dokital

Excuses by The Morning Benders It’s my...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:22:00 -0600

Excuses by The Morning Benders

It’s my to-California-traveling album.

I’ve long been a fan of YSL’s L’homme. The...

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:27:02 -0600

I’ve long been a fan of YSL’s L’homme. The “Le Nuit” is a pleasant variation on it. I am on a perfume spree.

A lovely fragrance.

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:04:56 -0600

A lovely fragrance.

Highly recommended. An excellent film in every aspect.

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 09:41:34 -0600

Highly recommended. An excellent film in every aspect.

Feel It All Around by Washed Out I am hooked on this....

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:22:38 -0600

Feel It All Around by Washed Out

I am hooked on this. It’s so summery, and for some reason makes me want to watch La Dolce Vita.

Vulgar and hilarious. Highly recommended. Hello world.

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:07:52 -0600

Vulgar and hilarious. Highly recommended.

Hello world.

To Lose Someone by Taken by Trees Better late than never,...

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:18:31 -0500

To Lose Someone by Taken by Trees

Better late than never, right? Another P4k recommendation. It’s good. Enjoy the silence.

The Great Quiet.

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:18:20 -0500

It’s coming. It may have even started. I’m not really sure. What that means is that my posting will continue to become more and more infrequent. I have not been posting much as of late anyway, so expect it to be a bit worse. I will still try to post the occasional song, rant, or link. I’ll try to leave you all (I don’t think anyone reads this site anymore) with a song sometime in the next couple of days. This does not mean that dokital.com is dead. I plan to keep this domain for a long time, and I’ll post when I can. Thanks to those of you that paid attention during the last 9 months or so.

Blood Bank by Bon Iver I had seen the name Bon Iver all over...

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:52:00 -0500

Blood Bank by Bon Iver

I had seen the name Bon Iver all over the place, but never thought about actually listening to his music. Then on NPR they had a segment discussing the best songs of the year so far, and Blood Bank made the list. It may not be exactly appropriate for August, but you should still be able to enjoy it.

Capitalism and Freedom

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:05:00 -0500

I know very little about economics. I took a single course in high school, and that’s it. Arguments about economic systems and policies are interesting to me, but I have no real basis of knowledge to challenge any of them. During university, I took a course on Marxism. The concepts in that course were incredibly abstruse. I did walk away from it feeling that I knew at least a little bit about what Marxism is, but again, I was only able to really argue against it on the basis of principals, not specifics. I decided to read Milton Friedman mostly out of interest, and because I find myself agreeing with classical liberal (what people today call libertarian) ideas about freedom and the role of government. Attempting to understand the relationship between government and economic matters through a classical liberal perspective was the next logical step.

Friedman’s writing is concise, and easy to understand. This was a big help, as he explained economic concepts in terms I could understand without too much trouble. At times I did have to look up certain topics in order to gain a better background on it, but that took place infrequently. This straight forward and well explained book is very convincing. It’s hard to argue against someone advocating personal freedoms and the importance of choice . He goes about explaining why choice and freedom are important in a variety of areas; education, monetary policy, occupations, the postal system, etc. As I stated, I don’t have a basis of knowledge to challenge Friedman on these topics. However, even if I did have the expertise required to do so, I don’t think I’d have much success. His ideas are well thought out, and are strongly presented. They make sense to me.

This book was written in 1962. It’s old, and many things have changed since. it’s interesting to note that many things Friedman advocates in the text actually came to pass. For example, allowing personal ownership of gold. That had been banned in the 30s, and in the 70s it was permitted again. He also comes out in favor of floating exchange rates, which happened in the United States soon after the book was released. On both issues, today people wouldn’t argue against them (at least I don’t think they would). Friedman seemed to be ahead of his time, and perhaps his other ideas (a negative income tax) should be given more consideration. Especially in these days where a recession has lead to people abandoning the free market ship entirely.

In Your Heart by A Place to Bury Strangers I was going to try...

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:36:54 -0500

In Your Heart by A Place to Bury Strangers

I was going to try and write something substantial instead of posting another song. Then this happened. Great band, and another great album. Not much more needs to be said.

Spiracle by Soap&Skin Austrian Anja Plaschg goes by...

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:31:00 -0500

Spiracle by Soap&Skin

Austrian Anja Plaschg goes by Soap&Skin. It’s hard really to find the right words to describe her music. It’s pretty dark, at times piano or string driven, and quite sweeping. This is a Pitchfork discovery, but I’m glad they’re giving her some attention. The comparison to Björk is a good one, in terms of strangeness of vocals and the type of songs you’re going to get, but there are major differences too. She, Anja, seems like a strange and shy person. That’s all I could gather anyway from watching a Deutsch language interview with her. I could be way off, as my Deutsch has never been all that good. The whole album is worth listening to, as I can’t imagine most of you have heard anything like this before.

Out of Time by Blur This is my song of the moment. I’ve...

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:18:17 -0500

Out of Time by Blur

This is my song of the moment. I’ve never listened to Blur too much. I’m trying to change that. This song is sort of mellow, and interesting. No monster guitar riffs here; they’ve got nice variety to their sound.

An Introduction to Legal Reasoning

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:06:00 -0500

If you’re interested in the law, thinking about going to law school, or just have time to waste, this book is up your alley. Levi does a fine job explaining the importance of ambiguity in the law, and how law evolves over time using a variety of cases as examples. It’s a very short book, but that does not mean it is an easy read. At times, it is quite on the dry side. It also requires a good deal of focus, as the writing style borders on abstruse. With the advent of school near, I felt this book was an appropriate choice. After having read it, I am glad I chose it.

Bump by The American Dollar Simple, spacey and gorgeous music...

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:46:00 -0500

Bump by The American Dollar

Simple, spacey and gorgeous music to relax or zone out to. The greatest advantage of being thief is that it leads to discovery of things you’d otherwise never hear.

Waking from its sleep

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:53:00 -0500

Waking from its sleep:

A special report from the Economist on the state of the Arab world. Highly recommended.

It has been a while. I like hotels.

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:37:00 -0500

It has been a while. I like hotels.

Unwind by Julian Plenti (Paul Banks) Album leaks always seem to...

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:20:00 -0500

Unwind by Julian Plenti (Paul Banks)

Album leaks always seem to come in pretty terrible quality. So you’ve been warned, this isn’t going to sound all that crisp. I decided to choose a song that was upbeat, but also very non-Interpol-y. This is Plenti/Banks doing a full on indie pop song. Surprisingly, it’s not that bad. It’s simple, and enjoyable. I think that sums up the whole album for the most part. It has nice variety between mellow acoustic songs, and upbeat rock songs. However none of the songs come across as compelling. I can listen to the whole album and there’s no moment where I think “Man, I really want to go back and listen to song X again.” Then there’s the matter of the lyrics. Banks ambiguity has been replaced with awkwardness and nonsense. The song Girl on the Sporting News sounds like a slightly more serious Flight of the Conchords song. This isn’t to say all the tracks are awful lyrically, some are decent. Overall, this album is a collection of interesting, varied, and enjoyable songs, but still one step short of being something great.

In Search of Dignity

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:21:16 -0500

In Search of Dignity:

Worth reading.

Jealous of Roses by Bibio Pretty funky song. I like it quite a...

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:23:00 -0500

Jealous of Roses by Bibio

Pretty funky song. I like it quite a bit, good for summer listening. The whole album is fairly enjoyable, although at times it becomes a bit more like background music. Still worth checking out.