Byrne/Eno, George R.R. Martin

I listened to David Byrne and Brian Eno's latest album, "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today." I've listened to it once, and I like it. After listening to too much falsetto, breathy and otherwise affected voices that the critics laud today (Bon Iver, TV on the Radio, etc.), it's nice to hear Byrne, well, sing. Not that he (or Eno) isn't without pretense, but I, for one, can not sit through another album of every song being sung falsetto. WTF?! Ahem. Back to the record, it's their first collobaration in 30 years since "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts," which I think is a GREAT record with its signature Eno soundscapes and signature Byrne polyrhythms. I digress, but I didn't realize until today that the album's name comes from a novel by Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola published in 1954. Anyhow, upon the first listen to "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today," I realized I was subconsciously hoping for "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts 2" or something, which is not what the new record is about. However, after giving the songcraft a chance to seep in, I think this will grow on me quite a bit. After listening to perhaps a dozen albums released in 2008, this and the Calexico album, "Carried to Dust" are the only real standouts so far. I have a lot of catching up to do, though. It's fun to discover new music. It's unfortunate we don't have more time to do so.

I've finished rereading "Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin and am rereading "A Clash of Kings." These are the first two books in his Song of Ice and Fire series. If you enjoy fantasy and could appreciate an adult, dark take on the genre, you owe it to yourself to read these. I plan to burn through all of them to keep the thread going. If you decide to read these, be prepared for unconventional plot twists, including protagonists and heroes (although it's hard to tell who is a hero sometimes) dying off. My favorite character hasn't died off, yet, but I'm trying to prepare myself in the event that he or she does.

I'm very glad I have music and books (and cigars!) to get me through these cold, Midwestern winters.

2009

Huh. They haven't shut my "blog" down. I guess I'll post.

I was reading "The Best of the A.V. Club 2008," and laughed, again, at their interview with their most famous commentator, ZODIAC MOTHERFUCKER concerning a taste test of a potato chip. There's a couple of things that makes me laugh and value this. One, the use of profanity in a creative fashion. Some of you know my fondness for "Deadwood," and ZODIAC MOTHERFUCKER uses profanity in a similar fashion. Unlike Deadwood's dialogue, I'm not so sure I'd call ZODAIC MOTHERFUCKER's language poetic, but it's very funny, and in this age of seemingly increasing puritanism, a few (or many) well-placed f-bombs is okay by me.

BASICALLY ITS THE HOTTEST FUCKING CHIP OUT THERE THIS SHIT WILL ROAST YOUR FUCKING TONSILS LIKE HOT COALS AND GO DOWN YOUR ESPOPHAGUS (sic) LIKE FUCKING RAZOR WIRE.

And, my favorite WTF? moment:

LIKE THIS ONE CHICK IS ALL TELLING ME THAT SOMEDAY WHEN I GET A FUTON SHES TAKING ME OUT FOR INDIAN FOOD.

The second thing I love about this is that it's the idea of a person achieving a level of notoriety based on their blog comments alone. Very 2008 and I applaud the Onion for getting it done.

Age of Conan Assassin fatality movie

This is pretty small - click here to see a full-screen version. I love this game.

D&D Insider

Looks like WOTC might have finally stepped up in terms of its PC offerings. Boing Boing gadgets has some screenshots of this program which will allow you to play D&D 4.0 tabletop over the net with your friends. Sure, other, third-party programs have allowed you to do this before, but they've been hard to configure and generally unwieldy. Hopefully WOTC will get it right. It looks cool, at least.

Goldfrapp Video

I think this song, "A&E" is good, I'm not totally agog with it, but the video is very cool (if not a little bit silly).

Jack Thompson vs. Fake Samuel Jackson

First of all, what the fuck? Why dare me to debate, spend all day organizing that debate, then insult me and pull out like the Purple fucking Pie-Man coming on Strawberry Shortcake?

This is one of my favorite lines regarding circumstances surrounding a blogger operating as Samuel Jackson, posted about Jack Thompson once again blaming videogames for the NIU tragedy. Jack Thompson responded, thinking it was the REAL Samuel Jackson, and asked for a debate. Well...

Dare? Hell yeah, you dare Sam Jack and you damn well better expect a response. News Groper took him up on that shit. We spent all day emailing him, responding to his emails, working out a system to get this debate on the road. And at the last minute–I bullshit you like I’d bullshit Christ Almighty–the motherfucker bailed like Bowser at the end of level three of Super Mario.

