Look at that guy with the typewriter on the Eagles' bench!
November 20, 2013 1:16 PM Subscribe
The NFL's Modern Man: How Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Connor Barwin — a bike-riding, socially conscious, Animal Collective–loving hipster — is redefining what it means to be a football player.
Yo, if I was playing for the Eagles, I'd be keeping my CV up to date too.
I can tell that you have been looking at the current standings.
posted by Danf at 1:33 PM on November 20, 2013 [5 favorites]
I can tell that you have been looking at the current standings.
posted by Danf at 1:33 PM on November 20, 2013 [5 favorites]
And they've played better-than-average defense over the last month or so, too. Anyway, yeah, it seems tough to be the 'thoughtful' guy on a pro football team, but I hope Barwin continues to find his way. One thing I can say, if you deliver on the field your teammates and fans will embrace your 'eccentricity;' if you stink, they will blame your non-sporting passions. C'est la vie!
posted by Mister_A at 1:36 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Mister_A at 1:36 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
Look at that guy with the typewriter on the Eagles' bench!
Yes, look at him.
posted by entropicamericana at 1:40 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
Yes, look at him.
posted by entropicamericana at 1:40 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
I hope the professional hazards don't put an end to his charm.
posted by ardgedee at 1:42 PM on November 20, 2013
posted by ardgedee at 1:42 PM on November 20, 2013
Animal Collective? I guess it isn't as bad as tweeting racial slurs to your teammates or dressing up as a person from a particular ethnic group and taunting that person.
posted by Ironmouth at 1:46 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Ironmouth at 1:46 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Weird. I was at that show, right near him. Sunday night, high up in the bleachers. Didn't stand out to me.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 1:54 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 1:54 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Shall we also forgive him the cycling?
OK, as long as it's not on a penny-farthing.
posted by Dr. Twist at 1:56 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
OK, as long as it's not on a penny-farthing.
posted by Dr. Twist at 1:56 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
Animal Collective? I guess it isn't as bad as tweeting racial slurs to your teammates or dressing up as a person from a particular ethnic group and taunting that person.
Can you explain any sort of connection, even a vague, tenuous one, between being a fan of psychedelic rock and doing those bigoted things you listed, such that you thought it appropriate to associate them? Or is this one of those things where you feel the need to flaunt your disdain for sports and athletes, even as you must grudgingly admit that this particular athlete subverts your stereotyped beliefs?
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 1:56 PM on November 20, 2013 [12 favorites]
Can you explain any sort of connection, even a vague, tenuous one, between being a fan of psychedelic rock and doing those bigoted things you listed, such that you thought it appropriate to associate them? Or is this one of those things where you feel the need to flaunt your disdain for sports and athletes, even as you must grudgingly admit that this particular athlete subverts your stereotyped beliefs?
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 1:56 PM on November 20, 2013 [12 favorites]
One of the things that I've gotten a lot better about is not assuming that jocks have to be one-dimensional aggro 'roid heads, and that it's generally pretty great to have more people, any people, into the stuff I like, whether that's biking or local art or whatever.
I had a weird conversation with one of my coworkers the other day about whether I was a hipster. It's a weird thing, that "hipster" has been a zeitgeist for over a decade, and that it still has such a mushy definition. He thought I might be, since I have a beard and am into "cool stuff," but wasn't sure because I don't "have that way of laughing at things." I found it profoundly odd, but he didn't really want to have a conversation where we limn the edges of what "hipster" means.
posted by klangklangston at 1:57 PM on November 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
I had a weird conversation with one of my coworkers the other day about whether I was a hipster. It's a weird thing, that "hipster" has been a zeitgeist for over a decade, and that it still has such a mushy definition. He thought I might be, since I have a beard and am into "cool stuff," but wasn't sure because I don't "have that way of laughing at things." I found it profoundly odd, but he didn't really want to have a conversation where we limn the edges of what "hipster" means.
posted by klangklangston at 1:57 PM on November 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
Bike riding, typewriting and listening to Animal Collective are OVER
posted by Teakettle at 2:07 PM on November 20, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Teakettle at 2:07 PM on November 20, 2013 [4 favorites]
Can you explain any sort of connection, even a vague, tenuous one, between being a fan of psychedelic rock and doing those bigoted things you listed, such that you thought it appropriate to associate them? Or is this one of those things where you feel the need to flaunt your disdain for sports and athletes, even as you must grudgingly admit that this particular athlete subverts your stereotyped beliefs?
