Love is in the air this week! We're off to Tucson this afternoon for Dacks and Penny's wedding on Sunday. Then, on Tuesday, we leave Tucson to travel to Lane and Anne's wedding the following Saturday in Washington, DC. Congratulations also to Anne-Marie and Kevin who are getting married that same Saturday.
Some inspirational quotes for the occasions:
I got gaps; you got gaps; we fill each other's gaps. Rocky
What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility. Leo Tolstoy
Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation. Oscar Wilde
If you live to be a hundred, I want To live to be a hundred minus one day, So I never have to live without you. Winnie the Pooh
RIP Blazer. Wait, what? It's going to be fixed? For virtually nothing? How could it be?!?
Just got this email from Kyle (the f-bombs have been edited):
God Bless the motherf-ing internet.
We destroyed the car on Thursday. Burnt the cylinder valve which was my worst fear. That is why it was loping. No pressure.
If we had known this, the next step would be to sell the car at auction for $300 bucks or so. Not get it fixed.
The call I just got was from the owner of Artesian who told me this. And he also told me that his guy (the guy I spoke to) did not tell him that I had said the engine was loping. Otherwise - he would not have wasted the time and effort on a car worth $3000 at most.
Later when he ran it and saw what was happening, he asked his guy if I had mentioned the engine and he was forced to admit as much. So this guy is in big trouble.
We - on the other hand - are in great shape. They are going to take the next week or two and fix this (a $3000 job at minimum) for free and only charge me the $650 for the radiator and pump work.
I am beside myself with joy. What a f-ing prince this guy is.
Artesian. Tell everyone you know. I told the guy I would flood him with referrals but he said they already had more customers than they can handle. They don't advertise and he was confused how I even found about them.
Whales! Alaskans and Tucsonites! Cleveland State Vikings! Leaky radiators!
It's been a busy week.
Last Saturday, Rob, Jana, Nate, and Elaine all came to town. They rented a beautiful house on the North Shore and we spent Sunday (and Thursday) eating, drinking, and snorkeling with them. The whales were out in abundance as well, and you could look off their front porch at any given moment and see them frolicking along the reefs. Here's Jana checking them out:
We also drank "Mai-tais" and Miller Lites. A drink for each hand!
On Sunday, we took the crew to our favorite snorkeling spot, Sharks Cove. We enjoyed Miller Lites in the sun-warmed "hot tubs" on top of the rocks. Apparently, on Tuesday, Sharks Cove became Sharks Bay, as the famous north shore waves came in and inundated everything, including the roads. North shore pictures are posted here if you want to see the rest of our adventures.
A spring break coaching trip also brought my friend, Dave, to Hawaii this past week. Dave and I played tennis together at Allegheny, and we hadn't seen each other in probably 5 years. He is an assistant coach for Cleveland State now, and the men's and women's teams came to play the local Hawaiian teams (who, by the way, are really, really good). Dave and I had an awesome night in Waikiki on Wednesday, drinking Killian's and messing with cops by jaywalking right in front of them so we could get our picture taken with Duke Kahanmoku statue. Just like old times... Finally, on K's and my way back from the North Shore on Thursday, our Chevy Blazer's radiator gave out, leading to some sort of miserable spurting of the water pump whenever the accelator was pressed. After a brief respite of steam streaming out of the hood beside the highway (where are the Green Angels when you need them!!!), we sputtered our way to the local Chevron where there just happened to be a willing tow truck driver (how do you say "tow truck" in Pidgeon?). He towed us home for $65 (which turned out to be twice that amount by the time you added "mileage"). But, I was happy to be home to the poor Gaffers who had been home alone all day.
Now, slightly sick from all this running around, I will relax on this St. Patty's day and thank the basketball gods that Ohio State didn't bite it this morning by losing to Xavier. I picked OSU to win it all, and that would have seriously messed up my bracket. Corned beef and cabbage for dinner, and maybe a Guiness or Boddington to remind us of St. Patty's days of yore. Hanging out with old (and new) friends this week really made me appreciate all those good, good times (you know, the ones we will always remember....)
