2014 Music List

OK - finally had some time to collate my shit. Here is my list:

2014 - Best Records:

1. Andrew Jackson Jihad - Christmas Island.
   http://sideonedummy.bandcamp.com/album/christmas-island
   The weirder, more neurotic cousin of the Mountain Goats. Sooo good.
2. The Rentals – Lost In Alphaville
3. Lunchbox – Lunchbox Loves You
4. Tacocat - NVM
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXbZle8VNk4
5. tUnE-yArDs – nikki nack
6. Dark Beach - Scream Queen 7”
   http://darkbeach.bandcamp.com/album/scream-queen-7
7. Perfume Genius – Too Bright
8. FKA twigs – LP1
   FKA Twigs is awesome! This is the evolutionary Bjork with the whole perf. art meets music thing.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99YyWeqHaBo
9. Divorcee - S/T
   Yoni Wolf (aka why?) from Anticon doing a nice little side project
   http://yoniwolf.bandcamp.com/album/divorcee
10. The world is a beautiful place and I am no longer afraid to die - Between Bodies
    A bit like Slint … spoken word emo?
    http://theworldis.bandcamp.com/album/between-bodies

2013 Records that I dug this year

• Bleached – Ride Your Heart
• Terry Malts – Nobody Realizes This Is Nowhere
• The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – Whenever, If Ever
• CHVRCHES – The Bones Of What You Believe

Random Genius Record that I discovered 34 years later:

• Young Marble Giants – Colossal Youth
  Haunting, spare, minimal, dark. Taking the whole no-wave thing and turning it inside out.

Stuff I wanted to like, but couldn’t get into:

• Aphex Twin - Syro.
  Here’s the thing - if you listen to old Aphex it is fucking mental. This album was really tame and I felt a little jobbed here.
• Flying Lotus - You’re Dead
  Too much dissonant jazz. Not enough hiss. I found this grating.

the power of non-habit

So for my mini-, randomly induced midlife crisis I decided to angst about my habits. As in routines. Or rituals. Or things that I do on a consistent every-day basis.

It turns out that I don't. I never have. No really - I don't know that there is a single thing that I've consistently done every day, for an extended period. I shave whenever I feel like. The brushing of teeth tends to happen at odd, random hours. I ride my bike to work when I can, but there are lots of exceptional days. Antibiotics? Let's just say that I usually finish my doses several days after the prescribed time.

What this means is that I'm really good at winging it - when I need to get a specific thing done, it gets done. But when something needs to turn into a habit, I honestly have no idea how to do it. I never have. I'm very good at improvising but terrible at the the set pattern.

So now I'm finding myself in need of having to do something on a set schedule, and I'm pretty much screwed. Help!

world cupping

top 5 players
5. keylor navas CRC (had to include a keeper)

4. james rodriguez COL (that's ha-mess to you)

3. robben NED (the raw speed-acrobatic diving combo)
2. neymar BRA (the tragic hero)
1. messi ARG (well - umm - messi)

top N moments (with a generous dutch bias)

• Robin Van Persie - The Flying Dutchman (best goal)
• The death of Tiki Taka
• Tim Howard's 16 saves vs. Belgium
• Neymar goes down 
• Van Gaal's mind games - Krul as substitute goalie in PKs vs. Costa Rica.
• Robben's expert dive beats Mexico
• Mmm ... tasty Italian ear (starring Luis Suarez) 
• 7-1

 

Also - I can't stop saying vɛ̃sɑ̃ kɔ̃pani

Almost at the end of the tourney. Will update this post

ron swanson birthday

Every year, I take a strange delight in turning off my Facebook wall and _not_ allowing a million birthday messages to inundate my wall. It might seem like a jerk move, but a bunch of my wishes come from people that I barely know ... people that I haven't been in touch with for a long time. It just feels vaguely disingenuous to wish someone, not because you remembered their birthday or needed to connect with an old friend, but because a computer program sent you a reminder. Anyway - for those of you that actually mean it, you know how to reach me. 

Notable things that happened in 2013

Dusting off an old unposted entry for the sake of posterity:

I got a road bike.
We went to NZ.
E got a job.
Tinu started 1st grade.
New Bay Bridge.