Before going forward with anything positive, I do want to say that I am generally displeased with the performance of my 80 GB iPod classic. I had some initial negative things to say, and there are more. I found out that you can indeed use Media Monkey to manage your iPod and that helped sort the cover art problems considerably, except now there are more problems. The correct cover art comes up in Media Monkey but the wrong cover art appears in the iPod. Annoying, but not show-stopping. What’s worse is that some songs (much of Paul Simon’s Graceland and the Goats Tricks of the Shade) play for about 30 seconds before skipping to the next track. Googling reveals this problem is not unique to me, and solutions are few and far between. And these are just the skipping tracks I’ve discovered. They play fine on the computer but deleting them off the iPod and uploading again does no good. Not what I paid $250 for, that’s for sure.

Having said that, I do appreciate the extra space. Audio books don’t keep me awake behind the wheel like music does, and I’ve been delving deep into the archives recently and I have happily discovered that a lot of stuff really holds up over time. Sugar’s Copper Blue for example. I bought this album at the end of high school and it brings back memories of my first year at college, and it’s really quite good. And though it should come as no surprise, Jane’s Addiction’s first three albums sound just as strange and gripping today as they did back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. They still merit multiple relistens.

I’ve made some headway in figuring some things out regarding future schooling. It looks like I will be finishing my coursework next semester and taking my preliminary exams next fall. The major area looks like it’s finally going to be something along the lines of “Unstable Realities: Global Literature Since WWII” and will basically be magical realism, slipstream, and some postmodern novels that sort of fit in with this. The minor areas will be “Native American Literature” and, for the new minor, “Visual Narratives, Hypertext, and Textuality” along with a strong dose of the rhetoric of technology. If it’s not exactly this, it’ll be damn close.

Otherwise, the ceaseless pounding of work continues apace and, for the first time in my graduate career, I’m actually a little behind in one class. ‘Tis no big deal and will be set straight in the next few days, but I ought to have reworked one of my pieces for my obstructions/restrictions fiction workshop by now.

On the brighter side, it’s my turn to write a summary piece on the composition theory articles we’re reading and one of them deals with bringing a punk rock ethos to teaching composition, and it liberally quotes from Sex Pistols songs and quite a bit from the Clash. My response will focus on Joe Strummer and his journey from being the front man of 101ers (not just Strummer’s first band, but also the UWM course number for freshman composition) to angry punk, to experimental musician, to globally conscious artist—all tied back to comp theory. Should be fun.

Current Mood: Are You Friggin’ Kidding Me? |