not-so-pet peeves but peeved nonetheless

There are most certainly days when I can't help but prefer to not be here. It's not about the place so much as the people you live with; there's a difference there. I can't stand when a person says that they'd rather live far off, for petty reasons; no matter where you go, you're still taking you with you (I'm paraphrasing from somewhere, but I can't remember the source).

2008 music picks part 5

Be sure to check out parts 1, 2, 3, and 4. Isn't it amazing that the year's almost over? Seems this feature might run well into the next year. Oh, well! I don't mind. Let's do this then.

101. Goddamn Electric Bill - Topics For Gossip

Couldn't find anything recent; here's an older song, Lost In The Zoo I think it's called


102. Grand Archives - self-titled

Miniature Birds


103. Grand Salvo - Death

104. The Grates - Teeth Lost, Hearts Won (these guys will be huge)

Aw Yeah


105. Gregory Alan Isakov - self-titled

Not much footage, unfortunately, but this guy is rad.


106. Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy (oh yes.. I went there. Waddya gonna do 'bout it?)

There Was A Time


107. The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia (oh man, so so good)

All Misery/Flowers


108. Headlights - Some Racing, Some Stopping

Cherry Tulips


109. The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead

Keep Your Eyes Ahead


110. Hercules And Love Affair - self-titled (amazing disco revival shit right here)

You Belong


111. High Places - self-titled/(03/07 - 09/07) EP

Golden


112. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive (more kids should listen to The Hold Steady)

Sequestered In Memphis


113. Hot Chip - Made In The Dark

Ready For The Floor


114. Human Highway - self-titled (so underrated)

The Sound


115. I'm From Barcelona - Who Killed Harry Houdini (seriously, not as bad as claimed)

Paper Planes


116. Islands - Arm's Way

Creeper


117. Jakob Dylan - Seeing Things

Evil Is Alive and Well


118. James Blackshaw - Litany Of Echoes (impress the ladies!)

Here is some dude covering Infinite Circle


119. The Japanese Motors - self-titled

Single Fins & Safety Pins


120. Jason Collett - Here's To Being Here

Out Of Time


121. Jay Reatard - Matador Singles '08/Singles 06-07 (Who is James Reatard? He is awesome is who he is)

See/Saw


122. Jean Grae - Jeanius

Intro


123. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue (I am in love)

Acid Tongue


124. Jesse Malin - On Your Sleeve (when you're out of hipster cred, it doesn't matter what you like!)

Russian Roulette


125. Joseph Arthur - Vagabond Skies

Slow Me Down


You know where to find the next part- Watch this space.

today's comic

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

i know how to make baklava! (or, I AM A TOTAL BAKLAVA BADASS)

I'm a genius!

It's baking right now, I just have to wait 15 or so minutes before making the sugar/honey/citrus mixture that goes on top (and permeates thru the cracks of phyllo dough!). Delicious times ahead!

10 bucks to whoever pronounces "phyllo" correctly the first time, in their head. Meanwhile, here are two recipes you can follow so you can be awesome like me.

Music updates to follow...

bless you, Get Fuzzy, for reals

Honestly, the best comic strip in syndication today.

at this point.....

...if you were to ask me if I think Liverpool can clinch the season, I would say HELL YES.

5-1 against Newcastle (without Torres or Keane!) and 3-0 against Bolton (2 goals by Keane! Yay!) can't lie.

Come on, second half of the season, LFC is ready..


UPDATE: Chelsea drew 2-2 HAHAHAHA STUPID CHELSEA

More of '08 - part 4

Be sure to click on the corresponding numbers for Parts 1, 2 and 3, if you missed 'em. Onwards!

76. Does It Offend You, Yeah? - You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into (I probably lost whatever credibility I may have had by including this...)

Dawn Of The Dead


77. Dr. Dog - Fate

Hang On


78. Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark

A Ghost To Most


79. Dungen - 4

Det Tar Did


80. Eagles Of Death Metal - Heart On

Wannabe In LA


81. Earlimart - Hymn And Her

Cigarettes and Kerosene


82. Eat Skull - Sick to Death

83. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

Grounds For Divorce


84. Elliott Brood - Mountain Meadows (OMG AMAZING)

Fingers And Tongues


85. Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Momofuku

Turpentine


86. Empire Of The Sun - Walking On A Dream

Walking On A Dream


87. Final Fantasy - Spectrum, 14th Century EP

The Butcher


88. The Fireman - Electric Arguments (Paul McCartney FTW)

Sing The Changes


89. Fleet Foxes - Self-titled/Sun Giant EP (You knew this was coming, I love love love this band)

Mykonos (This one's for Zati, if you're reading!)