you could read that as "he's not doing something egregious, like many other famous recent examples, some of whom are on the same team and thus germane to the conversation, but i'm going to compare Animal Collective to those other egregious acts because I think Animal Collective sucks"
at least that's how I read it.
posted by Dr. Twist at 2:09 PM on November 20, 2013 [7 favorites]
you could read that as "he's not doing something egregious, like many other famous recent examples, some of whom are on the same team and thus germane to the conversation, but i'm going to compare Animal Collective to those other egregious acts because I think Animal Collective sucks"
at least that's how I read it.
posted by Dr. Twist at 2:09 PM on November 20, 2013 [7 favorites]
He's got nothing on Dhani Jones. Former NFL linebacker, fixed-gear cyclist, bike builder, travel journalist, entrepreneur backer, charity bow-tie company owner, famous photo-taker, and aspirational James Bond.
posted by true at 2:10 PM on November 20, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by true at 2:10 PM on November 20, 2013 [6 favorites]
I know nothing of Animal Collective, but found Ironmouth's joke humorous just for the snark. Pretty sure that's all it was, don't think there's a need to get all riled up.
posted by Ickster at 2:16 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Ickster at 2:16 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
look out SHEEPLE! teh hipsterz are coming 4 ur football!
posted by saulgoodman at 2:17 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by saulgoodman at 2:17 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
To me this article reads as "wow, white people play football". Replace this article with a black linebacker that goes to hip-hop shows and strip clubs with rappers and you don't have a story.
posted by empath at 2:20 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by empath at 2:20 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
I don't really know anything about this guy, and he doesn't really seem special other than the fact that he doesn't fit the philistine meathead stereotype.
That said, I find it interesting that he manages to have a public persona outside of being a football player. That's really rare for pro athletes and I've always wondered why that is. Is it just the pressure of being part of an organization of which the community feels ownership? Is there pressure from the team/league to act within certain expectations (beyond the obvious behavioral constraints)? Is it that most athletes at the highest level don't have many deep interests outside sports? Really, I've always wondered.
posted by Ickster at 2:22 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
That said, I find it interesting that he manages to have a public persona outside of being a football player. That's really rare for pro athletes and I've always wondered why that is. Is it just the pressure of being part of an organization of which the community feels ownership? Is there pressure from the team/league to act within certain expectations (beyond the obvious behavioral constraints)? Is it that most athletes at the highest level don't have many deep interests outside sports? Really, I've always wondered.
posted by Ickster at 2:22 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
"To me this article reads as "wow, white people play football". Replace this article with a black linebacker that goes to hip-hop shows and strip clubs with rappers and you don't have a story."
Given that white athletes tend to like rappers and strip clubs just as much as black athletes, that's not really a good analogy. If a black football player was taking indie rockers to strip clubs and going to local shows, that would still be a story, maybe even more of one.
posted by klangklangston at 2:24 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Given that white athletes tend to like rappers and strip clubs just as much as black athletes, that's not really a good analogy. If a black football player was taking indie rockers to strip clubs and going to local shows, that would still be a story, maybe even more of one.
posted by klangklangston at 2:24 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Hey, there's also Chris Cooley. He's got a Jim Halpert/Andy Dwyer vibe going on.
posted by hydrophonic at 2:36 PM on November 20, 2013
posted by hydrophonic at 2:36 PM on November 20, 2013
I knew some college football players in the 1980s who would have been called hipsters today. This guy reminds me of them and their mid-80's punk-rock club attending, pot-smoking ways. Of course, I attended the football powerhouse of William & Mary, so YMMV, but those guys were most definitely not meatheads, most definitely were athletes, appreciated some alternative culture, and were pretty fun to be around in any social setting. And I don't think it's all that unusual or hard to find other examples of football players who are unashamed of their unexpected off-field pursuits.
.
posted by JimInLoganSquare at 2:39 PM on November 20, 2013
.
posted by JimInLoganSquare at 2:39 PM on November 20, 2013
That said, I find it interesting that he manages to have a public persona outside of being a football player. That's really rare for pro athletes and I've always wondered why that is.