Don't make fun of me (especially Brian who I know owns the whole set), but tonight I am watching The Godfather for, what I believe to be, the first time. K was floored when he discovered this the other day, and immediately put it at the top of the Netflix queue. I am excited to see it, especially since K's making me a dinner of insalata caprese and vodka penne, accompanied by a cabernet (French, damn it!)
Here in Honolulu, February / March weather means rainbows. You can imagine my surprise, then, when last Sunday my mother asked how much snow I had (oops, wrong daughter!) Trade winds bring the rain and it dumps on Manoa Valley, and since we live on the sunny side of Manoa, we get to peer into the beautifully refracted light almost every day. The Hawaiians, which are sometimes known as the "Rainbow people" have a rich mythology concerning the rainbow. My favorite story:
Lono – Ancient Tiki God of Fertility and Peace In Hawaiian mythology, Lono is a fertility and music god who descended to Earth on a rainbow to marry Laka. In agricultural and planting traditions, Lono was identified with rain and food plants. He was one of the four gods (with Ku, Kane, and his twin brother Kanaloa) who existed before the world was created. Lono was also the god of peace. In his honor, the great annual festival of the Makahiki was held. During this period (from October through February), all unnecessary work and war was kapu (taboo). This is also the season of taxes, olympic like games and when chiefs regrouped their forces (and organized campaigns ironically).
Damn. I should have read this before February ended. Now I guess I have to do some unnecessary work (manscripts, argh!). At least I got the taxes paid and out of the way!
For more Hawaiian myths and history, check out this website.
Last Friday I went with some friends to the Honolulu Academy of Art's "Art after Dark". Basically, this is the Academy's way of making some extra money and getting people to come to the gallery to enjoy all the beautiful and amazing art. The theme for last week's event was "Bombshell" and it included a live jazz band with swing dancers, a catered bar and grill menu, and of course, all the galleries were open until 9pm. And the bonus: the mingling of all the beautiful, young professionals actually dressed up without a single aloha shirt in sight. Don't get me wrong, I really dig the causal vibe here, but it is nice to see a man in a polo shirt now and again.
The biggest surprise of the evening for me? I had no idea we had such amazing art on Hawaii. A lot of the collection were pieces shipped at the turn of the 20th century to one of the wealthy mission ladies, Anne Rice Cooke. She collected an array of Asian art, as well as some amazing pieces you would see in a French museum. The most interesting tid-bit? This Gaughin, Two Nudes, is the only one of his Tahitian paintings to hang in a gallery in all of Polynesia. And boy, was it beautiful.
Next month the theme is "Let them eat cake" and I am really looking forward to it. I didn't make it to the Impressionist gallery in the Academy, so this will be my first stop next time. I also plan on exploring the Hawaiian gallery a bit more, including this exhibition on Hawaiian drawings. Anyone want to come with?
So K and I went to both Dawkins lectures these past few days. The first, "Queerer than we suppose: the strangeness of science" was the public lecture, given at 7pm Tuesday night. It started 40min late due to projector issues and hundreds of people needing to be accommodated on the outdoor lanai because the ballroom was too tiny. As far as we could tell, pretty much everyone there seemed to be an admirer; K and I were both surprised at the relative lack of protestors, although there were some Humanists holding down their corner in bright yellow shirts.
The talk was genuinely intriguing and basically touched on parts of his new book, The God Delusion as well as older ideas from The Selfish Gene. Loaded with lots of examples from nature, he talked about arms races that drive evolutionary change. I was most impressed with his ability to answer questions from the public. One of Dawkins' least favorite questions was asked after the talk, "What are we going to evolve into next?" Dawkins replies, "Silicon robots, of course!" followed quickly by "Actually, I have no idea."
Yesterday's talk (sorry, I don't recall the title), at 3:30pm, was a mish-mosh of examples which Dawkins used to show that life will always evolve to fill in certain niches, and that there are evolutionary commonalities that will arise in some form or another no matter what. In other words, repeated patterns will always emerge in life that evolves in the same context. For instance, "the" eye has evolved at least 40 times because light waves are useful for living in the world we live in. Had we lived in a different type of world (ie. a dark one) we would most likely not develop eyes. He called our niche the "Middle World", where our scale of distance and time are not tiny nor cosmic, rather in the middle. Our brains, therefore, evolved to perceive these middle functions, and can probably not comprehend either the very small or the very large. Thank goodness I finally have justification for not being able to understand the end of A Brief History of Time. A weight has indeed been lifted from my sorry shoulders.
