best friends in song

Another song I can't get out of my head.

Also:


Wish I hadn't missed them when they came to Madison... :-/

mansard roof

Today is another good day for us election geeks. Sunday we had the virtually uncontested Russian Presidential election. Today, we have two major Democratic primaries and two minor ones. Today could settle the Democratic primary. Unfortunately for the Clinton campaign, she needs to win every state from here on out by at least a few delegates to garner enough to win (Assuming Super Delegates are split among the two candidates; a likely scenario if Clinton 'came back'). A tie is a Clinton loss. It's no longer about the expectations game - perhaps that problem has shifted to Obama - it's about results. She simply needs to gain about 100 delegates more than Obama over the next few weeks to win.

Daily Kos has their predictions up as follows (with a few caveats):
"Ohio: Clinton +4
Texas: Obama +12
Rhode Island: Clinton +6
Vermont: Obama +35"

Zogby has a new poll showing that Clinton may have made some headway in Texas but Obama has made major headway in Ohio. We could have some very unexpected results.

There's also the Texas Two Step, the primary / caucus delegate split. We should know results around 11 or 12 PM central, but final delegate counts may take days to tabulate.

My guess (Delegate count, not primary / caucus result)
Ohio: Clinton +5%
Texas: Obama +2%
Rhode Island: Clinton +3%
Vermont: Obama +30%

I think Clinton has made bukku bucks in the past week - coming off as more personable. She effectively changed the dialog and stopped the Obama campaign potency. I don't think it was enough, though. It could be too little, too late.

According to CNN's delegate count, this would put the results at:
Clinton: 1454, a +14.5% increase.
Obama: 1563, a +13.4% increase.
Overall, however, that would be negligible relative change - 109 delegate difference still.

So, as you can see, it'll take a monumental change for Clinton to win - much more than a tie. It'll take a tie - until the convention in June - for Obama to cement his candidacy (The remainder of the states, if tied - or tied on average - based on these results - would give Obama 2047 delegates, 22 more than needed to be selected).



And now for something a little less heavy:

video by Vampire Weekend

Music Review: Vampire Weekend

I picked up this great new album today, the eponymous Vampire Weekend, released in January. It's by a indie outfit from New York, inspired by African music - and clearly Britpop like the Arctic Monkeys. Apparently, Spin declared they were the best new band of 2008. I believe it. They're very mellow and sound modern yet classic at the same time.

The album starts off with The Kids Don't Stand A Chance, which sounds like Bob Marley and the Clash got together to reimagine The Lion Sleeps Tonight. It moves on to the faster paced dance-hall almost-hit Walcott, which with its pounding pianos makes me really want to rock out. The acoustics on this song are amazing; springy and original, the song changes themes multiple times but still hangs together.
One and Campus are both instant classics; the former with its steady, bobbing beat; the latter, with its chilly lyrics and transformative styling.

Boston sounded a little too ska-esque for me, and it shows the limits of the style the Vampire's have created.

Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa has a very fresh African sound which you can repeat over and over. The album ends strongly with A-Punk, Oxford Comma, and Mansard Roof. One could definitely listen to this album over and over - especially with Spring being (nearly) here. It's quite original, but you'll especially like it if you enjoy the most recent wave of britpop, world music, or just a 'Coastie' looking for some regional indie styling. Or - someone who just likes good music.

Spin Article

these are ordinary things

The song is "Décollage" by Balayeurs du Desert. It's really quite excellent. Apparently, this group is incredibly popular throughout Europe. I wish we had amazing works of public art in this country. Of course, we have a different artistic model than exists in European countries - for better or for worse.

Note - also - that Décollage is a word meaning both the artistic technique (the reverse of collage), literally "tearing away", as well as the word used by the French space outfit, meaning "we have takeoff" in some sense. Fascinating.