I'm hardly an expert, but my guess is that it breaks down to two things. First, many if not most athletes prefer the safety that being completely anodyne offers. If you're not different, your differences can't be blamed for your or the team's struggles. A lot of weird personality quirks get a lot less endearing on a losing team, and I imagine it's irritating to field questions on personal stuff all the time, especially if they're critical. It's related to how they tend to fall back on tired cliches in press conferences, because except in the rarest circumstances, no one's rocking the boat by saying that both teams played hard.
The other thing, which might be even more of a factor, is that professional athletes are really not that interesting as people. They spent their entire lives trying to do one thing and outside of that thing there's often just not a whole lot going on, because all the rest of their personality has been sacrificed to their attempt to be the best at their sport. David Foster Wallace wrote a little bit about this and tennis players, I think, and there was a recent thread on MetaFilter where someone dropped in to say that one of the things about elite athletes is that once you get to that level, a lot of those simple, "No Pain, No Gain"-style cliches start to become true to you, probably because the time when you're single-mindedly focused on a single goal against massive odds is actually when they're truest and where there's the least room for nuance or second-guessing or any thoughts at all beyond achieving maximum body control.
posted by Copronymus at 2:46 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
I'm hardly an expert, but my guess is that it breaks down to two things. First, many if not most athletes prefer the safety that being completely anodyne offers. If you're not different, your differences can't be blamed for your or the team's struggles. A lot of weird personality quirks get a lot less endearing on a losing team, and I imagine it's irritating to field questions on personal stuff all the time, especially if they're critical. It's related to how they tend to fall back on tired cliches in press conferences, because except in the rarest circumstances, no one's rocking the boat by saying that both teams played hard.
The other thing, which might be even more of a factor, is that professional athletes are really not that interesting as people. They spent their entire lives trying to do one thing and outside of that thing there's often just not a whole lot going on, because all the rest of their personality has been sacrificed to their attempt to be the best at their sport. David Foster Wallace wrote a little bit about this and tennis players, I think, and there was a recent thread on MetaFilter where someone dropped in to say that one of the things about elite athletes is that once you get to that level, a lot of those simple, "No Pain, No Gain"-style cliches start to become true to you, probably because the time when you're single-mindedly focused on a single goal against massive odds is actually when they're truest and where there's the least room for nuance or second-guessing or any thoughts at all beyond achieving maximum body control.
posted by Copronymus at 2:46 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
(I suppose it's worth noting with Rosie Grier "came out" as a needlepoint artist only some years after he had retired from football.)
posted by JimInLoganSquare at 2:52 PM on November 20, 2013
posted by JimInLoganSquare at 2:52 PM on November 20, 2013
Look at that guy with the typewriter on the Eagles' bench!
You play the football on the ABC
That ain't workin', that's the way you do it
Animal Collective and artesanal cheese
posted by Celsius1414 at 3:00 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
You play the football on the ABC
That ain't workin', that's the way you do it
Animal Collective and artesanal cheese
posted by Celsius1414 at 3:00 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
You would think the hurdle for being a modern man would be higher for athletes rather than lower.
posted by srboisvert at 3:26 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by srboisvert at 3:26 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
>To me this article reads as "wow, white people play football". Replace this article with a black linebacker that goes to hip-hop shows and strip clubs with rappers and you don't have a story.
It's really about the youth culture divide between progressive urbanites and conservative suburbanites. Sorta by definition a majority of young white people don't know anything about Animal Collective.
It Becomes A Story because typically people who wear plaid and listen to Animal Collective traditionally don't really care much for the NFL and especially vice-versa.
So yeah. That divide is so deep that it's noteworthy than an NFL player rides a fixie and doesn't like gay slurs.
posted by pmv at 3:29 PM on November 20, 2013 [4 favorites]
It's really about the youth culture divide between progressive urbanites and conservative suburbanites. Sorta by definition a majority of young white people don't know anything about Animal Collective.
It Becomes A Story because typically people who wear plaid and listen to Animal Collective traditionally don't really care much for the NFL and especially vice-versa.
