I haven’t been writing in this a lot lately. I’ve been busy with work, Halloween, and my obsessive insecurities; but this week thanks to my Day Quill and other nice things I’m back! and as per requested - here is a really embarrassing list of my top albums of 2009! Now I realize these all didn’t come out this year (or even last year), but I have a habit of listening to the same thing over and over again until I am so super exhausted by it I never listen to it again - so there tends to be a big gap. Here is what I’ve been into lately so DEAL.
1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (what is up with that name?)
I think this would make a lot of people’s favorite list for 2009 and I totally get why. At first I wasn’t that into it, the synth and everything was actually kind of intimidating - but I gave it a few trys and it eventually blew my mind. I listened to this almost exclusively on my runs in New Zealand and it was the BEST BEST BEST soundtrack for my weird video game like runs where you get chased by horses (or think you do) and run through rain forests and the beach and pastures and crazy fucking landscapes at night and alone. so awesome.
2. Kayne West -808s & Heartbreak
For the record I think Kayne is a fucking dick that should learn a little modesty and what it means to be a successful adult and the responsibilities that come with it- but his douchery doesn’t change the fact that “808s & Heartbreak” is fucking awesome. I haven’t read a lot about this album but I perceive it to be about how his mom died suddenly and tragically and then his gf from high school who he went with for YEARS dumped him - sending him into the arms of an alien lesbian stripper that doesn’t care if he gets super drunk on Hennessy and embarrasses young woman performers and then ends up believing he is GOD or some crazy shit like that. Am I rambling? The short story is I love the beats on this album and know the words to most of the, albeit melodramatic, songs and it is also super great to run to / dance to (in your apartment with your roommates cheering you on). I think, I think street lights is my favorite track.
3. RadioHead - In Rainbows
I don’t want to say too much about this, because I can gush FOREVER about my FAVORITE band (they are the only ones who I can say without a doubt that I have loved and listened to every album). I once listened to In Rainbows 4 times in a row when I was trying to get home from a date/show in Park Slope at 2 in the morning and was really tired and had to take like 3 different trains and it was just . perfection. Every time I listen to this album I find new things I like about it, and whatever- I’m a fan ok?
4. Feist - The ReminderOk so don’t laugh - but I LOVE running to this album. I know its folkys synthy girly maybe even semi-boring music that overall I am not really that into, but its just that this is a really really good album. And not just that counting song either, the entire thing is fucking SOLID, and “How My Heart Behaves” has tear potential - which is lame of me but awesome of Feist.
5. Bad Business - I have no clue what the album title is, I think its self-titled - my bad.Definitely not an album from the past year - but one that I rediscovered when I started a punk/hardcore retrospective after unpacking all my old cds when I moved to Greenpoint. The intro to the first song is like: dun ne ne ne nenene nenene and then a shotgun shot. SO GOOD - and the rest of the tracks follow in awesomeness. I mean - I never really even got that in to hardcore in the first place, and even when I can understand the lyrics I think they’re about being straightedge which to me is LAME - but Bad Business does it right and the music is fast and hard - which is what I like in music…. and other things. Oh and I knew the bassist from college, he’s really cool.
OKOK - I know there should be a lot more on here, and its been a long year so I kind of forget everything that I’ve been listening to up to this point. (something about The Knife, TV on the Radio, etc..) so please bear (sp: like the animal?) in mind that I am no good at this. Maybe a more correct title for this post would be: “Favorite Albums of the Last 6 Months” or “Albums That I Can Remember Listening To In Their Entirety and More Than Once” or even “Sounds That I Listen To That Is Not Talk Radio” but that just isn’t as snappy, is it? I think its pretty obvious that since college my coolness has been in rapid decline and I’ve kind of dropped the ball in terms of being like really in to music like a lot of my peers are- but I DO like it and I DO listen to it…. just now in an admittedly more of a while I’m here I might as well enjoy the ride (and dance along) kind of way. If you want I could make a books of 2009 list that would be really boring and detailed and probs 20 pages long - but I like you guys too much for that. I like you guys and I like Day Quill a lot.
