Aldate is wondering when “nougth” week ends…
Can any OxStu types shed any light?
Blog Page 2196
The Second Presidential Debate
It’s done. Join me next Wednesday at 2am for the third, and final, presidential debate.
3.37am | In summary – All in all a not very dramatic debate. Both candidates gave reasonably strong performances and, whilst McCain shaking hands with the veteran provided a strong visual, there weren’t really any standout or break through moments. There was certainly no gamechanger.
Based on the outcome of the first debate, I wouldn’t be surprised if this one goes to Obama again in the snap polls and focus groups. He once again passed the commander-in-chief, ready from day one test, which, given his polling lead, was all he needed to do.
3.30am | Final question – The question is “what don’t you know, and how would you learn it.” Obama turns to his biography and talks about unanticipated challenges and the need for a new direction. McCain also turns to his personal narrative and says the country needs a “steady hand at the tiller.” I don’t know if it was a verbal slip, but McCain also says he will “rescue his record.”
3.25am | Israel – A good question this. If Iran attacked Israel, would the US wait for the UN Security Council before sending troops. McCain says he wouldn’t wait, but not before he thanks the member of the audience the question is from for their military service and shakes their hand.
Obama is slightly more balanced – he talks about avoiding the situation but admits that he wouldn’t want the UN to have a veto over the ability of the US to intervene.
3.19am | Russia – This is basically the latter part of the first debate on a loop at the moment. The candidates have moved onto Russia and McCain repeats his ‘I’ve looked into Putin’s eyes and seen KGB’ line.
3.09am | Pakistan – McCain has named both Ronald Regan and now Teddy Roosevelt as his personal heroes tonight. Meanwhile, both candidates are reiterating their positions on warning Pakistan in the event of operations across the border from Afghanistan.
Obama turns a McCain (really Teddy Roosevelt) line about talking softly but carrying a big stick into a hit over the “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” gaffe. McCain has to explain that he was “joking with a veteran.”
3.04am | Military intervention and genocide – Senator Obama talks about moral obligations: would you have standed by if you could stop the Holocaust, he asks. He also notes that the US has to work with her allies; American troops can’t be everywhere at once.
McCain has, I think, somewhat misjudged the tone of answering this one. He hits Obama on setting a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq straight away.
3.00am | The economy and military standing – How can America play an international peace-making role? McCain: “America is the greatest force for good in the history of the world.” He plays on his military past and judgement on foreign policy. This is real McCain territory and he’s answering well. He sounds less like a grumpy old man, and more emotionally resonant in this section.
Obama turns again to his, now traditional, judgement argument: “Senator McCain was cheerleading the President on going into Iraq.”
2.55am | Healthcare choice – Both candidates repeat the relevant portions of their stump speeches, livened only by McCain’s dig at hair transplants (aka. Senator Biden).
McCain says healthcare is a responsibility, not a right or privilege. Obama, by contrast, says it is a right and he mentions his mother dying of cancer in a hospital bed at 53 while arguing with insurance firms. It’s the first anecdote in a wave of policy detail, and one that might well connect with voters.
2.49am | Minutiae – This is getting increasingly bogged down in relatively minute back-and-forths between the two candidates, I can imagine a lot of people beginning to switch off. The losers here are the voters, but Obama is also not complaining. So far McCain hasn’t produced one of the gamechanging moments he needs.
In the meantime, McCain just called Obama “that one.” Perhaps not the best comment for someone looking to appear more respectful than he did in the first debate.
2.43am | Environmental issues – McCain repeats his support for nuclear power. Generally, so far both candidates have seemed pretty authoritative. No big moments so far, but strong performances from both. If anything, the answers have all been just a bit dull.
2.36am | Tax raises – Talking of past presidents, McCain brings up Herbert Hoover, ‘the last President to raise taxes during a time of economic crisis.’ Obama’s tax proposals are like jello – that there have been at least six but that the essence is that the Illinois senator would raise taxes.
2.28am | What can you do for your country – The question, from the internet, asks what sacrifices each American will have to make. McCain talks again about eliminating agencies that aren’t working. He mentioned a federal spending freeze in the last debate and he does that again here; he’s certainly staking out his Reagan-small government principles.
Senator McCain also hits back, pretty effectively, on Obama’s failure to say he can’t do all three of the priorities just listed at once. Tell that to the person desperate for health care, he says.
Obama brings up 9/11 and the country coming together, and then turns to fuel-efficiency sacrifices. He’s also looking to involve young people – he promises to encourage volunteering and to double the Peace Corps. If McCain is laying claim to Reagan’s legacy, Obama’s turning to JFK.
