December 30, 2007
Best album(s) of 2007
I'm not really into painstakingly arranged year-end "best of" lists for anything, including music. So I hope you didn't look at the title of this post and expect a list of my favorite albums.
The reason I'm writing this post is that I have thumbed through a few of these lists (like Pitchfork's, Rolling Stone's, eMusic's, and even The Week's composite of 25 "best of" lists). Everyone's going ga ga over albums like Radiohead's In Rainbows, LCD Soundystem's Sound of Silver, the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, and - fittingly - Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Which is all fine. They're all great albums. (If I had bought In Rainbows on vinyl, it would already be worn out.) But on none of these lists do I see mention of some of my favorite albums. The most glaring omission is Andrew Bird's Armchair Apocrypha. I mean, come on... I've enjoyed listening to it for about nine months now and I have yet to grow tired. (Interestingly, it does appear in eMusic's 2007 User Poll.)
So, even though I'm not sure end-of-year rankings make sense, I would like to at least cast a symbolic vote for Armchair Apocrypha. And while I'm at it, I'll cast one for The Good, The Bad & The Queen's eponymous album, Oliver Future's Pax Futura, Deer Tick's War Elephant, and Ash Wednesday by Elvis Perkins.
30 Dec 23:01 | Link | Category: Music
December 29, 2007
Playlist - December (and November, and October) 2007
I apologize for missing two months of playlists. I have no great excuses; I was just busy. Anyway, here's a playlist for you. Finally. It's a bit strange (even by my standards), but it has its moments.
[Song links now go to Amazon.com when possible - no DRM! - then iTunes or elsewhere. Album links go to eMusic when possible, then Amazon or elsewhere. The full eMusic list is here. Also, if you're not on my mailing list, e-mail me for the 'special' link...]
| Arrested Development - Since The Last Time >> from Since The Last Time This playlist had to start with this song. "What've you been up to? It's been so long since we heard from you folks on wax..." |
| Lupe Fiasco - Superstar >> from The Cool This isn't the best selection from Lupe Fiasco's latest album, but it's probably the catchiest. My favorite parts are 2:05 - 2:36 and 3:05 - 3:45. |
| Radar Bros. - Open Ocean Sailing >> from The Singing Hatchet |
| Clinic - Welcome >> from Walking With Thee It recently came to my attention that only one Clinic song has ever appeared in my previous monthly playlists. There is no good explanation for this. |
| Radiohead - House of Cards >> from In Rainbows Sublime. |
| Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place >> from In Rainbows |
| The Good, The Bad & The Queen - Kingdom of Doom >> from The Good, The Bad & The Queen |
| Vetiver - You May Be Blue >> from To Find Me Gone |
| Albert Hammond Jr. - In Transit >> from Yours To Keep |
| The White Stripes - Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground >> from White Blood Cells I'm ambivalent about The White Stripes, so for the longest time I've had a bunch of their albums in my "save for later" list on eMusic, figuring I could download them later if I got in the mood. Then, suddenly, all White Stripes albums disappeared from eMusic. What's up with that? Anyway. This is one of their better tunes. |
| A.R.E. Weapons - Weird Wild Free >> from Modern Mayhem |
| Simple Kid - Staring At The Sun >> from 1 |
| The Lovetones - Navigator >> from Axiom |
| Andrew Bird - Scythian Empires >> from Armchair Apocrypha |
| The Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound - Gemini 7 >> from Ekranoplan Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space. |
29 Dec 10:47 | Link | Category: Music
December 21, 2007
Mystery Whale
From Kuro5hin:
For the last 12 years, a single solitary whale whose vocalizations match no known living species has been tracked across the Northeast Pacific. Its wanderings match no known migratory patterns of any living whale species. Its vocalizations have also subtly deepened over the years, indicating that the whale is maturing and ageing. And, during the entire 12 year span that it has been tracked, it has been calling out for contact from others of its own kind. It has received no answer
Read more: The Loneliest Mystery of the Deep
21 Dec 12:04 | Link | Category: Science
Why it's nice to have someone like Ron Paul in the race
From Fox's vapid morning show:
Watch the anchors wriggle and look around nervously. ("This isn't in the script! And who's this 'Sinclair Lewis' he speaks of?")
21 Dec 11:34 | Link | Category: Politics, Video
December 20, 2007
Pushing buttons in Texas
Being a legislator in Texas looks like fun:
20 Dec 21:52 | Link | Category: Politics, Video
Is our press secretaries learning?
I caught this tidbit from the Washington Post via Ghost in the Machine:
During a White House briefing, a reporter referred to the Cuban Missile Crisis -- and [White House press secretary Dana Perino] didn't know what it was.
"I was panicked a bit because I really don't know about . . . the Cuban Missile Crisis," said Perino, who at 35 was born about a decade after the 1962 U.S.-Soviet nuclear showdown. "It had to do with Cuba and missiles, I'm pretty sure."
So she consulted her best source. "I came home and I asked my husband," she recalled. "I said, 'Wasn't that like the Bay of Pigs thing?' And he said, 'Oh, Dana.'"
More comment from the Lede blog at the New York Times.