Oh and I hope everyone had a great Halloween (I know I did).
I’m going to rip you off with a twist.
This year I spent a lot of time doing a lot of things that are just a fun as music, but I don’t have enough bands. So here’s my embarrassing list of 5 things from this year.
1) I listened to DAFT PUNK - ALIVE way too much.
It’s true that this year I listened to this album about 500 times. I now know the way Daft Punk mixes together their songs better than I know the songs themselves. The worst part about this as a number 1 is that I passed up a chance to see them because I didn’t know who they were.
2) I’m playing a shitty casio and making dance beats probably no one will hear
This one is so incredibly tied to the first one that It’s almost stupid to post it. I got obsessed with Daft Punk. I miss playing the drums and making music in general, so I looked up how it is they make music and I’ve downloaded hundreds of dollar software to give it a shot. I only have half of my major scales down at this point. It’s definitely going to take a while, but it’s worth it.
3) Speaking of things that take a while, but are worth it: Food.
I started learning about food and how to cook and it’s a lot more important and amazing than I ever imagined. More importantly though, learning about my food and how to cook it is a really liberating experience. It’s also kind of strange to think about how much time I spent being tired and sick and gross feeling and just all around in bad shape. I spent a lot of time doing those things. I’m not a master chef yet, but I don’t give a fuck. I’m learning. And right now I’m pretty fucking good at mushrooms and onions.
4) Read a ton of books
I treat books the same way I treat cooking. The first time I picked up a mushroom, I had no idea what to do. I actually took the stem out and just threw it away. I buy ingredients I don’t know how to use all the time and then one day figure out how I can mix it in with all the stuff I already have going. I sometimes buy a book and don’t even know what the fuck the person’s talking about until 50 pages in. Then I’ll go back and read the first 50 pages again and go, “oh, wow… ok.” Also, this year I learned that all mathematician / writers think their humor inclined. It’s started me on a campaign of clarification about the difference between someone being humorous and them being funny.
5) I quit smoking
First, It’s totally worth quitting. Second, I quit by going from cigarettes to the lozenges. I kept thinking “How the fuck am I going to quit the lozenges?” It didn’t make any sense. I thought I was going to be addicted to them for the rest of my life (and by the way, the nicotine companies are kind of banking on that). Then the ‘read the label’ parts of #3 kicked in and I read the side of my lozenge box. The main ingredient in my lozenges was aspartame. I spit out the one in my mouth and I haven’t had one since.
6) I have $90 in Radioshack electronics under my desk I don’t use enough
I can build basic circuits now though. So that’s fun. This one’s gonna get bigger this next year. It’s a large barrier to entry. Lots of symbols to understand and math to figure out how to do. I’ll probably end up doing some blogs about what I’m learning here. Seems to help me clarify my thoughts.
7) Made beer money on the internet.
Which is something I’m insanely proud of.
Seriously…if you haven’t listened to Daft Punk’s Alive album…. you need to do that now.
Andrea’s list is gonna help me get some ‘new’ music into my ears. Maybe something I’ve said will get you doing something you want to do?
Good year so far everyone. Let’s finish it out strong.
![agentmlovestacos:
Spaceporn. So hot. Courtesy of @NASA.
via thedailywhat:
Astronomy Picture of the Day: Our Sun, photographed using a special filter which matches the specific shade of red light emitted by hydrogen gas. The image was then inverted to enhance the visibility of the Sun’s chromosphere, giving it the ominus blue glow seen above.
[via.]](http://12.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kslpctsTML1qzpwi0o1_500.jpg)
Spaceporn. So hot. Courtesy of @NASA.
via thedailywhat:
Astronomy Picture of the Day: Our Sun, photographed using a special filter which matches the specific shade of red light emitted by hydrogen gas. The image was then inverted to enhance the visibility of the Sun’s chromosphere, giving it the ominus blue glow seen above.
[via.]
