Top Songs 2016
The sixth annual listing of my top music for the year. A wonderful end for the Cubs, concert heavy and two OK Go videos in a year!
YouTube Playlist:
Or Spotify if that’s your preference (not complete).
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Top Songs 2015 #TBT
The fifth annual listing of top music for the year. Categorized more than ranked, pop music heavy because I’m busy, likely missing something profound, but full of good times.
A full accounting YouTube Playlist.
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Milwaukee’s Lead Legacy: A New Wisconsinite’s Observations of His Adopted State
When you move to a new place there are things you think about because you know they will change (mailing address, insurance coverage and cost, and, if you are me, local elected officials). There are other things you don’t think about because they are part of a cultural background and as a stranger in a strange land you don’t know they change (Every one eats at a Friday fish fry, Neighborhoods set days/times for Trick-or-Treating, and, if you are not me, local elected officials). One thing I never considered when moving to Milwaukee was that my tap water might not be safe to drink.
It’s not. My tap water has lead in it.
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Skyfall as Art #TBT
Skyfall, the 23rd official Bond Film, has opened to the typical Bond fanfare, but also continues the attempt of the Daniel Craig era to create serious film-as-art. While Skyfall’s predecessors Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace took the serious rather than campy route as well, Skyfall surpasses them as art. This is largely because of of an Academy Award winning Director – Sam Mendes – and another star laden cast, but mostly Skyfall achieves this status because it prominently features and uses artwork to advance the plot. Paintings, the oldest visual medium, are used to heroic effect in Skyfall and frame Skyfall AS art. […]
Burning Eyeball: A New Wisconsinite’s Observations of His Adopted State
There came a point in the five minutes with my eyeball under a steady stream of water attempting to flush out the oil that was making me familiar with what a minor level of hell feels like where my body accepted this as my new normal. I would forever be stuck with my head in a sink, my sight restricted to a big light blur, speaking to the disembodied voice of my friend behind me.
Since I am not dictating this post from a sink, let’s back up. […]
It’s About More Than Rides to the Polls
It’s the time on Election Day, every year, where I am reading with a smile about everyone getting out and voting and I stumble across the inevitable question: “How can I give people rides to the polls?” As a former political field organizer, I cringe at this question.
When I was a political field organizer, come Election Day, I was inundated with well-meaning civic-minded citizens wanting to give people rides the polls. The Capraesque feeling that must come from giving an octogenarian, slow moving but quick-witted, a ride to the polls so they can exercise their duty to help choose our elected officials as a member of our representative democracy must be a high akin to heroin. Everyone wants a taste.
I wouldn’t know. I have never given rides to the polls as I was busy working to win the election. […]
Searching Through Smoke: A New Wisconsinite’s Observations of His Adopted State
Moving to a new state means experiencing a new local culture. I expected, as a new Wisconsinite, I would have fewer culture shocks than being a new resident of, say, Alabama or Hawaii as I moved from another, similar, Midwestern state. Similar is not the same, however, and, despite Wisconsin’s statewide smoking ban, I ended up searching through smoke for a bar to watch sports. Smoking is still a problem in Wisconsin.
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In Defense of Vaccination #TBT
Vaccines
Whenever anyone says they are anti-vaccination the first image I think of is this one:
The photo is reductionist, of course, but it’s also powerful. Powerful because it encapsulates the current anti-vaccine debate: Vaccines cure and prevent deadly and debilitating diseases and yet are viewed as an olde tymey relic. For pro-vaccine advocates vaccination’s benefits are established history and to argue otherwise is as incomprehensible as arguing against the Holocaust. For anti-vaccine advocates there’s a mountain of “evidence” and the wisdom of mothers and fathers with first-hand “experience” and “logical” caution.
I use quotation marks, because I am pro-vaccination; this post is in defense of vaccination: a scientific, humanitarian, and moral position. […]
Playing With WordPress (Publishing a Website Part 2)
(Part 2 of the series: Publishing a Website. Read Part 1.)
Playing with WordPress
In Part 1, I had decided on the purpose for my website (professional web presence, blog, and acting repository), had chosen a web publishing platform (WordPress), and picked a web hosting service (1&1). I had not yet purchased a domain name through the web hosting service. I knew the path I wanted to take, however, I had not yet paid to drive on it.
My path to publishing a website stopped prior to purchasing so I could play with WordPress. I wanted to learn the user interface, test out the features, and ultimately see if I could actually use WordPress as a publishing platform before I paid someone to host my website. How to do that for free? […]
Domains, Platforms, and Hosting Services (Publishing a Website Part 1)
Elevated Advice
My new website – matthewcollie.com – is up! Please comment with feedback.
I hope, like this gate I saw in southern California, that this website displays well, hinders none and is a place to refresh and rest before traveling on. Let me know if I fail to live up to that.
Yet, I have lived 33 years without a personal website so that begs the question:
Why a personal website? […]