So yeah. That divide is so deep that it's noteworthy than an NFL player rides a fixie and doesn't like gay slurs.
posted by pmv at 3:29 PM on November 20, 2013 [4 favorites]
... but is he into early Animal Collective or the later stuff? because only the the early stuff is cool
posted by philip-random at 3:32 PM on November 20, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by philip-random at 3:32 PM on November 20, 2013 [5 favorites]
BROTHER SPORT BROTHER SPORT BROTHER SPORT BROTHER SPORT
posted by Sticherbeast at 3:44 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Sticherbeast at 3:44 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
their early stuff is just shitty pretentious noise
I think it's both interesting and natural that this article would be on Grantland, because they're pretty much the standard bearer for the intersection of hipsters and sports fans. And Grantland's success shows that this just isn't a small group. Sports suffuse everything in America and artisanal/vegan/bicycle/neo-psychedelia culture is becoming more and more mainstream.
posted by vogon_poet at 3:45 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
I think it's both interesting and natural that this article would be on Grantland, because they're pretty much the standard bearer for the intersection of hipsters and sports fans. And Grantland's success shows that this just isn't a small group. Sports suffuse everything in America and artisanal/vegan/bicycle/neo-psychedelia culture is becoming more and more mainstream.
posted by vogon_poet at 3:45 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
their early stuff is just shitty pretentious noise
It's mostly all terrible, and I'm even a big fat hipster who picked up Sung Tongs on the basis of the Pitchfork review.
I have no judgments either way about anyone who listens to Animal Collective, though.
It is interesting that they have fans who play for the NFL, I suppose.
posted by Sticherbeast at 3:55 PM on November 20, 2013
It's mostly all terrible, and I'm even a big fat hipster who picked up Sung Tongs on the basis of the Pitchfork review.
I have no judgments either way about anyone who listens to Animal Collective, though.
It is interesting that they have fans who play for the NFL, I suppose.
posted by Sticherbeast at 3:55 PM on November 20, 2013
I propose that "Sung Tongs" was Animal Collective's apotheosis.
I do not know from football.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 3:56 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
I do not know from football.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 3:56 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Sung Tongs is pretty excellent, and Merriweather Post Pavilion is also pretty excellent, and Panda Bear's solo work has had some moments of excellent-ness.
posted by Rory Marinich at 3:59 PM on November 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Rory Marinich at 3:59 PM on November 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
It's funny, because the modern NFL is one where obsessive devotion to the game is often the highest praise. On Monday night the commentators were praising Luke Kuechly, a Carolina linebacker who spends so much time training and studying that he only got cable TV in the last week or so (Kuechly was drafted in the first round in 2012). A lot of people have speculated that outspoken former Vikings punter Chris Kluwe was dropped because he attracted too much attention to his off-the-field activities.
I'm happy that Barwin has been on the Eagles - he's a positive force on the defense and it's cool that he has his own life and views. Of course it would've been nice when praising Barwin's green activities to note that the Eagles have been a major promoter of environmental initiatives; there are wind turbines instead of flags at Lincoln Financial Field and the tailgaters gather in the shade of large solar panels. But it's a good profile nonetheless.
posted by graymouser at 4:00 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'm happy that Barwin has been on the Eagles - he's a positive force on the defense and it's cool that he has his own life and views. Of course it would've been nice when praising Barwin's green activities to note that the Eagles have been a major promoter of environmental initiatives; there are wind turbines instead of flags at Lincoln Financial Field and the tailgaters gather in the shade of large solar panels. But it's a good profile nonetheless.
posted by graymouser at 4:00 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Animal Collective always disappointed me, because they're sold as some crazy psych band and they're kinda bland and boring if you judge them on that hype. They're an OK post-Beach Boys indie pop band, but right when their promos for Sung Tongs were coming out, I was working my way through the Nurse With Wound list and kinda wanted actual mindblowing, not just My First Psych. Kinda like being told you're getting acid and only getting hash.
posted by klangklangston at 4:06 PM on November 20, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by klangklangston at 4:06 PM on November 20, 2013 [4 favorites]
I disagree about "Sung Tongs" being the height of Animal Collective's discography. I'd be more likely to put that label on "Strawberry Jam" which I always felt was a more solid album end to end.
But I never punt and always go for the 2 point conversion, so what the hell do I know.
posted by dogwalker at 4:08 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
But I never punt and always go for the 2 point conversion, so what the hell do I know.
posted by dogwalker at 4:08 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Animal Collective's early stuff is hit or miss. Sometimes they all four are together and do some awesome stuff, sometimes it's shit, and sometimes it's only a couple of them and they do awesome stuff, or it's shit. Some of the "band's" first releases are songs written by Avey Tare when he was a teenager, ditto with Panda Bear.