20 Dec 21:14 | Link | Category: Humor, Politics
Ice + Gravity
Ice falls from a 1600 ft. TV tower in the aftermath of the recent ice storm(s) in Oklahoma:
(See also: Falling CN Tower ice, "Dodging ice from above is part of city life"
20 Dec 20:59 | Link | Category: Video
December 17, 2007
8 Years of Daily Photos
I'm don't understand the allure of taking a photo of yourself every day (though every year can be interesting). Maybe it's fun for young people, but at some point you realize you're just getting older and worse looking ever day. But it seems like millions of people do it. Millions have also done the time-lapse thing, but this dude is so good at keeping the same expression day after day that it actually works:
Also check out Homer Simpson's:
(via J-Walk Blog)
17 Dec 10:50 | Link | Category: Humor, Photography, Video
December 11, 2007
Only One Explanation...
Sorry, but here's another clip of crazy ol' Huckabee, that total nutter. I just couldn't resist sharing it. In this clip, Mike says that the only explanation for his rising numbers in the polls is supernatural. Yep, God's doing it. Arrogance and delusion is a powerful combination.
(Maybe he really thought he was on the phone with God in that last clip I posted...)
Update: Maybe he's just being paid back for publicly supporting this statement "A wife is to submit graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ."
11 Dec 11:09 | Link | Category: Politics, Video
December 7, 2007
Governor, you're no Jack Kennedy
Anyone notice how different Romney's "JFK speech" was from JFK's?
So it is apparently necessary for me to state once again not what kind of church I believe in — for that should be important only to me — but what kind of America I believe in.
...
I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute
Freedom requires religion
...
Religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life. It's as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America - the religion of secularism. They are wrong.
...
We should acknowledge the Creator as did the Founders in ceremony and word. He should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history, and during the holiday season
...
Our greatness would not long endure without judges who respect the foundation of faith upon which our constitution rests.
It seems pretty obvious that the speech was simply an attempt to pander appeal to conservative Christians who are flocking to crazy ol' Huckabee.
(See also: Video of JFK's speech, John Nichols op-ed and that classic moment from the '88 debates.)
07 Dec 15:39 | Link | Category: Opinion & Thoughts, Politics
December 6, 2007
A Man Cold
(via Dooce)
06 Dec 20:14 | Link | Category: Humor, Video
December 4, 2007
A Stunning View
Yet more proof that watching 'The View' will rot your brain:
Wait... which came first: the brain rot, or 'The View'?
UPDATE: It gets worse. Someone just made me aware of an older clip containing all sorts of wonderful dialogue, including the following:
"Is the world flat?" "I don't know. I've never thought about it."
04 Dec 21:48 | Link | Category: Humor, Science, Video
Another Bubble
Via Fake Steve:
Blog Blog BLOG IT ALL
(It might be slightly funnier if, as a troubled youth, you unintentionally memorized every word of the stupid original song. Not that I would do something so weird...)
04 Dec 11:07 | Link | Category: Humor, Technology & Computing, Video
December 3, 2007
Polanoid
Very cool: Polanoid.net
Hungry for real analog, good smelling pictures in a digital world, we decided to swim against the stream and to reset our focus and start the biggest, best and most instant online photo community ever. Stuffed with millions of Polaroids, collected and uploaded by Polaroid addicts all over the planet.
03 Dec 23:30 | Link | Category: Photography
December 2, 2007
The Real Voice of Darth Vader
Sounds more like Rick Moranis in 'Spaceballs':
02 Dec 15:49 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Humor, Video
December 1, 2007
Pope: Atheists behind greatest cruelty
An item about Pope Benedict XVI caught my eye at the J-Walk Blog. In a 76 page encyclical letter, Ratzinger lays into atheism, saying that it has led to the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice.
The document is erudite and eloquent, and I share the concern about technology, wealth, and ideology (though I would add religious ideology). But like so many scholarly books and writings, it feels like a studiously crafted bit of clever but essentially empty wordplay. And it confirms that the Roman Catholic Church still hasn't come to grips with any of the intellectual and political changes that have occurred over the last 300+ years. (Of course, it took them until 1992 to make up with Galileo.) So they fall back on the pain and suffering caused by Marxist regimes.
Contrary to popular opinion, Marxist political ideology is not synonymous with atheism. And the argument that atheists are evil and single-handedly responsible for all the horrors of the 20th century is really tired. (I might expect it from a second-rate high school debate squad, but surely the Vatican can do better.)
I certainly suspect it's easier for Ratzinger to point the papal finger at the atrocities committed in the name of Soviet nationalism than at the atrocities committed in the name of German and Italian nationalism, in which the Catholic Church and its adherents were totally complicit.
Really, though, there's not much point in spending too much time attacking or defending any political ideology or religion. It seems they've all caused plenty of pain and suffering. (Actually, the best defense can be mounted for atheism since it's not a political ideology or a religion, but I'll leave that to others.)
When it comes down to it, I think ideology - religious and political - is essentially icing on the cake. If you're really interested in the ultimate roots of human behavior, biology provides the most satisfying answers. Human tendencies toward ingroup bias and coalitional behavior, for example, make more sense from an evolutionary perspective than any other. And as far as sweeping statements about what group of people causes the most violence, warfare, and "cruelty", here's one that actually holds: Across human societies in both time and space, it's men.
Why? Look into it and you'll find it's not because they're all atheists, Marxists, or even Catholics.
01 Dec 14:45 | Link | Category: Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Opinion & Thoughts, Science