Music Mix, no. 1

1. Berg Sans Nipple
2. Gotye - Somebody I Used to Know
3. Do Make Say Think - Classic Noodlanding (came across while listening to Berg Sans Nipple songs)

4. Hot Snakes - Salton City
5. Engine Down
6. Moderat
7. Do Make Say Think - Noodlanding
8. The Drift - Dark Passage
9. Young Widows - something from In and Out of Youth and Lightness
10. Small Faces - Tin Solder (colour)
11. Apparat - Devil’s Walk
12. Oneotrix - Replica
13. Constantines and Feist - Islands in the Stream

Feels great...

I am lending my ladyfriend my car while I'm out of town.
It's such a simple gesture. But I love it, it means something in this constantly over thinking head of mine.

Some short movie reviews...

Y Tu Mama, Tambien  - finally saw this after what, ten years of it being out? It's really good. Juxtaposition of Mexican poverty and the love lives of two teenage boys and an older Spanish woman. Interesting twist at the end, in the sense that I felt it brought together two seemingly unconnected stories? I can see how some people would artistically find it a jarring movie though...

Shame - Not sure I liked it, but it was interesting. I couldn't connect to the characters, or feel much empathy or sympathy for them, without knowing more about how/why they were both so fucked up. What about the other people that intersected with their lives? None of them were particularly good foils, aside from the main characters boss (also, a douchebag). I liked a lot of the cinematography though and it told the story as it unfolded well. Just needed more exposition for my tastes. Great filming of the sex scenes...

Shortbus - Had never even heard of this, though of course I knew of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Entertaining. Sad. Funny. Sexy too. I don't think this is as remarkable of a movie about sex as the director hoped, but it IS refreshing. It's a pretty nicely written piece with some amateur acting chops and is fun to watch.

A Very Long Engagement - well, it's also a very long movie, but it's a really interesting tale. A polio-stricken woman trying to find out what happened to her fiancee on the frontlines of WWI speaks a little too much to romantic movie to me, and with Jeunet, I figured it would maybe be a weird romantic piece. Kind of played more like a detective movie in some parts, with everyone contributing to help solve the mystery of 5 condemned prisoners, one among them the fiancee of Audrey Tautou. I had to stick this movie out and finish it, and felt mostly rewarded by it too.

In the interest of...

I'm going to make myself write more in 2012. That's going to start with using this blog more. Mostly, I suspect, it'll be about music, the occasional politics, maybe dating. The latter...well, I won't name her, and if she runs across this post or any others and wants them more anonymous or closed to the public (or to her), that's fine. Music - a weekly mix! See previous post.  The beer blog will get more posts too.

Just got home from work and laughing at the way I pack to head over to the above-mentioned girl's place. It's not easy planning for practical things when all you want to do is get there and unwind. Her apartment is like haven of relaxation. I dig it a lot. Looking forward to finding out how her dog feels about Tweez and vice versa, because I'd like to hang out here more too.

Music Mix Project

Going to make weekly mixes, but based not on some kind of arrangement of good songs that I've chosen with a purpose in mind, or a person, but based on what pops into my head, what I listen to a lot that week, what people share online that I fall in love with, etc.

One per week!

Blago

Yesterday, I felt a little weird about Blago getting 14 years. A little uncomfortable. This morning I woke up and realized that there's still a small kernel of a hopeful young man in me, fresh out of college, who thinks maybe law school can make him use the system better to help the common good. That kernel seems indestructible really, or so I hope. I realized that this former governor didn't see things that way, but instead saw a system of money and power to be manipulated. Does that happen all the time? Yes. But, should they also be punished severely? Yes.

Amy Winehouse

This sums up my opinion of Amy Winehouse mourning on the web, in the media (something I said to a friend):

"The thing that makes it less sad and upsetting to me is that she was basically a moderately talented person with a mediocre record, but years and years of press built her up to be something more, setting her up for this final tragic fall. And we care more about it than something that was motivated by a political situation that the leaders of the world seem to encourage, rather than want to do anything about. It's sad because our priorities seem fucked up to me when we equate the two things. I'm not raging against you Ginger, I just totally feel differently about it."

Indian Spinach Dip

2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 large avocado
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tbsp lemon juice
4 cups fresh spinach
1 tsp seasoned salt
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin
dash of cayenne pepper

Nightmare

What the fuck was going on in this one last night? It starts with me very very groggily waking up in an apartment that isn't quite my own, but has most of my stuff in it, or things like it. I go into my living room and the TV is missing. It's been replaced with the old TV I've hung on to as a dedicated Sega Genesis TV in my bedroom (fuck yeah Zombies at My Neighbors, Might and Magic, and Sonic in bed). Some other stuff seems messed with. I head downstairs or something like that, and run into Brad Bolt, the manager at Bar Deville, my bar job. He offers to help me out, but basically just wants me to be his wingman for getting ladies' numbers. I can't focus on that because I want to find my landlord or someone I can tell about my TV (I even ponder how I haven't paid rent yet, in real life, and I'll just take care of it when I tell him my story, it's only a few days late). Then eventually I find Lonny Bramzon after wondering around on some dirt roads, an old elementary and middle school friend, who takes me back to the apartment building. Tells me to talk to someone there, and to go upstairs and he'll go tell the police what happened and have them send someone over. Tells me to calm down. I get upstairs and there's two people in my apartment (a blond woman and a bald older man), and one on the balcony that I don't have in real life. They tell me to sit down and I do, and I start telling them my story. About how I think I was drugged, and then someone stole my TV. The woman starts actually cleaning my arm and asking me questions, and then inserts a needle. I verbally protest, but just sit there. I ask who she is. "We're the three people sent to kill you." Something like that, I think she actually said that I was their "mark" and then I queried if that meant I was to be assassinated?