Of course, a Dawkins talk would not be complete without a hit at the Creationists. When asked what he thought about people who believed the world to be designed, he answered, "They are not properly functioning human beings" and they are "missing the excitement of the universe".
While I agree that the universe is pretty exciting, it is hard to think about a world in which human beings are entirely secular. Not everyone gets to sit around and think all day and be paid for it after all (lucky bastards!). Perhaps I will comment more on this topic another day, but in the meantime, I just want to add that Dawkins himself admits that he is just a middle-minded man who can't possibly comprehend everything either. So we should probably not ask him what he thinks about the South Park episode anymore, because he apparently did not get it. By the way, Kyle's student asked Dawkins before his first lecture what he thought about the South Park episode. He said he wished they would have gotten a better British actor to do his voice, har har har. Then, he grabbed the students pen and whistfully autographed his kitten-decorated Econ folder. "To John, may you evolve into something great".
What a busy President's Day weekend! K and I played and watched Ultimate frisbee in the 20th annual Kaimana Klassik Tournament. Here is a picture of the Lady Sippin' Sally team:
K was on the men's Sally's team, but I am pretty sure after 3 handles of bourbon, rum, and tequila, they were not quite organized enough to take a picture. What a crew.
Tonight is the Richard Dawkins talk. K told his students they would get extra credit if they could go and then write a paper relating Dawkins' ideas to economics. The students had no idea who Dawkins even was until K mentioned the South Park episode in which Ms. Garrison and Dawkins, er, um, hook up. Dawkins comments on his website:
Finally, I have repeatedly been asked what I think of South Park and of Ted Haggard’s downfall. I won’t say much about either. Schadenfreude is not an appealing emotion so, on Haggard, I’ll say only that if it wasn’t for people of his religious persuasion, people of his sexual persuasion would be free to do what they like without shame and without fear of exposure. I share neither his religious nor his sexual persuasion (that’s an understatement), and I’m buggered if I like being portrayed as a cartoon character buggering a bald transvestite. I wouldn’t have minded so much if only it had been in the service of some serious point, but if there was a serious point in there I couldn’t discern it. And then there’s the matter of the accent they gave me. Now, if only I could be offered a cameo role in The Simpsons, I could show that actor how to do a real British accent.
I can't wait to hear him talk about selfish genes, buggering, and other hot topics. Full report in the morrow, ladies and gents.
Pro Bowl this weekend, ya heard? Last football "game" of the year, which is fortunate for poor Kristen, and also fortunate for us because it means a big block party down the street tonight. K and I even got invited to a big kegger so we could preparty down in Waikiki before the event. Too fun.
This afternoon, Gaffers and I decided to go check out the festivities down at Kapiolani park. We got to see lots of fun games (kick a field goal, run a 40 and have it timed, watch cheerleaders, etc) and there were even some football greats signing autographs. We got to see Bart Scott! Yeah, I know, Bart Scott! I couldn't believe it. I was easily within 50 yards of him when I was kindly asked to leave due to my and Gaffney's excessive drooling. Apparently, LT and Troy Polamalu were supposed to be there, but Bart Scott, man, that was better by far than seeing those guys. Speaking of awesome guys, Steven Jackson is sponsoring a party down at the W tonight. Maybe I'll get to touch him! Or at least thank him for the 359 fantasy points he scored this year, leading me to a fantasy league championship (Thanks, SJ!)
We aren't actually going to the game (or probably any of the above mentioned parties, except, of course the kegger. Who could miss that!). Kyle predicts the AFC will prevail in the big game. Peyton, after all, received more votes than any other player in the league. Who do you think will win? Cast your votes now! Or don't. It is, after all, just the ProBowl.
The weather doesn't change much here. The Kona, or southwest winds, are fairly uncommon, as the typical winds, the trades, blow from the east probably 300 days of the year. So, when I rode my bike to work yesterday morning, it was quite surprising to have a tail wind pushing me up the hill. Welcome, Kona winds!