2.24am | One for me, one for you – Tom Brokaw the moderator gets to ask a question in between each audience question. He asks the candidates which order they place healthcare, energy and social security (entitlement reform) in. McCain refuses to prioritise and says he’ll do all three at once. Ronald Reagan gets a shout out again, so too does Teddy Kennedy – he’s bipartisan don’t you know.
Obama mentions the local price of petrol though it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t buy gas in Nashville so not sure quite how genuine that ‘man of the people’ remark really seems. Obama lists his priorities as energy, healthcare, education and then hits back at McCain on earmarks.
2.19am | Trust – The question is about how either candidate can be trusted when both parties are to blame for the economic situation.
Obama avoids his typical bi-partisan themes. He points out that Bush inherited a surplus and left a deficit and that McCain voted for 4 of 5 Bush budgets.
So far both candidates are criticising each other regularly but the format doesn’t quite allow them to engage with each other directly. they’re too busy speaking to the audience members. Not to hark on about this, but it’s somewhat disconcerting.
McCain’s up now, he’s pushing his bi-partisan credentials. However, he’s also turning to Obama’s excessive earmark spending. It’s an odd one to return to. Many voters get that $3m here and there doesn’t really matter in relation to a $700 billion deal, and pundits suggested that the earmark speech by McCain didn’t really work in the first debate.
2.11am | That Bailout – How will that bailout help real America? McCain notes that it’s hurting Main Street, but turns the question to Obama’s earlier support for Fannie and Freddie. Style-wise McCain continues to keep this very personal. He’s directly addressing the man who asked the question.
Obama follows suit, addressing ‘Oliver’ by his first name. They’re both putting in hits on each other, but it’s all remaining pretty cordial thus far. Obama seeks to correct McCain’s statements on his ties to Fannie and Freddie. McCain thinks American workers are great.
2.09am | Next Treasury Secretary – Both are asked who they’d name to succeed Henry Paulson. McCain opens with a joke “not you Tom”, and names Warren Buffet (who has supported Obama) and the former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Obama says Buffet might be a good choice, but moves on to his standard themes – pushing for a middle class tax cut etc.
2.04am | Economic crisis – Obama’s up first. He calls it the “worst financial crisis since the first depression.” McCain was criticised for not looking at Obama last time, he’s already done that. McCain is addressing his answer directly to individual audience members, he’s standing very close to the crowd.
This format really is very odd. The two candidates are free to roam in front of a small audience which surrounds, or rather is on, three sides of the stage.
2.02am | We’re underway – Tom Brokaw is hosting, and he’s introducing the rules. The questions are from 100 local voters covering a range of topics.
And here are the candidates, perched somewhat awkwardly on stools.
1.58am | Introduction – Better late than never, the second Presidential Debate is about to start in Tennessee so join me for live analysis as the liveblogging begins.
You can follow the debate live at cnn.com.
College construction chaos
Three Oxford colleges have failed to complete construction work on schedule, forcing some students to live in temporary accommodation miles from the main campus.
Finalists at Wadham have been disturbed by works, while over-running renovation work at Queen’s and Christ Church has meant students have been relocated elsewhere.
Wadham’s iconic front quad is currently being gutted as part of renovation plans for the college.
“I am worried it’s going to distract me during my finals,” said a fourth-year Wadham student. “If I had known about all this it would have made me think twice about applying to this college.”
“One of the reasons I chose my room was that it was looking out onto the most picturesque part of Wadham, which was obviously now in vain as the place is a building site,” said the student.
“It is a massive hassle – finding somewhere to wash my clothes is not something I need in my final year” they said.
Unlike Queen’s, however, Wadham did not warn its finalists of the disruption or offer them alternative, off-campus accommodation.
Queen’s is having building work done on its back quad, inhabited by finalists, where a kitchen is being replaced.
One Queen’s student, who wished to remain anonymous, said that students have been advised not to bother working in the college library during the evening and told to use the faculty facilities instead.
“The back quad looks absolutely horrible,” said a Queens English finalist, “And it is difficult to work in the library due to the noise. The library has been supplied with earplugs…You do feel cheated out of the Oxford experience.”
Jodie Melbourne, a second year Material Scientist at Queens and entz rep, said, “It’s made organisation of Freshers’ Week and college events difficult. Hopefully the Dean will give and take a bit more in terms of venues.”
“It’s sad. The porters said the college will eventually look great, but most of us aren’t going to be here by the time its all done,” she added.
Additionally, unfinished work on Christ Church’s Blue Boar building means that current second-years are to live on an Iffley Road site instead. Francis Newson, a Christ Church second year, said, “I found out about two weeks ago…It is a pain to be further away from college.” He also noted the inconvenience to students’ social lives, adding, “There is no student bar here so buying drinks will be more expensive.”