90. Foals - Antidotes

Red Sox Pugie


91. Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop and Roll!!!

The Pedestrian


92. French Kicks - Swimming

Sex Tourists


93. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight

Heads Roll Off


94. Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life

Twice Born


95. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound (such a good album, seriously)

The '59 Sound


96. Gentleman Jesse And His Men - self-titled



97. Giant Sand - proVISIONS

Increment Of Love


98. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals (I've previously given love to this album on this blog)

In Step


99. Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple

Blind Mary


100. God Is An Astronaut - self-titled (if you like Explosions In The Sky this shit will BLOW YOUR FRIGGIN' MINDDDD)

Seriously mind-blowing: Shores Of Orion


Part 5 coming soon! Be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed for updates, folks. Later!

hey, it's another goddamn book recommendation

Happyslapped by a Jellyfish: The Words of Karl Pilkington by Karl Pilkington

Ricky Gervais, long-time tormentor and heckler of Karl Pilkington (misunderstood genius, natch) writes, for his front cover blurb of Happyslapped, "If you think he's is a genius, you're an idiot."

As far as blurbs go, that's pretty accurate.

For the uninitiated, Karl Pilkington is one of the famous trio of the Ricky Gervais podcast, and Xfm show, acting as the producer and provider of Monkey News and random musings on the podcast over its pretty long run. (You can download the podcasts here [and also, here]. They are awesome!)

Happyslapped by a Jellyfish is a memoir of sorts, a collection of observations by Karl Pilkington on his many holidays with his live-in girlfriend. To quote the man himself, "Not cos I wanted to, but because my girlfriend Suzanne likes it, so I always end up getting dragged along. She said it's cos she didn't go on holidays as a kid, which I think is a load of bollocks cos she didn't do much ironing when she was a kid either but she doesn't seem so eager to do that."

The book is full of improbable anecdotes, stories of his girlfriend's parents, and stray observations (e.g., ugly people "tend to tan more easily"). If you're interested in a light, nonsensical read, you can't do much worse than this book.

Fun fact: Karl Pilkington's head is unbelievably round!

favorite albums of 2008 - part Three!

Click here for parts 1 and 2! Done? OK!

51. Coldplay - Viva La Vida (or Death and All His Friends)/Prospekt's March EP

Lovers In Japan


52. Computerclub - Before The Walls Came Down

Before The Walls Came Down


53. Conor Oberst - Self-titled

Souled Out!!!


54. Constantines - Kensington Heights

Hard Feelings


55. The Cool Kids - The Bake Sale EP

Bassment Party


56. Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons - Cabin Ghosts

See It My Way


57. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours (FUCK YES)

Unforgettable Season (Must Listen)


58. Damien Jurado - Caught In The Trees

Caskets


59. The Dandy Warhols - Earth To The Dandy Warhols

Now You Love Me


60. Daniel Lanois - Here Is What Is

Here Is What Is


61. Daniel Ledwell - Two Over Seven

Daisy, You Are A Liar


62. Dead Meadow - Old Growth

What Needs Must Be


63. The Dears - Missiles

Money Babies


64. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs

No Sunlight


65. The Decemberists - Always The Bridesmaid: A Singles Series

O New England


66. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie

Chandelier Searchlight


67. Deerhunter - Microcastle

Agoraphobia


68. Delta Spirit - Ode To Sunshine

Trashcan


69. Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue

Wild Situation


70. Department Of Eagles - In Ear Park

No One Does It Like You


71. Destroyer - Trouble In Dreams

Foam Hands


72. Dianogah - qhnnnl

You Might Go Off


73. Dietrich Gosser - What The Buzzsaw Sings

74. Dillinger Four - Civil War

Gainsville


75. The Dodos - Visiter (ESSENTIAL!)

I'm pretty happy to end this post with this song. One of my absolutely most-loved songs of 2008, this is "Ashley":


Part 4 coming soon!

Happy [Kwanzaa/Hannukah/Xmas/Saturnalia/Thursday] & Happy New Year

Of course, this comic by Nedroid says it so much better.

Also:


And that's that on the subject.

let's DO this thing..!

Last night I found out that I got admitted (again) to my masters program of choice in Europe-land.