Now, on the leeward side of the island, where we reside, the winds were around 15mph. But yesterday, my lab mate and I had to go out collecting on the windward side. One would think that the east side of the island would be protected from the winds coming from the west since there is a huge mountain range in between. Not so. Our little vessel was tossed back and forth on the open seas as 30mph wind gusts tossed waves over our bow, water spouts surged from all sides, and our poor little precious copepods were jostled to death by the swaying of the boat. I thought poor Agnes was either going to get sea sick or fall off the boat every time she had to pull in a tow. We finally called it a day, with few copepods and even fewer spots of dryness on our sea- and rain- soaked bodies. Fritz, our boat driver, calls the rain a "fresh water rinse". I like that euphemism a lot.
The good news? Kona winds bring volcano smoke from the Big Island. Actually, this tends to cause allergies in people, but it makes for beautiful sunsets. So, today I plan on going down and enjoying the weather after work. If you would like to read more about the winds, or see pictures of the "devastation" look here.
This week, the University of Hawaii had the honor of hosting arguably one of the most famous scientists in the world, J. Craig Venter. I went to his talk on Wednesday afternoon, entitled, "Genomes, Medicine, and the Environment". I was pretty excited about the event; it's not everyday you get to be in the same room with a scientist that receives over $100 million in funding every year. A real businessman, which is why I really like this picture. Dr. Venter and Mr. Hyde...
The introduction to the talk, given by our interim med-school dean, Gary Ostrander, summarized Venter's various awards, papers (33 pages in total for his CV), but also interesting tidbits like how Venter is on the Sci-Fi channel advisory board. When Venter finally got to speak, he began with a history lesson of every genome he has ever sequenced which includes a bacteria, a fruit fly, a mouse, his dog, and himself. It turns out he is more related to his dog than a mouse; of course, he used this information to break out the ol' "I look like my pet" joke. Perhaps he will enter in the contest next year, but instead of a photograph, he'll send the DNA sequence alignments.
In the "environment" part of his talk he summarized his new task of taking water samples all over the globe and sequencing whatever he finds. He does this by traveling around the world on his sloop, putting a bucket in the water, size-filtering said water on the boat, freezing the samples, and then fed-exing them to the sequencing facility in Maryland when he reaches a port of call. What a life! The results so far are kind of interesting: there is a lot of genetic diversity that has likely evolved as a result of the environment in which the animal resides. For instance, things that live around the turquoise blue waters of Bermuda have different photoreceptor genes than things that live in the fresh, green water of the Panama canal. Pretty neat.
Eventually, Venter would love for everyone to be able to sequence their own genomes, and we would all be in a data base showing all our sequence alignments. Thus, we could determine which part of the genome is responsible for X and Y diseases by looking at what sequences people with those diseases have in common. It's probably not this simple, but the implications of the way we address disease with designer genetic tools are very exciting. At this point, everything Venter is doing has been determined to be ethical and lawful, but who knows what the future holds. I think our generation will probably be treated with designer genetic tools. Will we live longer? Venter addressed the question from the "youngest" member of the audience (>65 year old man) with the statement, "We are not directly looking for longevity genes, no". Too bad.
K, G, and I have been here one year now. Living in Hawaii has been both amazing and amazingly frustrating, but after one year we are finally getting a grip on island living. So, in honor of the year in paradise: The top 5 amazingly frustrating reasons not to live in Hawaii: 1) The streets are too narrow for our large automobiles!!! As illustrated in this picture, taken at Bellows Beach after my unfortunate run-in with an ill-placed garbage can on a narrow street last Wednesday night (note the passenger side mirror):
2) The ticks are relentless....poor Gaffney 3) It is the most expensive place you will ever live. Ever. 4) We can't go for long drives on the island. First, it is an island, so there are no long drives. Second, the traffic is here is miserable since every family has an average of 2 cars and it is an island with not many roads. 5) It is 2,500 miles to our nearest friends and family.
