008 01:38 AM | Comments (2)
Filed Under: American Culture , Egghead Stuff , US Politics

When, how, and why did George Will turn Whig from Tory? A welcome development from my perspective, and it seems several years old, the change, but I wonder how and why. Nice review of a book I need to get, too.