The first Animal Collective release that I really wholeheartedly enjoy is Campfire Songs. It has one of the saddest songs about a pet dying that I've ever heard. Sung Tongs is only two of them (Panda Bear and Avey Tare, again) and is a lot more of a cohesive record. Feels continues that and throws the other two members in, along with two other non-members who added to it.
posted by gucci mane at 4:12 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
The first Animal Collective release that I really wholeheartedly enjoy is Campfire Songs. It has one of the saddest songs about a pet dying that I've ever heard. Sung Tongs is only two of them (Panda Bear and Avey Tare, again) and is a lot more of a cohesive record. Feels continues that and throws the other two members in, along with two other non-members who added to it.
posted by gucci mane at 4:12 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
I love Animal Collective. I hate the Eagles. That is all.
posted by IvoShandor at 4:19 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by IvoShandor at 4:19 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Merriweather Post Pavilion
I grew up a few minutes' walk from Merriweather Post Pavilion. We used to sit on the back porch and listen to concerts drift in on the summer breeze. You'd be surprised how well the crowd noise carries.
During my infancy there were no noise regulations (Merriweather Post Pavilion was intended to house the National Symphony Orchestra, but that plan fizzled out pretty quickly). One night my parents put me in my crib not long before the Iron Butterfly show started, and shortly the house was vibrating to "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida." Thinking the music might keep me awake, they looked in on me.
There I was, lying in my crib, tiny hands pressed tightly over my ears, sleeping peacefully.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 4:24 PM on November 20, 2013 [6 favorites]
I grew up a few minutes' walk from Merriweather Post Pavilion. We used to sit on the back porch and listen to concerts drift in on the summer breeze. You'd be surprised how well the crowd noise carries.
During my infancy there were no noise regulations (Merriweather Post Pavilion was intended to house the National Symphony Orchestra, but that plan fizzled out pretty quickly). One night my parents put me in my crib not long before the Iron Butterfly show started, and shortly the house was vibrating to "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida." Thinking the music might keep me awake, they looked in on me.
There I was, lying in my crib, tiny hands pressed tightly over my ears, sleeping peacefully.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 4:24 PM on November 20, 2013 [6 favorites]
Reminds me of Tom Zbikowski and Chris Kluwe. And yeah, I think we'll see more of this kind of stuff, and I like that.
posted by box at 6:57 PM on November 20, 2013
posted by box at 6:57 PM on November 20, 2013
I was a DJ at my college radio station when I turned 21. I threw a huge party, and invited everyone that worked for the station by sending a mass email to the DJ list. My pot dealer at the time was a varsity track athlete--this is at a Big 12 school--so I mentioned the party to him as well. The party ended up being a pretty even mix between skinny indie rockers and members of the track, football and basketball teams. Would you believe that everyone got along, had a great time, and nothing worse than a few spilled drinks happened the entire night? People are people. Most of them are OK.
posted by TrialByMedia at 8:39 PM on November 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by TrialByMedia at 8:39 PM on November 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
AmCo hates the fucking Eagles tho. They're all Ravens fans except Brian who has to Rep PG county and root for the Skins. They do like the band The Eagles a little bit tho, the 7 Bridges Road shit, not that Glen Fry garbage from the 80s.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:52 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:52 PM on November 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
Chris Kluwe used to be the Most Interesting Man in the NFL, but since he was drummed out, the post has been vacant.
Kluwe's Twitter feed is as good as ever though, Barwin has a ways to go if he really wants to compete for the internets' favorite NFL star.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:02 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Kluwe's Twitter feed is as good as ever though, Barwin has a ways to go if he really wants to compete for the internets' favorite NFL star.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:02 PM on November 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
he doesn't fit the philistine meathead stereotype.
Look at this video and you might be surprised.
My favorite Barwin trivia datum is he played on the basketball team in college. From the wikipedia page:
In early January, after injuries had decimated the University of Cincinnati basketball team, he joined the team, playing in 18 games as a backup forward and averaging 9.9 minutes per game. That season, he tallied highs of 9 rebounds vs. the University of South Carolina and 6 points vs. the University of Pittsburgh.[6]
One of the sportwriters here made a bunch of hay out of him getting the biggest defensive game of the year off of some offensive hot shot--Greg Oden at Ohio State, maybe--but I have been unable to find any cites on that. Nine rebounds against South Carolina is more than enough if you ask me.