Last year, students disadvantaged by building work at Teddy Hall were refunded one week’s rent for the inconvenience. Currently there are no plans to compensate students affected this year.
Album Review: Ani DiFranco
Maturity’s an interesting concept. Put it one way, and you’ve become wiser, mellower, better able to accept all life has to offer. Put it another way, and it just means you’re settling into pipe, slippers and musical pigeon-hole.
One of folk’s most prolific and vocal performers, Ani Difranco has always been better known for her overall album creations, rather than for one unforgettable single. Some outpourings have been better than others; albums of the late ‘90s tended towards the monstrous, with different elements unpleasantly mated to create jarring sounds.
Red Letter Year marks something of a return to form for the American, with her voice and the backing band forming a mostly harmonious whole. Here maturity has had a positive effect, mellowing her sound, creating a cheerful, warm album that still incorporates some interesting experimentation.
While there are undoubted highlights, such as the uplifting ‘Smiling Underneath’ and punchy ‘Alla This’, individual songs flow into one another in a pleasant auditory stroll. Only the pointless last track, an ill-conceived band reprise, strikes a jarring note.
Her lyrics, however, veer between the shameful and the inspired: lazy, derivative anti-Bush rhetoric sits cheek-by-jowl with breathtakingly elegant expressions of love and clever, incisive metaphors.
Ultimately, though, this album has been shaped by Difranco’s new motherhood, and it shows; this is music for former firebrands of the early 90’s, now settled with kids, but unwilling to let go of their music and politics.
Although Difranco keeps some sharp lines for her old adversaries, her real emotion is reserved for the personal sphere. Perhaps she’s more honest that way, but I feel maturity has blunted her edges.
Two stars
Album Review: TV On The Radio
‘I was listening to TV on the Radio back when the audience was just me and Bowie.’ Thus my housemate’s indignant riposte to whether the New York group’s more arty tendencies were to his liking.
True, some of the band’s previous offerings are an acquired taste but with Dear Science they have created an album that, though sacrificing none of the ingenuity of previous releases, is accessible enough that you don’t have to be an emaciated, eternally-reincarnated androgyne, or my housemate, to enjoy it.
The difference is immediately apparent on the album’s first single, ‘Golden Age’. In place of ‘Wolf Like Me’, the driving, feral anthem of 2006’s Return to Cookie Mountain, is a vibrant and joyous melody.
David Sitek’s production departs dramatically from prior recordings; gone is the dense, dirty sound of old – clean and sharp is in. This contrast enhances the spartan, vocal-led verse and the explosive chorus alike, the latter accentuated by the afrobeat horns of Antibalas.
This new abundance of instrumentation and pop sensibility does not, however, come at the expense of sacrificing the aesthetic of the early years. The same marriage of sinister and sublime lives on throughout Dear Science, particularly evident in the juxtaposition of the album’s last two tracks.
In ‘DLZ’, Tunde Adebimpe’s voice is at his most menacing and made more unsettling still when backed by Kyp Malone’s ethereal harmonising. The same vocal pairing, when transplanted into the closer ‘Lover’s Day’, produces a blissfully optimistic and unrepentantly erotic fanfare; the pair let us know that “Of course there are miracles/Lovers in love, that’s one.”
This is combined with the ecstatic instrumental assault of flute, clarinet, saxophone and more, so by the end you can’t help but agree that indeed there are miracles: Dear Science. That’s one.
Four stars
Venue Review: University Church
Oxford’s a great city no matter what you’re into. Venues range from tiny, hidden pubs and clubs, to breathtakingly huge concert halls.
First up this term is the beautiful University Church. With incredible acoustics, a rather natty black-and-white floor, and a seating capacity of nearly two hundred, the church boasts an events programme featuring some of the finest musicians and orchestras of this fair city, including brass bands, string quartets and college choirs.
The music is more than enhanced by the venue’s unrivalled atmosphere, in one of the city’s oldest and most beautiful buildings. The lofty roof creates an acoustic chamber that amplifies the smallest sound, often drawing in passers-by entranced by the otherworldly music seeping onto the High Street. Occasional lulls in repertoire can be filled by reading the various tombstones scattering the walls and floors.
Even for a seasoned college-dweller, with the organ belting out Handel’s Messiah and a full Oxford choir filling the eaves with sound it’s hard not to feel utterly transported by the spectacle, while any daring trip to the back rooms goes up creepy passages and crumbling staircases where it seems Cromwell’s troops have only just left.
