apple juice

I could watch this dude all day….

Crazy dancing

Excuse the dubstep if you must, but Marquese Scott is amazing. Previously.

(via the high definite)

(Via kottke.org.)

The Beastie Boys are one of the bands that I grew up with, and learning that Adam Yauch had passed away was more surreal than I expected. They bring back otherwise meaningless memories from my past that otherwise would have faded away. I haven’t listened to them regularly for a long time, but like a smell that transports you back in time, just hearing a few songs takes me back…

I remember having a long talk with my Dad about the lyrics to songs after a few of my latest CD purchases were discovered. The new Beastie Boys album Paul’s Boutique being one of them. We sat on my bed and read the lyrics out loud for about 30 minutes. I purchased Paul’s Boutique because it lacked the Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics sticker that I was banned from bringing into the house. There was no sticker for metaphor and simile. Ultimately I lost about five CDs that evening, and in frustration I threw my brother under the bus for having purchased Nivrana’s Nevermind.

I remember shopping at Best Buy with Doug and purchasing Ill Communication. We saw two girls from our school, they were purchasing some other album. Doug and I put the CD on in my parent’s Ford Explorer, which had a subwoofer. We thought this to be pretty cool, Sure Shot bumping out of the windows as we rolled through the suburbs.

After some of the jazzy interludes from Check Your Head were featured in a Greg Stump’s movie P-Tex, Lies, and Duct Tape, I brought the Beastie Boys back into the public in our household, playing The In Sound From Way Out for the family one evening. I remember the reaction being tepid even though I loved it.

The Beastie Boys were on my list of concerts to see in my lifetime, and feeling like rappers couldn’t keep on rapping for ever, we started looking for them on tour. Ultimately, in an amusement park in Stockholm, Sweden, Sonja and I saw the Beastie Boys live. There were about 2500 people there. Most seemed interested in the punk beginnings rather than their latest hits, but we jammed away the afternoon.

my annual best of post!

Due to a lack of time in general for contemplating and reflecting on artistically relevant music, I’m blowing the doors off my annual best of post and including a whole slate of new categories. I hope you don’t mind.

8 great albums (in alphabetical order):

Bj̦rk РBiophilia

Bon Iver – Bon Iver

Mason Jennings – Minnesota

M83 – Hurry Up We’re Dreaming

Radiohead – King of Limbs

Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire

Washed Out – Within and Without

Wilco – The Whole Love

Zola Jesus – Conatus

The best hamburger I’ve ever eaten:

Village Whiskey – Philadelphia

Favorite New Restaurant:

Bachelor Farmer – Minneapolis

Favorite Pet Grooming Shop:

Royal Pet Beauty Shop – Minneapolis

Best Train Ride of the Year:

Shanghai Maglev

2nd Best Train Ride of the Year:

Acela Express from NYC to Philadelphia

The Only Movie I Saw In The Theater All Year (And it was good – though I realize it was released in December 2010)

True Grit

Favorite Travel (Wasn’t exactly a vacation)

China – big thanks to Breck for having me as a chaperone for the school trip. Amazing time.

 

I thought I had the world’s most unique beard, but Tweedy may be my new competition…

Well, 2010, it was nice to know you. Here’s some of my favorite books, movies, and music from the past year:

Music

It was an all time low for me this year in terms of listening to new music. I think the combination of a lack of money and more important things keeping me busy (see: Sonja and Emilia, house) made for a slow year. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t enjoyed some great albums. In no particular order:

• The Suburbs – Arcade Fire
• Go – Jónsi
• This is Happening – LCD Soundsystem
• High Violet – The National
• Treats – Sleigh Bells
• Transference – Spoon

What made your list this year?

Movies

Ditto reasons above for not seeing many movies. I think we saw maybe two movies in the theater this year? Lots watched on Netflix, so this list is just some of the favorites that we watched in the past year:

• Inception
• Man On Wire
• District 9

Books

As an exception, I did read quite a few more books this year than normal. I’m proud of that, as it was one of my goals from last year.

Favorite non-fiction: Hamlet’s BlackBerry by William Powers. Basically a call to action for people to lead deeper, richer lives in an age of ever-shallower interactions with digital devices and media. Humans have, throughout recorded history, endured sweeping technological change that caused philosophers of the day to reconcile the positives and negatives of those changes. Mr. Powers draws parallels between the past and the present, arguing in some ways thatt we’ve seen this before and we have the tools to use technology positively. This is the great paradox of my career as well, encouraging people to use technology thoughtfully, to encourage deeper thinking and reflection.

Favorite fiction: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie was actually a “required” summer reading for work, but I enjoyed it immensely. Very funny and serious at the same time. I also enjoyed “Juliet, Naked” by Nick Hornby, though I pretty much like everything of his that I’ve read.

“What interesting and unusual music are you listening to these days?” my Uncle asked me during Sunday dinner of bar-b-que and beans.

Good question.

I may be falling into that mid-30s rut where your musical tastes are locked into the bands you loved in college and shortly thereafter (or just straight through college, depending on how long it took you) Following in that thread, The Arcade Fire just released a new album entitled, appropriately for our current situation The Suburbs.

I don’t own it yet, I’m having a quick internal debate about whether I should buy the MP3s on Amazon for $3.99 or if I should order the Vinyl + Digital Download direct from Merge Records.

Anyway, say what you will about Pitchfork, they just nailed me into a corner with this observation in their review of The Suburbs:

This is another 2010 example of a Boss-indebted band (see also: the National and Titus Andronicus) making epic outpourings of modern disillusionment and disappointment for people who can commiserate and return to fretting about their jobs and bank accounts once the house lights go up. But just because the concerns of The Suburbs are at times mundane, that makes them no less real. And that Arcade Fire can make such powerful art out of recognizing these moments makes our own existences feel worthy of documentation. By dropping Neon Bible’s accusatory standpoint, The Suburbs delivers a life-affirming message similar to Funeral’s: We’re all in this together.

I love the National! And who is this Titus Andronicus?

Guilty as charged.

Update: I’ve purchased the MP3s. Instant gratification. Merge’s store appears to be down at the moment and I didn’t want to wait to find out how much the vinyl is.

I’m just listening to the latest U2 album. I like U2, but…

I’ve just determined my least favorite rock song structure.

The Bridge.

Show me a good bridge, and I’ll show you ten others that leave you groaning.

Why? Why? Why?

Who’s thinking that it is a good idea?