2006 Year in Review

Last year's Year in Review was different from the others; I felt like I had to sum up my life at that point. My urge now is to fill you in on my personal progress, but we'll get to that later. I do want to sum up how I feel about our current world state and the events of the world, and I can do so in three words:

I don't know.

Take, for instance, the Iraq War.

We all know it's a fiasco right now; even the right-wing pundits have to concede that fact. Where do we go from here? On one hand, we should get out of there, stop the unnecessary death of so many US soldiers, and give the Iraqis ownership of their own country. On the other hand, our administration's blundering and poor planning contributed greatly to Iraq's decent into civil war, and we have a responsibility to fix it. Both options, in my mind, address a certain responsibility, and the debate boils down to deciding what's more important – us or them. I don't think it's a decision we should make; we need to help ourselves as much as they need serious help.

Strangely enough (to me at least), the Democrats, who feel that government has a responsibility to people, are the ones saying we should get out. The Republicans, who feel that government should stay out of way so people can pick themselves up by their own bootstraps, are the ones who want to provide more help to Iraq. The different approaches seem in opposition to how each party believes it should treat its own citizens. I think the welfare and safety of people is of the utmost important no matter what the country.

The only solution I seem to agree with is for the President (most likely a new one) to suck up to all of our allies and the UN, apologize, and get help to clean up the mess so that we can start pulling out. It's time for a new coalition of the willing, one built on compassion and not greed. Will that work? I don't know.

Then there's the promising change of direction in this country's collective thinking.

On one hand, we have a newly elected Democratic congress, Dubya's horribly low approval, and increasing ratings for Keith Olbermann. On the other hand, what can a Democratic congress really do when they lack enough seats to overturn a veto and when the other two branches of government are still fascist, including the Supreme Court (the other sovereign entity the Bush Administration botched up)?

The Democratic victory, while in spirit is substantial, was by and large very slim – slim votes, slim results. Basically, the country is still as narrowly divided as it has been for this entire decade, and everyone is looking to Congress to prove themselves. They can bury the Bush administration in subpoenas, they can investigate all they want, but in the two years they have, can they do enough to bring some change to another branch of government? More importantly, can they start to unify this country under a banner of social and environmental responsibility?

I have hope, but there's a long way to go. Everyone who wants change is impatient for change. It's going to take everyone who wants change to band together and not let our fractured interests collide. Republicans have won by painting everything in broad black-and-white strokes; we can, too, by calling for compassion and civility. Can that happen? I don't know.

And we should look at the Internets.

On one hand, the power of the internet has always been social interaction in an increasingly dense, distracting society. While Time's 2006 Person of the Year – congratulations biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate polyester film – was really just a silly gimmick to sell magazines, they may actually have a point. Large corporations are finally catching up to what's been bubbling up for a while, with News Corp. buying MySpace and Google buying YouTube. Apple has been pushing the management of your digital life for a while. On the other hand, there's the tale of how a group of fat cats reacted to the Craigslist business model. While colleges continue to crank out MBA clones, how can the business models change instead of just trying to monetize every form of self-expression available, thus ruining them? NBC continues trying to synergize their television content with their online content, but God forbid anyone give NBC free advertising by posting "Lazy Sunday" on YouTube.

In the 90s, everyone thought you could make money selling crap and/or content on the internet. The truth, however, is that the power of the internet has always been sharing our thoughts on content or sharing our own content. I don't think this is a new internet gold rush. Instead, big business has seen how we're using the internet, and they want a piece. Can they help it flourish, or will they simply crush it in another example of profits over people? I don't know.

That there seems like a good segue into what's going on with the blog.

Five years I've operated this site, and looking at my server stats, it's easy to see that readership is down. On one hand, five years ago, blogs were a new thing. I would tell people I have a blog, and they'd ask, "What's a blog?" Now, if you have an Internet connection, I'd be surprised if you don't have a blog or at least read several on a regular basis. On the other hand, it's not like I've been posting much. I mentioned to a coworker that I used to blog more when I hated my job. Now, I have a job that I absolutely love on most days. When I'm at work, I work. Compound that with my aspiration for this blog to be something bigger than a glorified MySpace profile, and you can see my disappointment.

Either way, I'll be frank: 2006 was not a good year for LYRC. We're a mere shell of what we were in 2004. To all the loyal readers, I'm sorry. You've come here for more than I've given you, and I feel as if I've let you down. You've been distracted by the glow of YouTube and MySpace and Digg and Flickr and the other OddlyCapitalized and oddlyy spelld sites. I haven't kept up with the Web 2.0 charge by keeping content fresh and features plenty.

This blog is going to change, a new paradigm that I hope will expand readership and keep you coming back for more. I'm shooting for a March launch, but this summer is more likely. Will it work? I don't know, but I do know that it will be fun to try. Stick around until then, and I promise to make it worth your while.

I can end this long post, though, with two things I do know.

First, early this year, I posted a piece about my struggle with depression. This year has been one in which I've taken on a great deal of positive change, most notably my new job and the most totally awesome fiancee any man could ask for. These changes are blessings, but nonetheless, they have forced me confront elements of my psyche I've never thoroughly wrestled. I keep coming out on top. While the goal of complete sanity is impossible to achieve for every human being on the planet, I'm happy to report that I'm closer than I've ever been. And did I mention that I have the most totally awesome fiancee any man could ask for?

As is my way, I close with my favorite album of the year. I never choose the best album of the year, as I don't listen to enough music or have the musical acumen to make such an aggrandizing statement. However, I can always choose a favorite, and this year, the choice was very easy.

To keep you in suspense, there were three runner-ups that deserve mention:

• Mastodon, Blood Mountain – Proof that metal is not the genre of the dim-witted. The arrangements are complex, the mythology is intriguing, and the power is bone-shattering. Too bad Tool can't make an album this smart.
• Professor Murder, Professor Murder Rides the Subway – Dancepunk still has some life in it after all. I didn't realize anyone could out-cowbell The Rapture. Had this come out in May, it would have easily been my party album of the summer.
• The Thermals, The Body, The Blood, The Machine – A punk concept album indicting Christianity and organized religion, The Body, The Blood, the Machine is incredibly deft and pulls no punches. It's the soundtrack for this year's ascendancy of atheism. A friend once referred to Green Day's punk concept album American Idiot as "this generation's Tommy." I think he might reserve some of that hyperbole after hearing The Thermals.

Despite my love for all three of these albums, my cream of the crop for 2006 is Destroyer's Rubies by Destroyer. Every song sounds comforting and somehow familiar, but therein is the brilliant deception and extraordinarily challenging fun of this album. There is a surprise at every turn, be it a recognizable cliched lyric turned on its ear or a pop riff manipulated into an unexpected sound. I didn't even like this album the first time I spun it. I had it on in the background, so I merely heard it. Then, I listened to it, and found the densely layered production, the poetic lyrics, and the stunning arrangements. I'd be surprised if you didn't find them, too.

Thanks for reading another year of LYRC. There are some big changes afoot for 2007. Happy new year? I don't know, but good luck.