The Smalrus Web Site

• My friend @deependzen has surprised me by coming in from Toronto for the bachelor party… In west village 12:09:34
• Just walked across the Highline… Now going to hit a bucket of balls at Chelsea Piers. 13:58:43

• What happened to Bluefly? Economy woes? #projectrunway 22:31:53
• Some of these dresses arent bad, but not red carpet worthy… until Ra’mon #projectrunway 22:40:36
• Some of these dresses are too couture for red carpet… (am I the only straight man watching this?) #projectrunway 22:43:20
• You know Ill go crazy if I dont go crazy tonight… (or in an hour 5) 22:54:28
• Kudos to @lifetimetv for keeping us tuned to your channel for 3.5 straight hours, including the commercials. #projectrunway 23:02:18
• These are my twisted words When I feel you still walking. I know I should not look down But I’m so sick of just talking. 23:14:39
• 45 min… 23:16:53
• iTunes on: Radiohead – These Are My Twisted Words: http://www.last.fm/music/Radiohead http://bit.ly/22SnpG 23:26:46
• Because I can… Back in the day, I used to put it on my web site. ? http://blip.fm/~c1wdw 00:01:43

• If I dont get out of here soon enough, Im gonna end up spending a consecutive afternoon watching Full House. :S 12:02:56
• At Woodstar, reading about discriminant, factor, and cluster analyses and multidimensional scaling… School will be fun!! :p 15:46:13
• RT @financialtimes: CBS and Pepsi bring video ads to printed page: When some Entertainment Weekly… http://bit.ly/tgUKA 18:16:20
• Around 48 hours til Im back in NYC… 18:39:42
• You know whats a cool geek term? “Recursive algorithm.” 19:44:16

OPINION | August 17, 2009 The Opinionator: Whole Foods Fight By Eric Etheridge A health care op-ed by the C.E.O. of the food chain is causing some to boycott its stores.

Quite frankly, I’m not surprised by any of the liberal outrage… John Mackey is a libertarian (the first HuffPo guy has it all wrong — an easy misrepresentation) and for obvious ideological reasons would be against government-run healthcare. But Mackey is also proof that doing good doesnt have to be altruistic… but if its not, it definitely has to be profitable.  For obvious business reasons, if Mackey’s company is already providing good healthcare benefits, a government-led health care initiative would undercut Whole Foods Market’s competitive advantage.

The problem with the original WSJ op-ed (which most of his boycotters will probably overlook) was that Mackey wrote it in his capacity as WFM CEO, rather than his personal capacity.  Apparently even after the “Rahodeb” fiasco, Mackey has yet to learn a few lessons in PR. In speaking on behalf of his company, obviously like this article says, he railed against most of the demographic of his own company. But had he written in a personal capacity, he could have (though probably wouldn’t have) easily been forgiven.

Personally, the only thing I ideologically disagree with Mackey on is ending government mandates regarding what insurance companies may cover. But then, I’m not a free-market libertarian, so that makes sense to me that Mackey would propose such an idea. It is also the reason why Mackey asserts that “all countries with socialized medicine ration health care by forcing their citizens to wait in lines to receive scarce treatments”: a libertarian would obviously choose the free-markets to decide resource scarcity allocation —  in opposition to a liberal, who would look toward government to determine resource scarcity allocation.

What Mackey writes is nothing new, is nothing earth-shattering, and is nothing that is out-of-line by libertarian standards (“many of our health care problems are self-inflicted” not the least of his statements). It’s thus no surprise he chose to go to the right-leaning WSJ for publication. What is ironic is that the well-educated consumers who threaten boycott fail to recognize any of this — further proof of the ideological polarization and incivility to which the United States is headed (this is not to mention that, as indicated in the Times blog, those on the far left are likely supporting farmers’ markets and co-ops, rather than corporate America).  Opposing viewpoints are treated with incredulity, rather than any form of rational discourse.  But this is another subject…

Again though, I come back to the fact that the byline should have read “The author writes in a personal capacity,” theoretically (though not realistically) avoiding such ridiculous conflict.  Those who are boycotting Whole Foods Markets on the basis of Mackey’s op-ed are just plain pound-wise and penny foolish.

Third Eye Blind
Ursa Major
Sony RED Distribution
Rating: 6/10

The last time Third Eye Blind released an album (2003′s Out of the Vein), mp3s hadn’t yet reached the ubiquity brought about by Apple’s iPod success.  Six years later, frontman Stephen Jenkins sings that his “mp3 is out of juice” on “Sharp Knife,” from the band’s fourth album, Ursa Major.  Much like the rest of the album though, this is just another one of Jenkins’s pseudo-profound observations on life.

As a matter of musical taste, I have always liked 3EB, however the music coming out of Ursa Major is a little more questionable, particularly in comparison to the band’s earlier efforts.  Part of this may be reflected in Jenkins’s unusual fascination with L.A.’s kitsch-profundity; part of this may be reflected in the band’s endlessly re-shifting lineup.  (n.b.–On Ursa Major, the band has dismissed bassist Arion Salazar.)  Thus it stands to highlight some of the reasons Ursa Major doesn’t stack up to the band’s prior ventures.

The album appears to pick off where Vein left off, with most of the ‘heavier’ songs mimicking older songs.  Ursa Major opens on a strong note, with the chorus on “Can You Take Me” equating to Vein‘s “Blinded.”  But “One in Ten” and “About to Break” have this eerie Counting Crows-like backing track (and is there really a point to any of the lesbian-obsession going on?).  They’re both too slow to be able to match even the infamous 90′s rock ballad “How’s it Gonna Be” of 1997′s Third Eye Blind and are almost more like “Wake For Young Souls” and “Self-Righteous” off Vein — both weaker songs.

“Dao of St. Paul” opens with a riff similar to “Thanks A Lot” from the band’s self-titled debut, but the rest of the song fails to hit with the same pungency as the original, heading to a soft choir at the end.  Sure, the lyrical content on Ursa Major weaves between the political (“Don’t Believe a Word”) and the amouronarcissistic (“Bonfire”), but maybe that’s part of the problem.

3EB has made some of its most memorable songs when it’s focused on one lyrical dimension (“Semi-Charmed Life” from self-titled or “Never Let You Go” from 1999′s Blue) or on the musical talents of its members (“Darwin” from Blue or “Forget Myself” from Vein).  Sadly, Brad Hargreaves and Tony Fredianelli have become background players to Jenkins’s obsession with lyrics.  ”Summer Town” and “Why Can’t You Be” are typical 3EB-sounding songs only because they mildly echo of 3EB in a way that goes beyond Jenkins’s vocals.

Stephen Jenkins should have grown and matured “his band,” rather than abruptly try to have his cake and eat it too.  It’s now become quite evident that whether we like it or not, 3EB albums are going to be both kitschy 90′s pop-rock and 90′s politballads, completely throwing direction to the wind.