News Station Twitter Abuse
This morning, as I was opening up my email at the lab, @WFXL FOX 31, Richard Harrold of Barrington Interactive (my Chief) had sent out an email with an mandatory read. What’s interesting about this, is that the blog post that he was pointing everyone to, was a post dealing with News Stations and their abuse of Twitter written by Brian Manzullo, the Editor in Chief of Central Michigan Life. For this to strike you as interesting, you would have to know Richard Harrold (@newzdude76 on twitter) and you would have to know his history with Twitter… LOL!! That’s another story… News Station Twitter Abuse - About 2 months ago I tweeted into the mainstream on Twitter, for ALL of my followers to see, BUT mainly the Broadcasting types that follow something like this… Note to Broadcasters: Twitter is not an RSS feed. It’s a conversation. Period. I got ZERO response, I am not even sure if I ruffled a feather. BUT what I do know, is that I am absolutely telling the truth. I think. As the world of the news and broadcasting become increasingly transparent, and the audience takes a bigger role in the delivery and forwarding of the news as it’s told, and the idea of broadsharing becomes even the more evident, I strongly believe that the shift in social platforms as it pertains the news/broadsharing industry will dynamically change. As early adopters really start honing in on “best practices” and the definitions to the rules become common language, WE the audience will have a totally new perspective of the news stories told, and the human experience that we are all involved in. Thanks Brian Manzullo at Central Michigan Life for telling the truth http://tr.im/newstwitterabuse, AND thank you Richard Harrold for sharing such an amazing blog post!
Not really sure I understand what’s going on here, but found this post with a search for “Languages” and it fits within a different bucket of my interests. Reblogging for posterity.
I just made enough chicken stew to feed 20 people.
I wish I was exaggerating.
There is no other way to make chicken stew.
20 is the loneliest number.
KXVO “Pumpkin Dance” (via KXVO)
(via lamebot)
congrats, you’ve read books. I’m so tired of this all. I hope I make it to 30. Seriously. I can’t take the ‘next generation’ being as big of assholes as they are. We’re that fucking close to them ‘forcing’ their will upon the ‘un-intelligent’ masses. Stop. It. Now.The one argument ayn rand couldn’t win is the one that happened after she died. You can’t find the bullshit truth any more than she missed it. Fuck. You.William James once argued that every philosophic system sets out to conceal, first of all, the philosopher’s own temperament: that pre-rational bundle of preferences that urges him to hop on whatever logic-train seems to be already heading in his general direction. This creates, as James put it, “a certain insincerity in our philosophic discussions: the potentest of all our premises is never mentioned … What the system pretends to be is a picture of the great universe of God. What it is—and oh so flagrantly!—is the revelation of how intensely odd the personal flavor of some fellow creature is.”
After reading the details of Rand’s early life, I find it hard to think of Objectivism as very objective at all—it looks more like a rational program retrofitted to a lifelong temperament, a fantasy world created to cancel the nightmare of a terrifying childhood. This is the comedy, the tragedy, and the power of Rand: She built a glorious imaginary empire on that nuclear-grade temperament, then devoted every ounce of her will and intelligence to proving it was all pure reason.
I want to buy Sam Anderson a drink and shake his hand. (via syntheticpubes)
Rafer sez:
Her philosophy also moved from pro-rich to anti-poor after the death of her husband. I suspect causation.
Woody Woodpecker, the famous Spook-A-Nanny special Halloween episode, based on the then-current hootenanny craze. (A hootenanny was an early ’60s rave, except you sat in your seat and clapped along with folk singers and there was no Ecstasy.)
On the October 1964 night when this first aired, I was a very sad boy. I couldn’t watch, because I had to finish my homework! My brother was too little for homework, so he had it on. I heard it down the hall and ran to peek: It looked like the most fantastic cartoon ever!
It started with a black-and-white film-cartoon hybrid segment, in which Woody and animator Walter Lantz planned their Halloween party, picking which Lantz characters to invite, like Homer Pigeon and Chilly Willy. Woody and a real person were talking to each other! I went back to my desk.