(One of the guys in that workout video (Cushing) is a documented performance drug user.)
posted by bukvich at 9:47 PM on November 20, 2013
Look at this video and you might be surprised.
My favorite Barwin trivia datum is he played on the basketball team in college. From the wikipedia page:
In early January, after injuries had decimated the University of Cincinnati basketball team, he joined the team, playing in 18 games as a backup forward and averaging 9.9 minutes per game. That season, he tallied highs of 9 rebounds vs. the University of South Carolina and 6 points vs. the University of Pittsburgh.[6]
One of the sportwriters here made a bunch of hay out of him getting the biggest defensive game of the year off of some offensive hot shot--Greg Oden at Ohio State, maybe--but I have been unable to find any cites on that. Nine rebounds against South Carolina is more than enough if you ask me.
(One of the guys in that workout video (Cushing) is a documented performance drug user.)
posted by bukvich at 9:47 PM on November 20, 2013
He's got nothing on Dhani Jones. Former NFL linebacker
Former Eagles' linebacker even. I thought of mentioning him too but I felt like keeping the post here simple. Thanks for doing it.
Yeah, I don't think Barwin is some super special dude, but riding SEPTA to work is pretty damn cool and unique for someone with a high level of celebrity in a sports obsessed town. In an interview he did the other day I heard him say that he doesn't mind the attention from fellow riders...as long as he doesn't get mobbed and he ends up late to work. So far it hasn't happened, but if the team keep getting better it might very soon.
He seems like a great guy to me and I hope he keeps finding success in the league even if he leaves the Eagles down the road.
posted by Drinky Die at 9:59 PM on November 20, 2013
Former Eagles' linebacker even. I thought of mentioning him too but I felt like keeping the post here simple. Thanks for doing it.
Yeah, I don't think Barwin is some super special dude, but riding SEPTA to work is pretty damn cool and unique for someone with a high level of celebrity in a sports obsessed town. In an interview he did the other day I heard him say that he doesn't mind the attention from fellow riders...as long as he doesn't get mobbed and he ends up late to work. So far it hasn't happened, but if the team keep getting better it might very soon.
He seems like a great guy to me and I hope he keeps finding success in the league even if he leaves the Eagles down the road.
posted by Drinky Die at 9:59 PM on November 20, 2013
but riding SEPTA to work is pretty damn cool and unique for someone with a high level of celebrity in a sports obsessed town.
Plus its the broad street line, which is absolute shit and piss.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 4:47 AM on November 21, 2013
Plus its the broad street line, which is absolute shit and piss.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 4:47 AM on November 21, 2013
Animal Collective's discography is a bell shaped curve. The early stuff and their most recent album are almost unlistenable but there's some really good stuff in the middle there.
posted by saul wright at 6:13 AM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by saul wright at 6:13 AM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]
Animal Collective always disappointed me, because they're sold as some crazy psych band and they're kinda bland and boring if you judge them on that hype. They're an OK post-Beach Boys indie pop band, but right when their promos for Sung Tongs were coming out, I was working my way through the Nurse With Wound list and kinda wanted actual mindblowing, not just My First Psych. Kinda like being told you're getting acid and only getting hash.
Animal Collective is neither a psychedelic band nor an indie pop band first and foremost, and I think that a lot of the backlash to them comes from how poorly they're described to first-time listeners. People will try and put them on indie playlists, or recommend them to people who are majorly into psychedelia, and they don't really fit into either context.
What they are, in my mind, is a jam band — an incredibly intriguing and catchy jam band whose "psychedelia" elements come as much from the medium as they come from any deliberate attempt to manufacture psychedelia. Their pop elements are really exciting and interesting because first off, they weave hooks and harmonies into the jams as a part of the groove, which is really cool, and second, the fact that they're using said hooks as part of a groove mean they can change the hooks they're giving you with at any moment, and a song that you thought was ONE thing is suddenly very, very different.