Hilarious. Here's Sam musing on Phantom Menace:

I told Lucas I’d play Mace Windu only if I didn’t go out like no got-damn chump. And how’d I go out? Like a got-damn, scrotum-fingering chump. Even Boba Fett got a better death than I got. I fell out a motherfucking window.

It's a one-trick pony, but it's spot-on. Thinking about Samuel Jackson actually saying this tickles me to no end.

Chris Berman meltdown

Forgive me for my schadenfreude here, but this is too funny.



In case YouTube pulls it, click here. You probably should, anyhow, as the Deadspin comments, per usual, are almost as funny as the video itself.

Thanks for the fish...

Boy you guys were super supportive of the Dylan stuff. Thanks.

Maybe you can (or should) ignore this, too. :) Ladies and Gentleman: Rhymenocerous vs. Hiphopapotomus (Flight of the Conchords)

Inside joke

This is an inside joke, but the mashup is COOL. Brilliant marketing I thinks:

Sarah Silverman clips

Oh my. If I was Jewish, female and acted on every one of my misanthropic tendencies, I'd like to be just like her:



Wait until the big payoff at the end for this one. Nothing has made me laugh harder since perhaps Bert made friends with Osama Bin Laden.

"Salad"

I love this - click to see closeups:



At first I thought this was a sculpture made out of veggies and was disappointed to find out it's a digital rendering, but given that I thought it was actual veggies speaks to this artist's skills.

via boing boing

Charlie Rose treasure trove

Charlie Rose has made available his entire archive available for viewing online. If I didn't have a new job to find, I'd lose a couple of weeks to this... here's a great interview with Jack and Meg White:

Wilhelm Kempff / Moonlight Sonata

For my admittedly sophomoric ears (in terms of classical music), one of the best pianists I've heard is Wilhelm Kempff. One of my favorite piano compositions is Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14, popularly known as the "Moonlight Sonata."

The first movement is instantly recognizable - terribly easy to "play," but only a great pianist can capture the nuances of the feeling. The second movement is the calm before the storm of the third movement. Quite pretty, though my least favorite of the three movements. The third movement is what gets it for me - it's terribly complicated and terribly technical. Yet, given this, it is utterly beautiful and drenched with passion, anger and other emotions. Only a great pianist can play this (at all), let alone play it with the emotion that's needed to take it from a display of technical brilliance to truly being art. From Wikipedia's article on the sonata:

Of the final movement, Charles Rosen has written "it is the most unbridled in its representation of emotion. Even today, two hundred years later, its ferocity is astonishing."

Wilhelm Kempff performing Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2, first movement:



Second movement:



Third movement:

David Bowie "Ashes to Ashes" video

This is the "Ashes to Ashes" video by David Bowie. It's the coolest. From his "Scary Monsters and Super Creeps" album.



Aw hell, this is great, too.

First harvest from the garden

I harvested my first summer herbs and vegetables this evening. Using a Black Prince heirloom tomato, some freshly picked basil, some fresh mozzarella and some lovely balsamic vinegar, I composed a caprese salad (click through pictures for a larger version):


I then cooked some way-too-expensive coho salmon and made salmon with cucumber salad and a basil sauce, recipe taken from cookinglight.com


It's definitely satisfying not to have paid $3.00 for a little packet of basil. The tomato was on the smallish side, but the flavor wasn't.

"Best driver, worst person"

I saw this news story months ago and can't believe that I forgot to post it.

NEW PORT RICHEY - For about eight minutes on Tuesday, through the streets near downtown, police chased a driver who had no arms and one good leg.

He got away.

He is used to this sort of thing.

Authorities say the driver was Michael Francis Wiley, 40, who overcame three amputations, taught himself to drive with stumps and proceeded to become one of Pasco County's most accomplished traffic violators.

As far as I'm concerned, the Touyama / Wiley ticket is the best we can hope for in 2008.

Classic quote: "He is one of the best drivers I've ever seen in my life," said Lee Michie, a longtime acquaintance. "But he's the worst person I've ever met."

Photos from California trip

Here are photos taken from my recent California trip. Standing on top of Sentinel Dome in Yosemite National Park was transcendent. I didn't want to leave.

South Park meets Zen

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have animated audio recordings of the Zen Buddhist teacher, Alan Watts.

This works. I think Watts would have enjoyed these.

(read first on Boing Boing)

Once again...

180 Trillion Leisure Hours Lost To Work In 2004

The Onion delivers.

Guitar Solo Quiz

My friend Mike Moody pointed me to this quiz this morning. Given the "Top 20" guitar solo series, I felt obligated to post it here - it's pretty easy, but still fun.

http://mentalfloss.com/quiz/quiz.php?q=68