Let's hope this time I actually get to go. Time is on my side, yes it is..

favorite albums of 2008 - part deux

Part 1 of this special year end list is here! And now for more music...

31. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Lie Down In The Light
Easy Does It


32. Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow & Blue
I Need A Life


33. Brendan Canning - Broken Social Scene Presents... Something For All Of Us
Churches Under The Stairs


34. David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Everything That Happens


35. British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
Waving Flags


36. The Broken West - Now Or Heaven
Gwen, Now and Then


37. The Bronx - The Bronx III
Enemy Mind


38. Brothers And Sisters - Fortunately
You're Gone


39. Buckcherry - Black Butterfly (I know, I know, I am surprised by this addition myself)
Rescue Me


40. Burning Pilot - Cold Caller

Can't find any videos from this album! Help!

41. Cadence Weapon - Afterparty Babies
Real Estate


42. Calexico - Carried To Dust
Two Silver Trees


43. Cat Power - Jukebox
Metal Heart


44. caUSE Co-MOTION! - It's Time!
Who's Gonna Care?


45. Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
Cries Of The Dead


46. Chairlift - Does You Inspire You
Bruises


47. Chris Walla - Field Manual
Sing Again


48. The Clips - Matterhorn


The Clips - Space kidz from Salazar on Vimeo.

49. Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)
When Water Comes To Life


50. Cold War Kids - Loyalty To Loyalty
Something Is Not Right With Me


Stay Tuned for More!

what's the weirdest, most perverted reinterpretation of history, supremely idiotic and yet, the most awesomely quotable thing you'll ever read?

THIS

link of the day

Yankee Pot Roast offers pickup lines and their matching putdowns that perfectly reflect upon these troubled times. Some of the putdowns are really harsh!

On a side note, these are tough times for auto companies. Really, really tough.

Best music of '08: Part 1

Before we start with the list, I just want to lay down a couple of things for you: 1) Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago and MGMT's Oracular Spectacular, and Yeasayer's All Hours Cymbals, all of which are extremely beautiful records, came out last year, so there's no point putting them here, and 2) This list is by no means A) complete, since on my album queue I have a lot more to listen to (including Raphael Saadiq, Hercules And Love Affair, Frightened Rabbit, etc.) so expect some additions later on; nor B) for everyone, since this is all based on what I heard and loved, so take my recommendations with a grain of salt, and if you're interested, please give them a good listening to; and finally 3) I didn't set a finite number, so it's not going to be 100 or 50 or 20 or 10. Instead of incompetently writing why I loved a particular item, I'll just include a song off each album, so you can get a taste.

Pretty much every site I frequent is already in 2009 mode, so this is already one or two weeks behind the cirve, but fuck it, music is timeless. So let's do this is in alphabetical style, muthafuckas!

1. AC/DC - Black Ice

This is "Rock' n' Roll Train"


2. Adam Green - Sixes and Sevens

Morning After Midnight:


3. Adorable - Footnotes 92-94

Sunshine Smile:


4. Aimee Mann - Smilers

Freeway:


5. The Airborne Toxic Event - self titled

Sometime Around Midnight:


6. Albert Hammond Jr. - Como Te Llama

GfC:


7. Alphabeat - This Is Alphabeat

Fascination:


8. Amadou & Mariam - Welcome To Mali

Sabali:


9. ...And You WIll Know Us By The Trail of Dead - Festival Thyme EP

Bells Of Creation:


10. Anna Ternheim - Halfway To Fivepoints/Leaving on a Mayday

No Subtle Man:


11. Annuals - Such Fun

Confessor:


12. Arthur Russell - Love is Overtaking Me

I Couldn't Say it to Your Face:


13. Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel

Ativan:


14. Bark Hide and Horn - National Road

Perfect World:


15. Be Your Own Pet - Get Awkward

Becky:


16. Beach House - Devotion

Gila:


17. Beck - Modern Guilt

Chemtrails:


18. Belle & Sebastian - The BBC Sessions

The Stars of Track and Field:


19. Ben Folds - Way To Normal

You Don't Know Me (feat. Regina Spektor)


20. Bitter:Sweet - Drama

Trouble


21. The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost

Deer-Ree-Shee


22. The Black Keys - Attack & Release

Lies


23. Black Kids - Partie Traumatic (but if you have the Wizard of Aahs EP, you may want to skip this)

Hit the Heartbrakes


24. Black Milk - Tronic

Long Story Short


25. Black Mountain - In The Future

Stay Free


26. Blitzen Trapper - Furr (I LOVE THIS ALBUM WHY ISN"T THIS IN MORE LISTS?!)

Furr (this one's for you, Dad)


27. Bloc Party - Intimacy

Biko


28. Blood On The Wall - Liferz

Go Go Go/The X


29. Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs

Huck's Tune


30. Bob Mould - District Line (also grossly overlooked)

Very Temporary


That's all for now, people! Come back tomorrow (or whenever) for Part 2.