A concert in the University Church is one of those experiences that transports you to ‘the other Oxford’, and it’s the kind of place you probably ought to take your mum at least once as well.
Sounds like Michaelmas
Live music
By Eithne Bradley
Welcome back! The skies are getting darker and the work’s piling up, so give thanks that this term sees some really great music coming to Oxford to cheer up your lives.
First off for those rockers and indie kids amongst you, the term kicks off with Spiritualized at the Academy on 13th, Kids in Glass Houses on the 25th, and Does it Offend You, Yeah? at the Regal on the 28th.
Later on we’re graced by the always reliable Funeral for a Friend at the Academy on 1st Nov, followed swiftly by hot new things The Red Light Company on the 3rd and love-them-or-hate-them Danish europoppers Alphabeat on the 5th.
Uber-hip Dirty Pretty Things come to the Academy on the 16th Nov, with The Whip hard on their indie heels on the 20th. Later, as the nights grow darker, band-to-watch The Rifles are making their way to the Academy on 29th Nov, and finally feel-good rock from Iglu and Hartly rounds off the term with sunshiny tunes on 5th Dec.
Some veteran favourites are turning up, like American ska pioneers Less Than Jake (11th Nov, Academy), perky girl-rockers The Pipettes (26th Oct, Academy) and on 15th Oct British Sea Power (right) at The Regal.
If you’re feeling the urge to go urban, The Scratch Perverts are burning a set at The Regal on 24th Oct. If you get your kicks from the dubious delights of Finnish Cello-Metal (and why wouldn’t you) Apocalyptica will be converging on the Academy on 2nd December.
However, if chilling is more in line after missing a couple of essay deadlines, try folk for more gentle tunes; James Yuill plays the Regal on 17th Oct, Seth Lakeman the Academy on 28th Oct, and Jolie Holland plays the same venue on 3rd Dec. Even folk-rock star Martha Wainwright pays Oxford Town Hall a visit on 4th Nov.
If you feel you need more brain cells, but missed out on Bach in the womb, don’t worry; you can get a similar effect at one of the many classical and baroque concerts Oxford has to offer, ranging from the Oxford Chamber Orchestra (Town Hall, 1st Nov) to the String Ensemble who fill the University Church on the 15th, as do the Brass Band on the 21st, up to the grand finale in 7th Week as the Philharmonic play their end-of-term concert at the Sheldonian.
Meanwhile, you are lucky enough to reside in one of the jazziest cities in Britain, with regular Thursday night spots at the Wheatsheaf for some of the best musicians around, from virtuoso flautist Gareth Lochrane to superb improvisers the Jutta Party Band on 16th and 23rd Oct respectively.
Album releases
By Harry Thompson
Whether you love them or hate them, or liked them way back when but now find them hilariously irrelevant, rock giants Oasis return this month with Dig Out Your Soul. Reports of writer’s block on Noel’s part don’t encourage favourable expectations and recent releases hardly hint at drastic change of sound. But maybe, just maybe, the Brothers Gallagher can pull something worthwhile out of their money-soaked fundaments.
In the battle of the Coldplay tribute bands we have releases from piano-abusing balladeers Keane and those emphatic Snow Patrol types. I reckon the latter should easily edge the former out, due to their superior ability in making songs that actually aren’t half bad.
Sticking with British guitar bands for a little longer, Kaiser Chiefs will be dropping Off With Their Heads, undoubtedly continuing their phenomenal success on our fair isles, and seem to have started writing actual songs rather than just glorified football chants.
On the other end of the spectrum is Amadou & Mariam’s Welcome To Mali, which will be attempting to capture the irrepressible joy of their live performances, which feature a potent mix of traditional Malian sounds, rock guitars, Columbian trombones and Cuban trumpets.
Another band offering a unique aural experience is San Francisco’s Deerhoof, who release Offend Maggie, the follow up to 2007’s indescribable Friend Opportunity. I still can’t quite get to grips with their elastic approach to group dynamics and rhythm and ‘Hello Kitty’ vocals, but maybe this will be the LP to change my mind.
Somewhere in the distant midst of November, Kanye West should be treating us to another burst of his world-beating hip-hop-pop hybrid with 808s & Heartbreak. Expect to be hearing every single track in a club near you soon.
Lastly the two I’m most looking forward to; both albums coming a scant year after the respective bands’ previous musical offerings, the quite different sounds of Texan folk-rockers Okkervil River and Cardiff-based indie-poppers Los Campesinos. The former is releasing the second half of what was intended to be a double album, with themes shared between the two LPs, the latter a limited release collection of ten all new, unheard songs written since the release of their debut.
Without going all misty-eyed with fanboy love, I can hardly wait for either.