Misc and a Recipe

By now it would be passé to comment on the professor who claimed that bloggers were lonely and futile. Besides, how are you supposed to defend that? It’s the classic setup. On the other hand, to lump in all blogs together would be like to say “all people who write for magazines.” My response: Salon.com has a blog. Is it lonely? My other comment: yet another example of how, once you get tenure, you can pretty much publish anything regardless of whether it has scholarly merit.

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Yes, I’m looking forward to the Super Bowl, though the conference championship weekend (2 weeks ago) is the best day in football. As others have said, the Super Bowl ought to be played in front of a home crowd, instead of rich dignitaries waiting for Prince’s halftime show. Not that I mind Prince. I am from Minneapolis, after all.

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I leave you with a recipe. It was named by Carrie, which actually is a bit of a story. You see, Carrie calls me the opposite of what everyone else calls me. In college, I was “Jon” so she called me “Jonathan.” In grad school, people started calling me “Jonathan” I think because that’s what they heard her call me. In my first job, the department had 3 Jons so Jonathan was a useful strategy of distinction. It also looks better in articles. More serious. But now that everyone calls me Jonathan, she calls me “Jon.” And so, I wonder if the pendulum won’t swing again in a few years. We’ll see. In writing, anyway, I will always go by Jonathan, but in person, both “Jon” and “Jonathan” work equally well.

And so, with that, I give you last night’s dinner:

Jon’s Dry Curry Coconut Delight

1 large onion
1 leek
1 sweet bell pepper
2 cans mock duck (or 1 large cake tempeh or tofu or other veggie protein)
½ cup desiccated coconut
oil for stir-frying
1.5 tsp black mustard seeds
1.5 tsp cumin seeds
¼- ½ tsp asafetida
1 dried hot chili or ½ tsp red pepper flakes or to taste
2 tsp good curry power
½ tsp salt or to taste

Slice onion and leek thin, chop the bell pepper small and cut the protein as you see fit.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. When hot, dump in the mustard and cumin seeds. Once they start to pop (which will be almost immediately if the pan is hot; be ready), add the onion, leek and bell pepper. Sautee until almost done. Add the protein and coconut. Then add the spices and salt to taste.

Serve with whole grain rice and your preferred fruity hot sauce. Or roll it up in a roti.

Caveat User Part II

Well, I stand corrected. Both Joel and Tobias set me straight that it is international licensing agreements that are causing the problems, and I shall patiently await the Canadian release (everything’s available a little later in Canada, anyway, at least as far as consumer products go).

Tobias writes that the industry is about to collapse. He may be right, but I think Canadian copyright law is going to get worse before it gets better. As for the recording industry, it’s still bringing in billions of dollars a year; it’s just that it isn’t doing the kind of margins that the octopus wants (same deal with newspapers). It’s insane to think that a billion-dollar industry is in danger, and yet there you have it. Especially if you consider the fact that the vast majority of recordings in circulation circulate for free.

More “Crippling”(1) of Digital Content

So I just went to the iTunes Store to purchase the new Elders of Zion EP. Elders of Zion is the musical project of my friend and longtime collaborator Joel Schalit (who also has a new blog), and I was excited to get the album.

Now, normally I don’t buy from iTunes in general, since I don’t believe in purchasing music with DRM or that requires a specific platform to play (ie, what happens to the music and my rights to listen to it when Apple goes out of business?). But I made a special exception for Joel.

Except that his album is only for sale in the U.S. store, and I can only buy music from the Canadian store because my Apple account is registered in Canada. I could change my country for my Apple account, except that I have a bunch of applecare agreements on the same user ID that I wouldn’t want to screw up. Granted, this may be the fault of the label and not iTunes, but it’s disappointing either way.

Just another example of how the internet facilitates quick and easy exchange of music, and how some for profit enterprises — many of whom stand to profit mightily from it — are obsessed with finding new ways to control it.

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1. I do hate the phrase “crippled content” which is a classically able-ist term. But I’m at a loss for how to properly insult digital content that would work except that some company has added some junk code or provision to make it harder to use — ostensibly to protect their profits. Suggestions?

All’s Noisy on the Eastern Front

and really I’m only “east” if you ignore the fact that Canada goes really far east.

This semester is really kicking my ass. I use that phrase advisedly. Every semester beats me up, but this one is special because I have insisted on doing more of what I want to do on top of what I have to do. Which is a lot.

Highlights include:

–A total redesign of COMS 210–now entitled “Introduction to Communication Studies.” One of my TAs has described the course as “intense” and indeed it is. Lots of new material, new lectures, some tough readings (preface through page 18 of Boudieu’s Distinction were due today and it’s a 1st year class), and new approaches to assignments and testing. The reaction from students is quite intense as well. I’ve seen tons of undergrads in my office hours already, which is great. My sense is that there are a bunch of people really into it — I’m already seeing some very creative thinking by some students — and a few people who expected something easier (as in, “it’s okay to like TV” or “why media are bad”) who are either freaking out or about to. Oh, and I threw my back out in lecture Monday dancing with perhaps too much enthusiasm to Justin Timberlake. I assure you it was strictly for pedagogical reasons. But with enough drugs and heating pad time I feel like a new man again today.

–My usual administrative duties. Feh.