Book recommendation that absolutely cannot wait

It's my general impression that most people would find themselves in over their heads if they were to suddenly immerse themselves into technical jargon or details without prior information or detail. Aspects of physics (of orbital and terrestrial nature), calculus, or even philosophy would normally be kind of a turn off for a lot of readers of fiction, who just want it told like it is, with complete layman relatability (or maybe I'm speaking strictly of my own preferences, in which case never mind).

So if you've ever read a Michael Crichton book, like Airframe, Sphere or even Jurassic Park, you can kind of get a sense of just how intricate science fiction can get when the author knows his shit.

Neal Stephenson is just such an author. BUT! Reading Anathem, published this year, those trepidations don't matter. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have an engineering background (ahem), but even a cursory knowledge of math'll do you just fine.

Of course, that's not even the point of reading Anathem. Stripped down to its bare essentials, the story is one which is intimately familiar to pretty much anyone: a gifted, yet wholly normal kind of kid gets entangled in conspiracy upon conspiracy upon more layers of such, in the knowledge that his actions, and the actions of his close friends, will affect the fate of his planet.

The narrative is extremely gripping, and reading the exchanges between characters feels a lot like watching scenes from The Man From Earth, a movie that worked solely on the characters' ability to engage in intelligent, lively conversation, and nothing else. (Side note: if you haven't seen this movie yet, do it do it now!) The subject of the protagonist's thoughts and conversations touch on subjects as diverse as philosphy, metaphysics, dynamics, and calculus. As much as these aspects of the story are strong and capably explained, the emotional aspects are just as resonant. Once you reach the end, you're left with as much a desire to know what comes next as wanting to know more about the world in which the characters inhabit.

This is a good fucking novel. Well worth the 900 pages.

loner commute

I got an email from the fine creators of Mixwit, the mixtape service I was using for the last few playlists earlier today, and apparently they're shutting down.. The reasons why were pretty vague, but I'm glad they were upfront about informing their members ASAP. So, I guess I'll have to figure out another way to bring you a handful of tunes a day. No worries.

I commuted to the city this evening to meet up with some of my closest friends, Amir and Midge. Midge is in town til tomorrow, when she has to fly back to Brunei, and I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't see her while she's in town. I love these guys. I say this with complete and utter sincerity.

Of course conversation during dinner veered around what Amir was up to in Germany for a gaming tournament, and about the current season of Heroes (yes, I run with a pretty wild crew, what can I say). It's sad that I don't see most of my friends from engineering and debate times more often, and I am a downright bastard for self imposing a hermit's lifestyle. Is agoraphobia something that can onset with time?

I haven't been playing guitar much this last month. I feel rusty as all hell. Solace, to me, comes with meeting friends, playing guitar, and listening to music.

Also, Anathem is awesome, awesome reading. After the first fifty pages, when you start getting used to most of the made up words, it's pretty captivating shit.

Brilliant

Whoever designed this graphic, thank you! This is too awesome. If you don't get what it references, here's a major clue for ya:

link of the day

Reading this slightly old article made me tear up just a little. If this doesn't give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside, you, sir are not human.

today's playlist

Really sorry if some of the songs don't load (part of the problem is when songs that are supposed to be uploaded to these streaming sites may have been deleted). Sometimes it helps to reload this particular post or to try playing the mixtape another time. Lemme know if anything's amiss!

what just happened

I apologize for my lackadaisical updates this month. Mostly it's been fun catching up with my sister who has to go back to college next week. A lot of my favorite sites have already posted their top picks of '08, and I did promise I'd get around to it, so expect a pretty comprehensive list soon.