In The Flowers, which opens Merriweather Post Pavilion, is a perfect example. Starts off as a repeating guitar part, very minimalist and repetitive, not even substantial enough to be a "riff", and when it explodes into happy delighted circus jam, there's no build-up, no real indication that things are shifting, it just HAPPENS. And when you're listening to the first time, there's kind of this OH HOLY SHIT moment that results from it, and the groove hasn't changed, the tempo's pretty much the same, it's just that all of a sudden there's this delightful melody and harmony surrounding it that seems to come out of fucking nowhere.
When I was a sophomore in college, I lived down the street from the guys who were animating the Brothersport music video. (They were seniors at the time, and lived with a guy from my year and major; Animal Collective has been fairly awesome in letting up-and-coming artists work on their music videos.) So the first AnCo song that really clicked for me was Brothersport, and it wasn't because of the opening catchy part — which, out of context and for a person who wasn't huge on Animal Collective going in, was just sort of vaguely feel-good-y and mock-African. The part that freaked me out in a good way was where it hits that weird, ugly kind bit in the middle, seemingly after the first verse/chorus, but instead of turning back into a song it just STAYS there, and you've got a minute and a half of brutal repetition, which if you go in thinking of the song as just indie pop hits you as another WHAT THE HELL, MAN moment. It stays in that bit long enough that it dominates over the early verse/melody stuff, and only after it's taken over completely do you suddenly get a return to the harmonies, hooks, and choruses that the earlier song promised you. At which point it's suddenly a lot more exciting and intriguing than it was before.
Merriweather Post Pavilion is particularly pleasant, whereas Sung Tongs is a lot more stripped down — I haven't listened to any other albums of theirs, because I don't need more than two very-different Animal Collective albums in my humble opinion. But Sung Tongs does the same kind of thing, where hooks and beats clash with each other in very unexpected ways, and if you follow the song expecting it to follow a typical structure you'll be disappointed (and the things happening over the top will sometimes maybe strike you as too-typically 2000s noodling for your liking anyway). It's when you try and focus on the song as a jam, with all of its elements flying overhead like clouds forming weird-ass shapes out of nowhere, that the hype around them makes a lot of sense and you realize, "Whoa, these guys are doing something pretty novel and neat, and really exploring this approach to music in a way that not many groups are." And then you go off to babble to the Internet about why Animal Collective is pretty alright.
posted by Rory Marinich at 8:07 AM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]
Animal Collective is neither a psychedelic band nor an indie pop band first and foremost, and I think that a lot of the backlash to them comes from how poorly they're described to first-time listeners. People will try and put them on indie playlists, or recommend them to people who are majorly into psychedelia, and they don't really fit into either context.
What they are, in my mind, is a jam band — an incredibly intriguing and catchy jam band whose "psychedelia" elements come as much from the medium as they come from any deliberate attempt to manufacture psychedelia. Their pop elements are really exciting and interesting because first off, they weave hooks and harmonies into the jams as a part of the groove, which is really cool, and second, the fact that they're using said hooks as part of a groove mean they can change the hooks they're giving you with at any moment, and a song that you thought was ONE thing is suddenly very, very different.
In The Flowers, which opens Merriweather Post Pavilion, is a perfect example. Starts off as a repeating guitar part, very minimalist and repetitive, not even substantial enough to be a "riff", and when it explodes into happy delighted circus jam, there's no build-up, no real indication that things are shifting, it just HAPPENS. And when you're listening to the first time, there's kind of this OH HOLY SHIT moment that results from it, and the groove hasn't changed, the tempo's pretty much the same, it's just that all of a sudden there's this delightful melody and harmony surrounding it that seems to come out of fucking nowhere.
When I was a sophomore in college, I lived down the street from the guys who were animating the Brothersport music video. (They were seniors at the time, and lived with a guy from my year and major; Animal Collective has been fairly awesome in letting up-and-coming artists work on their music videos.) So the first AnCo song that really clicked for me was Brothersport, and it wasn't because of the opening catchy part — which, out of context and for a person who wasn't huge on Animal Collective going in, was just sort of vaguely feel-good-y and mock-African. The part that freaked me out in a good way was where it hits that weird, ugly kind bit in the middle, seemingly after the first verse/chorus, but instead of turning back into a song it just STAYS there, and you've got a minute and a half of brutal repetition, which if you go in thinking of the song as just indie pop hits you as another WHAT THE HELL, MAN moment. It stays in that bit long enough that it dominates over the early verse/melody stuff, and only after it's taken over completely do you suddenly get a return to the harmonies, hooks, and choruses that the earlier song promised you. At which point it's suddenly a lot more exciting and intriguing than it was before.
