JANUARY PLAYLIST

My JANUARY Playlist

1. Hot Chip - One Life Stand


2. Kindness - Swinging Party

Swinging Party from Kindness on Vimeo.

3. Marina & The Diamonds - Obsessions


4. The Swiss - Bubble Bath


5. Theophilus London - Humdrum Town


6. Vampire Weekend - Run


7. Cécile & Venice - Rimmel


8. Venice - R0ll


9. Four Tet - Sing


10. Phoenix - Lisztomania (Classixx Version)


11. Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed (Penguin Prison ft. Theophilus London)

confucius and global warming.....criticisms?

my current modern china lecturer is the well-known scholar Michael Lynch. he has published many articles and books which show great support to the country of china and its system. many would believe that the chinese communist system is abhorrent and disgusting but one thing that i have come to respect aboutt the system is its ability to unite the nation and remain united. it can be argued that in the huge multilateral world today with globalisation, countries tend to rely on others and remain open to positive and negative policies in order to maintain their links, for example uk's military support to the usa. however, china has remained impartial to all international decisions and has always made its own mind up. this is something that should definitely be looked at, not in a negative way but possibly in a positive one. with predictions that they will become the leading economy of the 21st century, what they get up to will effect the rest of the world...

the recent copenhagen summit on climate change was attended by chinese ministers who felt obliged to attend. but that was it... they stood back and witnessed and did nothing. this was because they do not want to do anything..the amount of co2 produced in china in one week equals the amount produced in the uk in one year.. therefore it can be argued that to combat climate change and reverse the high levels produced is an impossible task. by turning off lights and walking to work instead of driving in order to save energy may feel like helping but in context we can not do anything AT ALL to change the rate of climate change...end of

the chinese way of life is centred around the beliefs and thoughts of confucius. in the years 551bc-479bc he produced a philosphy based on personal and government morality. basically he believed that people should remain in whatever level of social capacity they are. they should respect those above them and not think of moving levels.. this philosphy has stood in the hearts of the chinese for over 2500 years and can be argued as somewhat true.

i say true but obviously i remain inherently supportive to my social democratic values. the concept, because that is what it is, of confucianism only works in places where there is a pure belief that the head of state (monarch, emperor or president etc) is chosen primarily by god and therefore should be respected. for centuries this was the case in china, japan and many countries in indochina.therefore although i do agree with the confucianist concept as a theory that is all. .

i've been thinking of writing this down for a few days so there it is..

Contra

I have just mannaged to get a copy of the new Vampire Weekend record "Contra". I quickly uploaded it to my Ipod and sat back and started listening. It really was a breath of fresh air...

It begins with the classic VW sound and suddenly you are grasped into the song and nodding your hod without thinking. It really is a great opening song and it sets up the record perfectly. The vocal solo, plus violin, is brilliant as Erza (lead singer) portrays a meal full of chicken fillet or something.. Calfornia English, don't know it is meant to take the piss or not..

Cousins will probably be the first single, considering that a video has been filmed. It has the obvious VW guitar sound of delelelelele etc.. I LIKE

Diplomat's Son perhaps is the first sign of something different from the VW. By this i mean that i can decipher a little synthesiser somewhere. Don't get me wrong I like it and definitely adds to their sound.

Giving up the gun (some sort of political stance) has a great drum beat throughout..
Holiday..typical VW around 2 min duration..

Horchata (some kind of tea i think) really is delightful and a possible single..plus a xylophone type of instrument definitely adds to the song like Sans Soliel form Miike Snow.. next single

I think your a contra. Slight drag, probably to increase their female fan base..

Run. Song of the Record I think.. Catchy synth and drum beats with clever lyrics all in the classic VW style of up and down.. One to watch

Taxi Cab is a song that will probably grow on me but maybe not, whatever... again maybe one for the ladies.

I'd heard the live version of White Sky and loved it and the recorded version is not any different. Shows how the band has matured from catchy pop rock to actually writing proper songs..Erza'a voice really shows in this..

Overall I would give the record an 8.12/10 but in a few months time I can see that this might rise.. It should be more successful than their first but I doubt that will hapopen. Their fans will love this but that is it really. They will obviously play Glastonury and Reading/Leeds but not as headliners.. sadly

boris yeltsin - hero or villian

did you know that in july 1996, during the russian presidential elections, boris yeltsin suffered a heart attack... this information was not known at the time and if it had been known the result of the election would have been different. gennady zyuganov, chairman of the communist party, should have won. in early 1996 yeltsin had a popularity rating of 8%. but by july this had risen to c. 60%. the only notable achievment during these dates is the peace settlement in chechnya, which in hindsight was a complete failure.

how on earth could his popularity increase this significantly in such a short period? the obvious answer to this is that yeltsin controlled the media and did not allow zyuganov any time in the limelight. he supressed his views and denied him access to national television. furthermore, throughout the election several acts of corruption were present including ballot rigging and voting for dead souls.

the results:
1st round. yeltsin 35%, zyuganov 32%, lebed 14.5%
2nd round. yeltsin 53.8%, zyuganov 40.3%.

it was in 18 days between these rounds that yeltsin suffered his heart attack. zyuganov heard of this and decided to tell the nation. however, when he went to the television centre he was refused to have any time on air and this news was hidden. furthermore, the votes alexander lebed recieved in the 1st round were bought off by yeltsin how offered him high posts in the government in return..

some could argue that russia in this period of history was somewhat at a crossroad and yeltsin, despite clear flaws, steered her towards democracy. however, is russia really a democratic state? it is difficult to argue in favour of this claim.

yeltsin, a democratic politician, consealed information that otherwise would have led to his downfall. would anyone in their right mind vote for someone who had recently had a heart attack and was suffering from other illnesses. just recently the democratic party of the united states argued that the republican presidencial candidate was too old, at least he hadn't had a heart attack...

i personally think that consealing this sort information was a huge mistake for yeltsin and everything that he achieved throughout his presidency is tainted with this.