And now....The top 5 amazing reasons to live in Hawaii: 1) You can camp on the beach, any time of year. The picture to the right was taken at Bellows this weekend. I would have taken more pictures, but the battery in the Cannon Powershot died (has anyone else had this problem with their Cannon battery? It doesn't hold a charge anymore.) 2) The food is incredible. I mean, just incredible. Japanese noodles (udon) are my current favorite thing to eat ever. 3) The people we work with are amazingly nice and accepting 4) The weather is perfect. You get to wear slippers (flip-flops) to work everyday of the year.
and finally, 5) It is amazingly beautiful here. I feel like we have just begun to discover all the intricate details of this place, but I am not concerned. It took about 4 years of Tucson to appreciate all the back country, all the twists and turns of the light during the different seasons, etc, etc. We will be in Hawaii at least another year, and I hope in that time, we will grow to love this place and ignore the top five frustrations! Aloha!
Snowed in Tucson, ya heard? The picture is from the Computer science webcam, on top of Gould-Simpson. I bet the skiing on Mt. Lemmon is superb today. Some of my favorite days of playing hooky from grad school involved driving up Mt. Lemmon to play in the snow, ski, eat pie and drink cider, even mountain bike. I miss you Tucson!
The big news in Hawaii this morning...University of Hawaii quarterback, Colt Brennan, decided to stay and play his senior year! Taking advice from his old high school teammate, Matt Leinhart, Colt decided that $25 million dollars was tempting, but not as tempting as the glory that will come when Hawaii beats Boise State next year for first place in the WAC. I guess this was really a hard decision for him, as you can tell from this picture where he is CRYING! Now, I am sure it is a bit disappointing to turn down money. But don't worry, Colt. Next year is going to be fun! Maybe K and I will actually dish out the money for season tickets to see the glory!
Not much else going on in the Aloha state. It snowed on the Big Island a week or so ago, but from the sounds of it, y'all have been going through actual winter so I will not bore you with the details of our camping on Bellows beach this weekend. Pictures to follow if you so desire!
Aloha, everyone! I hope your holiday season has been as amazing as ours. I will indulge with you some details, and try to reassure you that K did not spend his whole holiday putting together the "Best of Christmas songs" YouTube video list. Don't worry, there's always next year...
Christmas eve was spent on the North Shore with the straggler Sally crew (our frisbee team). Lisa (the girl in the Santa hat below) rented a condo up there and invited all the people who stayed on the island for a nice pot luck dinner overlooking the beach. It was an amazingly good time full of Secret Santa surprises, rubber band balls, and lots and lots of cookies. (Thanks to Buffy (green shirt) for the picture).
K and I had a nice Christmas morning with our newly acquired gingerpeople ornaments made by Megan, complete with Ultimate frisbees. They were hung nicely on our "Christmas tree", which was actually some pine branches I found on the side of the road. Christmas trees are ridiculously expensive here.
On the 27th, Kyle dropped me off at the airport for my big trip to Georgia to see my now 9 month-old niece, Megan. I took a red-eye to Dallas, via Maui, and then landed in Atlanta at 11:30am. I met up with Chuck Derby, who works at Georgia State. We toured his lab and downtown Atlanta, since I had never been there before. My brother, Sam, picked me up around 6pm and we attempted to leave Atlanta. After two hours we finally passed the first exit for Jonesboro, Brian's hometown (me thinks!), which is probably 10miles south of Atlanta. Our bellies and bladders finally got to us a half hour later, and we got off at the next exit in Jonesboro and we looked for the Chick-fil-A advertised on the side of the road, which unfortunately we could not find otherwise I probably could have eaten in, if I'm not mistaken, one of the first places B ever worked! Ah well, maybe nextime! The slow traffic was due to a burning truck we found out much, much later, but eventually we arrived at Sam's house, south of Warner-Robins.
I spent the week playing with the baby and all the neighbor's kids as well. My parents came down for a few days, so it was nice seeing them too. I'll post pictures later, when Cheryl, Sam's wife, sends them to me. Kyle apparently spent the week actually working. Oh, and watching a lot of football too. And Arizona Wildcat basketball. In case you hadn't heard, the Wildcats are amazing this year, minus the Wash State loss of last evening, in overtime. Bear Down!