Merriweather Post Pavilion is particularly pleasant, whereas Sung Tongs is a lot more stripped down — I haven't listened to any other albums of theirs, because I don't need more than two very-different Animal Collective albums in my humble opinion. But Sung Tongs does the same kind of thing, where hooks and beats clash with each other in very unexpected ways, and if you follow the song expecting it to follow a typical structure you'll be disappointed (and the things happening over the top will sometimes maybe strike you as too-typically 2000s noodling for your liking anyway). It's when you try and focus on the song as a jam, with all of its elements flying overhead like clouds forming weird-ass shapes out of nowhere, that the hype around them makes a lot of sense and you realize, "Whoa, these guys are doing something pretty novel and neat, and really exploring this approach to music in a way that not many groups are." And then you go off to babble to the Internet about why Animal Collective is pretty alright.
posted by Rory Marinich at 8:07 AM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]
Comparing Nurse With Wound with Animal Collective is unfair, or, at least, expecting Stephen Stapleton-grade Unheimlichkeit from AC is not fair.
I was lucky enough to hear AC cold, the first time around, and thank goodness for that.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 8:14 AM on November 21, 2013
I was lucky enough to hear AC cold, the first time around, and thank goodness for that.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 8:14 AM on November 21, 2013
Animal Collective? I guess it isn't as bad as tweeting racial slurs to your teammates or dressing up as a person from a particular ethnic group and taunting that person.
Can you explain any sort of connection, even a vague, tenuous one, between being a fan of psychedelic rock and doing those bigoted things you listed, such that you thought it appropriate to associate them? Or is this one of those things where you feel the need to flaunt your disdain for sports and athletes, even as you must grudgingly admit that this particular athlete subverts your stereotyped beliefs?
Just a joke. I'm comparing him to Richie Incognito.
posted by Ironmouth at 10:05 AM on November 21, 2013
Can you explain any sort of connection, even a vague, tenuous one, between being a fan of psychedelic rock and doing those bigoted things you listed, such that you thought it appropriate to associate them? Or is this one of those things where you feel the need to flaunt your disdain for sports and athletes, even as you must grudgingly admit that this particular athlete subverts your stereotyped beliefs?
Just a joke. I'm comparing him to Richie Incognito.
The troubles of the Miami Dolphins are well documented. And now they extend beyond merely the alleged harassment of a female employee and the alleged bullying of Jonathan Martin: according to a report Richie Incognito and at least one other Dolphins player harassed a Dolphins team employee.as for NFL football, I think I love it better than you do. Of course I have no way of knowing that, but you have no way of knowing what I think of athletes and sports. I'm just making a joke while reporting the facts.
Jason Cole of the National Football Post reports that Incognito and "at least one other" Dolphins player "mocked the ethnic background of a team staff member and made crude jokes about the staff member's wife."
Additionally, Cole reports "Incognito would sometimes dress in garb from the staff member's culture and then make profane jokes about that culture" and that another player "joined in on the antics, creating an extremely uncomfortable environment for the staff member."
posted by Ironmouth at 10:05 AM on November 21, 2013
Not Nurse With Wound, the Nurse With Wound list. Agitation Free through Zweistein, though I admit I was never able to track down a significant portion of the music.
posted by klangklangston at 10:07 AM on November 21, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by klangklangston at 10:07 AM on November 21, 2013 [3 favorites]
Thankyou klang -
I had not seen that list before, and certainly haven't heard much of it. But if the acts I have heard are any indication (Agitation Free, Anexus Quom, Ash Ra Tempel, Árt Bears, the Amon Duuls -- and that's just the A's) I have some deep and delirious digging ahead of me ...
posted by philip-random at 12:07 PM on November 21, 2013
I had not seen that list before, and certainly haven't heard much of it. But if the acts I have heard are any indication (Agitation Free, Anexus Quom, Ash Ra Tempel, Árt Bears, the Amon Duuls -- and that's just the A's) I have some deep and delirious digging ahead of me ...
posted by philip-random at 12:07 PM on November 21, 2013
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