Soon the cartoon part started, and I could hear the music — a rock-n-roll guitar version of the Woody Woodpecker theme (check out the band of fake Beatles, all looking like Help-era John Lennons), and then the Spook-A-Nanny song. I ran down the hall to peek, then returned dejectedly to my desk. I was missing the fun party! I knew I’d never see it again - there would be no rerun for a Halloween special, at least not until next year. For days after, I was singing the song to myself: “Spook! Spook! Spook, spook-a-nanny! Ghosts and goblins dancing all around…”
And no, as much as I wanted to, I never saw it again. Until many years later when the technology finally caught up. Here it is, just as I remembered. Enjoy!
My costume this year. Thanks for the kind words Emily!It’s not even Halloween yet and the best costume award already goes to Matt Nicole.
raheelio432:jennyeatworld:kkpurry:patronsaint:ciccone-youth:
sooooo much win.
LOL! i was just about to comment the exact same thing!
Daria Darko
That's it for now. Some final thoughts by way of a poem, a speech, a graph and a bunch of links.
Here’s the first few lines and a link to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
`By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp’st thou me?
The bridegroom’s doors are opened wide,
And I am next of kin;
The guests are met, the feast is set:
Mayst hear the merry din.’
He holds him with his skinny hand,
“There was a ship,” quoth he.
`Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!’
Eftsoons his hand dropped he.
He holds him with his glittering eye -
The Wedding-Guest stood still,
And listens like a three years’ child:
The Mariner hath his will.
It’s a sick poem and is referenced in passing in this speech given by Spiro Agnew about the role of the the media in shaping the public’s opinion on any issue. In this speech he says:
I’m also aware that Newspaper isn’t the same as TV, but the gatekeepers are the same. Here’s a list of the top corporations who decide what gets shown on your TV. Notice in particular: News Corp, Cox, Gannett, Hearst and Scripps as they all own large amounts of TV and Newspaper distribution.
These people are actively trying to maintain their control. The big players on the web are aware they have to box them out for position, but there’s no guarantee they’ll be any better at presenting spin-less news. What’s so sad is that as access to information becomes easier and easier, there’s less and less of it in the news from every source.
Lots of thoughts flowing through my head on this issue and it’s still not very clear to me.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
`By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp’st thou me?
The bridegroom’s doors are opened wide,
And I am next of kin;
The guests are met, the feast is set:
Mayst hear the merry din.’
He holds him with his skinny hand,
“There was a ship,” quoth he.
`Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!’
Eftsoons his hand dropped he.
He holds him with his glittering eye -
The Wedding-Guest stood still,
And listens like a three years’ child:
The Mariner hath his will.
It’s a sick poem and is referenced in passing in this speech given by Spiro Agnew about the role of the the media in shaping the public’s opinion on any issue. In this speech he says:
At least 40 million Americans every night, it’s estimated, watch the network news. Seven million of them view A.B.C., the remainder being divided between N.B.C. and C.B.S. According to Harris polls and other studies, for millions of Americans the networks are the sole source of national and world news. In Will Roger’s observation, what you knew was what you read in the newspaper. Today for growing millions of Americans, it’s what they see and hear on their television sets.
Now, that was then. This is now. The Pew Research Center is saying that Internet has Taken over Newspapers, but that TV is still ahead.I’m also aware that Newspaper isn’t the same as TV, but the gatekeepers are the same. Here’s a list of the top corporations who decide what gets shown on your TV. Notice in particular: News Corp, Cox, Gannett, Hearst and Scripps as they all own large amounts of TV and Newspaper distribution.
These people are actively trying to maintain their control. The big players on the web are aware they have to box them out for position, but there’s no guarantee they’ll be any better at presenting spin-less news. What’s so sad is that as access to information becomes easier and easier, there’s less and less of it in the news from every source.
Lots of thoughts flowing through my head on this issue and it’s still not very clear to me.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
