I find the Segway simultaneously hilarious and amazing.
On the one hand, the Segway hints at a complete overhaul of the way we think about transportation; maybe in the future, we’ll use goal-specific vehicles rather than catch-all gas guzzlers (in other words, why use the same vehicle for a ten block drive as you’d use for a cross-country trip?). In certain industries–like policing, manufacturing, warehousing–the Segway could make a lot of sense.
On the other hand, they’re completely fucking ridiculous. What on earth made anyone think that these goofy, bulky, space-aged scooters would be popular with the general public? They may be neat in theory, but in reality they’re totally impractical for city use; too big to bring indoors, but too expensive to leave locked up outside (not to mention the fact that something like 30 states have now banned them on sidewalks and roadways). What’s more, though, there’s just something about them that makes you laugh out loud.
So I’ve been interested to see 10MPH, a documentary following two guys who quit their jobs and rode a Segway from Seattle to Boston. I can’t quite explain why I like the idea, but I do. Having done a few long-distance trips through the States, I can’t imagine how different they’d have been if I was moving slowly enough to see and experience the places I traveled through. It would be a sobering lesson in scale.
Anyway, you can rent 10MPH on DVD, or if you live in Austin you can catch it on August 26th at the Alamo South Lamar.
It’s been almost twenty years since Fugazi played their first show. Can you believe that? TWENTY YEARS. But even two decades on, Fugazi still seem more vital and relevant then 99% of music being made today–this despite the fact that they’ve been on an “indefinite hiatus” for several years now.
Unicorn Pride is a short documentary about a Central Texas high school football team with, you guessed it, a Unicorn as their mascot.
The Pitchfork Music Festival is–pound for pound–my favorite outdoor festival. First, there’s the price: fifty dollars for a three day pass, and access to all kinds of cheap food once you’re inside the gates (a huge bottle of water will cost you a dollar, which is such a simple but awesome thing that it might be reason enough to love the PMF). Then there’s the setup: two main stages side-by-side, alternating hour-long sets. There’s very little wait between sets, and it’s easy to catch virtually all the bands you want to see without having to run from stage to stage (there’s a “sidestage”, but the sets are offset by thirty minutes, so you can easily catch half of a sidestage set without missing much). The there’s the lineup: Pitchfork aims for quality rather than quantity, and there are very few gaps between awesome bands. It could be bigger (and more profitable), but it isn’t, and that’s really cool.