I arrived home last night at 10pm. No problems with luggage, and all the Bermuda rum and ginger beer (yum, Dark and Stormy's, yum) I bought made it home safely. And then I got to see Gaffney's super wiggling, squirmy smile greet me in the car. When I got home, Kyle had another surprise, waiting in the recess lighting in the kitchen:
So deep they can drive me to this, my list of the best tracks of 2006.
Despite my efforts to the contrary, the list is weighted heavily toward tracks I heard first this fall and thus are at the sweet spot for me. Since my hard drive on my laptop is pretty small, a lot of older stuff gets put on the big drive and is a pain in the butt to search.
I am not including links to the songs but I think all of the songs are either on the Summer Mix or the soon to be emailed Winter Mix.
20. Decemberists. The Perfect Crime #2. Crane Wife just missed this album list because I really haven't given it a good listen. I just listen to O Valencia! and this track.
19. Easy All Stars. Let Down. So these raggae guys decided to recreate OK Computer! song for song but in reggae fashion. Sounds awful huh? I would have thought so but then Pitchfork told me it was cool so I got to listen to it. C and my brother were not convinced by the argument. Anyway this song is the best. No Surprises is - ironically - surprising.
18. Medeski, Martin, Wood, and John Scofield. Julia. Yes. It is a cover. But what a cover.
17. Professor Murder. The Mountain. This song is nice but I think it needs a little more cowbell.
16. Phoenix. Consolation Prizes. See the video included for their #1 album.
15. Herbert. We're in Love. So very smooth.
14. Malajube. Pate Filo. In 2006, I redicovered music videos. I think I thought I was too cool for them but then we rented a DVD of Spike Jonze's old videos and I was hooked. Before he was wiping the tears from Sophia Coppola's eyes, he directed the awesome Happy Days themed Weezer video, Buddy Holly and some amazing videos for the Pharcyde. Anyways - I found this video on Youtube and I was hooked on the tune.
13. Asobi Seksu. Thursday. I download a bunch of Japanese stuff because Pitchfork says I should. And then I can't bring myself to listen. I am getting old and new sounds frighten me. Especially after I listened to Boris. But I think you will be pretty happy with this little track.
12. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. Bobby Malone Moves Home. This year, I got into some sad music. Okkervil River tricked me with some upbeat tunes on their first album but the majority of the album is just hilariously sad. Then I finally listened to SilverJews after initially judging it "terrible." Caroline was justifiably ticked as she had pushed it a long time before I listened again on the advice of Ace Steamroller. Finally - this album. It's sad and gay as hell. What's not to like?
Here is a hilarious video someone made of their own sad life with the sad song over top:
11. Gnarls Barkley. Smiley Faces. I will assume that if you are reading this, then you are alive and therefore have heard this song.
10. Tilly and the Wall. Lost Girls. This gets me every time they get to that chorus.
Warning! This video contains tap dancing.
9. Final Fantasy. He Poos Clouds. I honestly don't know which is worse. The name of this band or the name of the song. I like the video though.
8. Lupe Fiasco. Kick Push. Finally - a great hip-hop song about skateboarding. With this song and an I pod, I might actually give it a go.
7. Whitest Boy Alive. Golden Cage. That bass line to start is just too much.
6. Gil Manteras Party Dream.Emotion Road. This is the song Rant sang for us. I do not know the actual lyric, but it sounds like "No more monkeys jumping on the bed. Grab a piece of chicken, rub it on your head." That can't be right.
5. Soulwax. NY Lipps. "I'm getting loud with you!"
4. The Pipettes.Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me. Hetreosexual males, try and control your emotions here:
3. Girl Talk. Bounce That. Breeders sample. Stevie Wonder sample. Garbage sample. It is all about transitions.
2. Vetiver. I Know No Pardon. Try not to get choked up listening to this.
1. Royksopp. What Else is There? (Trentmoller Remix). C and me saw Royksopp in Hollywood with a good man. And this is the version of What Else is There that they did. It came out in Dec. 2005 but screw it. If it can score this high this many months later, it deserves the top spot.