Looked up best screams that are not metal online and the comments on music geek message boards are hilariously retarded! The one thing that holds true is...Monkey Trick by The Jesus Lizard really is the best.

The 30 Day Challenge AND....

I loved it. I like having to pick music to fit a generalized idea of a category. Playing on that, I am going to do another 30 day challenge on here soon, with categories by an internet friend. While waiting for that to get finalized, I think I'm going to do a 10 greatest screams in rock n roll list.

Upset...

This damn blogging service took down/deleted my post that had three youtube links in it? Doesn't google own youtube? Why would they care if I posted links to three videos?

30 Day Challenge, Day 1, Honorable Mentions

Yeah, I'm going to be this fucking self-indulgent and think you care about the other possible favorite songs. At least I'm not clogging up your Facebook feed with 4 youtubes a day.

3 honorable mentions/runner-ups:
Jawbox - Mirrorful
Yeah, Savory is a harder, more killer song. But this is straight out of Seth's life, 1996. On Alternative Nation or 120 Minutes, I bought the song, and it changed my music listening life forever, adding a whole new dimension or two. As important as Hum in making me realize the reward for finding music that touched me was well worth the effort.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXi_TtLSg-Y

Jaga Jazzist - Swedgenborgske Rom
Whenever I'm asked about favorite songs I think of this and mention it. It's compositional, not rock, but I love shit like this. This song almost makes me teary even when I'm just listening to it as I write about it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAWY87KK_LI


Shiner - Cake
The only reason Shiner didn't make the top song is because I can't even fucking pick. This band was my other nickname in law school, besides feldspar. I tore up their shirt playing football. I went to their shows before I had show fans in chicago and met cool people because of it. I was at this show posted below. This is how they originally ended their most rocking record, Lula Divinia. I suppose I could have picked "The Simple Truth" from The Egg.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EltPc9hmHJw

Time to take tally a bit...

The Z-A Music Project is now at K. So many huge finds related to this project, stuff I downloaded but never really digested because there's only so much time for so much music.

In alphabetical order, the finds:

Kylesa
LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver (didn't get into them til the new one came out)
Lilys
Lungfish
Mastodon
Nirvana (this is really just a "shit, this stuff is still so listenable" thing)
Pitchblende
Refused (never cared for them, but my musical tastes have gone more this way now)
Season to Risk (one of the KC bands I forgot to check out years ago)

Free Speech and Money...

I remember in law school, in more than one class, being presented with the concept of the "marketplace of ideas." Loosely interpreted, that concept analogizes the arena of speech to a marketplace, wherein the best ideas will battle the worst ones, like products, and win based on their value and quality. Sure, someone with a bad product, or idea, could use money to market it better and try to push it upon the buyers, but we're smart people, we'll figure it out eventually.

Unfortunately, I'm starting to feel like the good ideas are losing. They're drowned out by the Mainstream Media, which is significantly better funded than any other source of political or social discourse. The Mainstream Media repeats whatever money tells it to, and ignores good ideas from little places with no money, or with no profit to be gained. Our general level of education is too low, or people are in general, too willing to join in with the mob to scapegoat whomever is nearest for our troubles, rather than ignore the bad ideas and search for the good ones.

Spicy Hummus with Toasted Pine Nuts and Cumid Seeds

Modification of a Epicurious recipe.


•1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil plus 1 tablespoon
•3 tablespoons pine nuts
•1 teaspoon cumin seeds
•two 19-ounce cans chick-peas
•4 garlic cloves
•2/3 cup well-stirred tahini
•2/3 cup water
•5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
•1 teaspoon salt


First, toast the pine nuts and cumin seeds for about 10 minutes. Remove from pan and in the same pan cook 2 cans of chickpeas on a medium to low heat with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and jalapenos/serranos. Add water or broth, just enough to cover the chickpeas, and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain out liquid.

In a food processor blend chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, evoo, and water. Add an additional jalapeno or serrano for more heat. Optionally add pine nuts and cumin seeds as well, or save to top finished hummus.

Making This Blog more Useful

Food posts that don't fit on OMG Beer! because I'm not doing a pairing with beer for them.

First two posts coming up after this.

Also, I was right about the super bowl and congrats to the Packers. I called a 27-24 final score.

Gibson's Zero History

Zero History by William Gibson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Gibson at his strongest yet, and his least science fiction. If anything, he's a writer of cultural thrillers, where the action is perched on the edge of a precipice created by the intersecting trajectories of technology, fashion, media, and culture. This is a part of the now that the reader can only guess at, because it happens in a lofty place where individual players only know their roles in a vast web of tangled concepts and goals. The reader isn't fully satisfied, but neither are the characters, who feel very alive, yet at times materialize out of a fog.




View all my reviews

Best. Part of. Thanksgiving.

Listening to Big Black's "songs about fucking" while waiting for family and friends to finish spinning near the beach in Florida.

Thanksgiving

November hasn't been what I had hoped for, but there are always things to be thankful for, and a good old Feldman family recharge sounds nice.  I need it emotionally. Hate saying that, but it is true.