Quotation of the Day

Since this is my birthday month, I'm especially aware of the fact that I have, indeed, spent three decades of life already. It's all gone by inconceivably fast and I'm very sure 80 is just around the corner.
Hence, the following paragraph, via Tyler over at MR, made me chuckle and think.
"When I'm old, I want to be the octogenarian that the Young Turks come to with their crazy new ideas. I don't want to be the senior professor that the whippersnapper assistant profs avoid. Above all else, I never want to be a lunch tax - I like lunch too much."
Ha!

What's HetPer?

So, HetPer?
This blog does have a pretty long name, I know. I picked this name as a way of capturing the theoretical and popular gist of my observation. But since I'm also a believer of space and time economy, I have been wide open to nickname suggestions.

Some of my readers refer to the blog as the HetPer. So by way of this post, I am informing the rest of my readers that I support such an abbreviation.

HetPer is happy to announce that it will be providing a number of brand-new music reviews this month as there are some exciting new projects out there now.

Thanks for all your suggestions and comments.

Madonna's Hard Candy Worth the Wait?

Madonna's new album Hard Candy just came out. Of course, I got to it the day it was released not because I'm a Madonna fan, as I intimated to Liam, but because it's, well, Madonna. The 49-year-old with an inconceivably fit body who keeps rocking en vogue simply begs for attention.

Hard Candy has a hip sound, no doubt. It's typically Madonna, though. The material girl is known for reinventing herself and since she's done so a great many times, it's now to be expected.
My music sensitivities don't quite align that comfortably with 'Madonna sounds' as I'm Indie to the core and proud of it, but I can still appreciate what she sets out to do with Hard Candy. Songs like "Hard Candy", "She's Not Me", and, of course, the futuristic-sounding "4 minutes" deliver well enough.
The marriage of techno/house and hip-hop-ish Pop seems to be nigh functional, I found.
I've only had the album for a day now and I haven't played it a whole lot, at least not as much as I have Rilo Kiley or Tegan & Sara, but it's listenable. It's a good album to have when working out or moving about fast with or without purpose.
"I'm tired of doing the same old thing" she says in "Beat Goes On" and she's true to her word, I find.
In nuce, Hard Candy appeals to the basic senses of the fast-paced urbanite and I bet it will sell well. I liked it enough to get it the day it was released and I don't even self-identify as a Madonna-phile.

And to show how serious true Madonna fans are about her and her music, read today's NY Times feature on her New York concert. Here's a snippet:

"The line outside Roseland, on West 52nd Street, formed 60 hours before show time. By late Tuesday it had stretched around the block as the faithful stood and sat and slept and caffeinated themselves for the chance to score one of the 750 wrist bands that would guarantee free admission."
Read full text here.