15. M. Ward.Post War. When I think back on the opportunity to attend the Bright Eyes / M. Ward show at Plush in 2004, it makes me growl.Especially because I would have cried through Bright Eyes's set and then punched him in the face. Support the Troops!
14. Joanna Newsome.Ys. At this point, I still prefer Milk-Eyed Mender but 2006 was the year I finally came around to Joanna.After someone told me she was cool, of course.
From Milk Eyed Mender:
13. Lily Allen. Alright Still. What do you know?– I am listening to it right now!I knew a feisty little 9-year-old girl who was going to get a (burned) copy of this in her stocking, until C pointed out the lyrics focus exclusively on flaccid penises and getting in cat fights.
12.Best of Death Row Records Vol. 2. – You may not know this about me: I missed the beginning of white folks listening to rap music back in 1989.I was listening to the oldies station.So imagine hearing 2Pac for the first time after all these years.Yeah it's– pretty fantastic.
11. Belle and Sebastian.The Life Pursuit. Welcome back to my year end list guys.See you back here next time you make an album.
Sorry about all this but damned if I don't love Youtube. This is from the (incrediblyibly good) Coachella DVD. Old song but check that sky.
10. Herbert. Scale. This is the future of electronic music.Sounds a lot like the past of pop music.Good for a party or headphones.
9. Oh No! Oh My!Oh No! Oh My!This list is a bit contrived in that I just don'’t really listen to albums much anymore.My I did listen to this one.Because it was the only unscratched disc in the car for a while.And it is testament to the consistency of this pop gem that I was able to do this for at least five listens.It's a new world.
8. Gil Manteras Party Dream. Bloodsongs.OK -– so this technically 2005.But I have a big (figurative) stack of late 2006 albums here that I haven'’t listened to so late 2005 entries get counted.Besides, I didn'’t hear them until this summer when I actually saw it lip-synched (with routine) by one Ranty McDingDong.And I liked it.Immediately.
What is it?Ummm. Check it out here:
7. Girl Talk. Night Ripper.Guaranteed crowd pleaser.No multiple listens required.Pop it in and enjoy.Mashes appeal to our basest desires.So it is nice to see this, the musical equivalent of the Carl's Jr. Six Dollar Burger. That is - the very best of the worst. And if I have made myself unclear - this album is completely wicked.
6. Tilly and the Wall.Bottoms of Barrels.More Tilly and the Wall to cry over.Especially that Lost Girls track I put on my Summer Mix.Gives me the chicken skin.
5. RockPlaza Central.Are We Not Horses?Called by some wags a mix of Neutral Milk Hotel and the Shins.It is a concept album about android horses ala Blade Runner . . . wait . . . come back . . .
Here's is their awesome cover of Justin Timberlake's SexyBack set to the video of same:
4. Band of Horses. Everything All the Time.Like My Morning Jacket?High Lonesome Sounds?High Altitude grasslands?Awesome -– me too.
3. Hot Chip.The Warning.What no more horses?Top three are always tough to sort out.Fortunately, my top three are all overly clever white males my age making pop music.And I fall hard for it.
2. Whitest Boy Alive. Dreams.Straight up, Erlend Oye is my fricking hero.Every song he touches is pure gold.This is basically a Kings of Convenience album with a little more bump.Every song is perfect.
1. Phoenix. It'’s Never Been Like This.Look -– I don'’t make any excuses.I love pop music.And several times this year, I have turned to Caroline and said: this is the freaking album of the year.2006 Phoenix is 1995 Guster.And not 2006 Guster who, I think it is safe to say, are done now.
Interested in owning these albums? Drop me a line and I will provide. Stay tuned for the top tracks of 2006.
And please tell me what you think would have made my list if I had just listened harder and/or had your refined tastes.
Today G-fresh turns the big 4!!! That is 28 in human years, which means Gaffers and I are the same age! Yeah!
Please enjoy this photo gallery of the most wonderful, good-looking, well-mannered (well, at least around people, not other dogs), most popular, well-loved dog on the island of Hawaii and beyond!
And happy birthday also to all you December babies! I have been to three birthday parties already this month, and I know of at least two of you readers who are nearing their third decade! What's up with all these December birthdays?!?