–A course in the Business School called “The Treble Cliff: Remonetizing Digital Music” which is a big interdisciplinary collaboration between Music, Business, Law, Engineering and Computer Science. I got brought on at the last minute which means I have to miss a bunch of classes because my Tuesdays and Thursdays are full of prior engagements, but two of my students are in there. It’s basically a bunch of interesting people from around campus and some experts from the music industry coming in to talk about the impossibility of making money in the current environment.

–Talks talks talks. Last Friday Will Staw and I did a sort of “conversation” thing moderated by André Habib, a doctoral student at Concordia. It was for the Centre de recherche sur l’intermédialité, and will apparently go up on their website at some point. We are talking around two recent essays and Benjamin’s classic “Work of Art” essay. Friday I’m giving a talk on a panel at Concordia on Guitar Hero. Later in the term, I’m off to Carbondale, Chicago, Columbia and then have another Concordia gig. We’re also going to be in Seattle for 8 days doing research and getting away.

–Guests guests guests. Lisa Gitelman arrives tomorrow. We’ve got John Durham Peters and Georgina Born in the same week in March. And countless others coming through.

–My grad students have organized a working group, which is really cool.

–I will not let go of the mp3 book. Every day that I can, it gets at least an hour at the beginning of the morning. But good lord it hurts some days and as a result I’m working on rec letters and or class prep well into the evening. But not writing hurts more.

–I’m trying to do less on email. And my rss reader says “262” right now. And I’m behind on my reviewing like you wouldn’t believe. I would like to neglect this blog less, though.

–I am reading the Gazette’s cheesy Hyperlife series with interest.

Okay, Carrie’s off the phone. I’m going to hang out with her now.

24 Capsule Review (Spoilers)

Thumbs up: this season’s looking up for the music, and the bad guys actually getting ahead a little as opposed to just threatening

Thumbs down: Kal Penn should not be a terrorist — he’s way better as a comic actor — but at least they killed his character. All I could think about was the stoner cheetah every time he came on screen.

Thumbs sideways:

It would have been cool to have at least part of the season take place in China.

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As of yet, there is no contest. Carrie claims she’s “winning” even though “we don’t have any time” is officially retired. “Damnit,” which would have been my choice for this year, is doing pretty well.

More Language Politics

I was pleased to see that the French language lobby stopped the Esso Corporation’s plan to give its depanneurs an English name — “On the Go,” and I am pleased to see that people are now starting to ask questions about the English-language signs for multinationals.

Since Bill 101 the Quebec language police have been the target of much Anglo wrath and mockery. And some of the resentment seemed reasonable: small business owners had to have their signage in French, but large multinationals were excused from the requirement. I’ve heard people say that the conversion of “Stop” to “Arrét” is extreme since the signs say “Stop” in France. But France has its own language laws and language police, and it’s an independent country, not a part of a country where the majority language is English.

As La Presse pointed out this week, a quick drive around the Maché Centrale shopping centre confirms that multinationals get off easy when it comes to signage. If your company name is an international trademark, well, that’s that. Phrases like “English Language Sign Creep” are starting to show up in the local media.

If it’s a proper name, like “Ikea” that’s one thing (though for all I know it’s Swedish for “particle board” or “KMart” or something), but English names like “Future Shop” and “Best Buy” are easily translatable and should be translated.

Here’s why.

The point of the French language signage policy is to preserve the French language, and especially to help stop English from completely taking over the city as the language of commerce. It works. I moved here in 2004 not knowing a word of French. I have taken lessons but I haven’t had time to immerse myself in spoken French. My spoken French and listening comprehension are crap, though I do know how to be polite. My reading, however, is doing pretty well. As I go around town, I can now understand a good deal of French signage and even some of the strangely idiomatic wording of billboard ads. I can read French menus, I can read French instructions. I can even read emails in French (especially queries about the grad program). Why? Because even though I live and work in English and almost everything I read (newspapers, books, etc) is in English, there is a great deal of “ambient French” in my visual environment as I go about my life here. I pick it up. I pay attention. I incorporate words. And I learn the best way possible: rather than translating the word in my head, I associate the word with its referent directly. Like “depanneur.”

Before you say that this is economic suicide, keep in mind that this is already a regular event in Canadian commerce: Bureau en Gros (aka “Staples”) is doing just fine with English and French names, and English-language companies routinely re-brand themselves because of Canadian trademarks: witness the recent birth of “The Source by Circuit City” (used to be Radio Shack) and “Cashmere” toilette paper (used to be Cottonelle). If it works in English, French shouldn’t be a problem.

Thursday’s Gazette had another one of those ugly Anglo essays, by Robert Libman (the mayor of Cóte St. Luc), complaining that “timid Anglos” should stand up for their rights to have depanneurs called by an English trademark, and to give their children english-speaking toys (newsflash: they can if they want, they just can’t find a big selection at Toys R Us), among other things. The piece argues that the only reason Anglos don’t stand up to this is that they are afraid of stirring up nationalist sentiment, and that the result is that Montreal’s historic English-speaking community is “marginalized.” You can imagine what I’d say about that.

The less we protect English-speakers from French signage and other media, the easier it will be for English speakers like me to learn French. That was the point of Canadian bilingualism, right? Of course that’s complicated because Quebec is officially monolingual, and the language is French. So if the goal of Quebec cultural policy is to promote French language culture, then it needs to pay the most attention to multinationals. That’s where the action is. Meanwhile, “timid Anglos” in Montreal ought to know that “depanneur” means “convenience store,” and if they don’t know that by now, it’s their own fault.