Books I read most recently include The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz and All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. Both books contain copious amounts of Spanish dialogue, which I didn't understand 99% of the time. Also I finished off a couple of David Mitchell books, which were OK, but not that great. Currently I am reading Anathem, a 900-page behemoth of sci-fi/fantasy. I was thinking of buying World War Z, but I couldn't find any copies and didn't feel like putting down a deposit for a special order. Also? Volume 5 of Flight! Yaaaaaaaay

today's thing

1. Jimi Hendrix - Room Fulll Of Mirrors
2. Paul Simon - The Boy In The Bubble
3. Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
4. Tokyo Police Club - In A Cave
5. The Magnetic Fields - Abigail, Belle Of Kilroman
6. The Tallest Man On Earth - Into The Stream
7. My Morning Jacket - Librarian
8. R.E.M. - Living Well Is The Best Revenge
9. Kanye West - I Wonder

Today's New & Improved Playlist

For your multi-tasking pleasure, here is my Mixwit debut for My Blog. Enjoy!

1. Blitzen Trapper - Sleepytime In The Western World
2. Pete Yorn - American Blues Vol. 1
3. Led Zeppelin - Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
4. Whiskeytown - 16 Days
5. Radiohead - National Anthem
6. Jenny Lewis - Pretty Bird
7. Elliott Smith - From A Poisoned Well
8. Russian Futurists - Let's Get Ready To Crumble
9. The Dears - Money Babies

in music-related news

I set up a Mixwit account! This way if I feel like making any mixes for you guys, it's just a matter of collecting the songs into virtual mixtapes for your listening pleasure. So no more YouTube excursions for songs unless they're absolutely warranted. Stay tuned, bitches.

today's wtf-ery

..At one point she just gives up pretending to shoot guns altogether! I love this.

BAH BAH BAH BAH BAH

meant to write on this earlier

A couple nights ago, I was watching Al Jazeera to catch Riz Khan's Q&A show (that's Wednesdays at 1400 GMT for you!) specifically because this week's premise was on press and media freedoms in Malaysia. For discretionary purposes, I will assume that you, the Informed Reader, would have an idea of the main elephant in the room, a certain archaic law, if you will.

The guests of the all too brief show were pretty much representative of the population, with the main emphasis on Raja Petra as the headliner. All in all, I felt that this was a landmark moment for Malaysia, not just in the sense of actually allowing this segment to be aired in the first place, but for Malaysians themselves criticizing and assessing the "nternal ecurity ct" publicly and on an internationally televised platform. After all, in the press freedom index, we fall well within the bottom half, nestled with more dictatorial African regimes. So, yes, I was on the edge of my seat.

However it wasn't to last for long. Al Jazeera unfortunately has a tendency of ending their main news segments over time, so instead of getting half an hour of Riz Khan we only got a piddling 20 minutes. There was, however, a call-in from a certain minister who "justified" the perpetual implementation of the you know what for "terrorism fighting and general societal security" (cough bullshit cough). Well, it had to happen anyway.

So for those of you who didn't catch the live show on Wednesday night, here's the interview.





So do I detect winds of change? I'm optimistic. I have faith in the intelligence and goodwill of the public (well, sort of. I understand a lot of it's misplaced.) And the internet is nothing if not the greatest equalizer of an educated and democratic society, so we'll always have that. I just hope our higher powers will get with the program.

nobody told me there'd be days like these

So in the last month, Mumbai was attacked and the Indian government was absolutely thunderstruck in terms of their response, and about 200 people died. In the US, auto giants are folding in on themselves and require a bailout of almost 40 billion dollars. Also, 533,000 people lost their jobs (holy crap indeed.) In Peshawar yesterday, there was a market bombing, which indiscriminately killed at least 20 people. In Congo, a media-friendly general discusses a truce with the Congolese government, and in Nigeria, there's a cholera outbreak, and Chrsitians fighting Muslims over election results. In Thailand an unpopular anti-government mob makes a pointless case to oust their PM. In the West Bank disgruntled Israeli settlers take out their frustration on (surprise, surprise) not their troops forcing them out, but on Palestinians.

Strange days indeed. Here's a little John Lennon for you.

resuming catharsis pretty much

Hello! Seems I haven't written here since Nov. 15th. Not much has happened in the time between then and now. I've been doing what I normally do, I guess, which is not much of anything. I am nothing if not predictable.

Anyway, I am back, I guess. Not that I've been far. Just haven't logged in for a while, so it all feels so... foreign.

Your assignment: find copies of MGMT's Oracular Spectacular and Blitzen Trapper's Furr, because they are both so monumentally gorgeous albums I can't stand it. I am hooked as hooks.