Road Trip – Day Three – Marfa, TX to Tucson, AZ January 8, 2009

I sat on my butt too long today and now I think I’m crippled. Well, I’m at least emotionally crippled.

Follow my route today.

So I peaced out of Marfa really early today. And by really early I mean 9AM. It was COLD! 34 degrees – but the weather report on TV predicted El Paso would hit 60 today so I didn’t wear total winter clothes. So there’s a tiny, tiny town of just over 200 people west of Marfa called Valentine, TX. I drove through it on my way to El Paso and it creeped me out. It looked like a deserted place – weird houses built of stone and adobe, the only gas station was closed down and there was a cafe that looked like no one had ever dusted it so you couldn’t see in the windows – oh and I saw exactly ZERO people and passed ZERO cars driving by it. The place reminded me of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” If anyone ever asks me about a rural setting for a creepy horror movie I am recommending Valentine.

Shortly after that I passed the famous Prada Marfa. That cheered me back up. During all of this I was listening to PP’s playlist, detailed below. Many good remixes to be had and I feel we should pause a moment to discuss her Soulwax Dub remix of Hot Chip. This goes back to a fight James Montgomery and I keep having about Girl Talk. I am a Soulwax fan, but I think Girl Talk can suck it – not to say that Girl Talk’s remixes aren’t ingenius in themselves, because they are, but the lifestyle that surrounds his live shows are so crass and annoying. Soulwax, in their heyday, were never crass and didn’t attract a bunch of loafer college students. Go Team Soulwax.

Here’s a left/right shot of a mountain on one side and some pecan trees (I think) on the left. The scenery was kind of weird around here. To follow when PPPlist was done, I put on part of an ’80s mix I had in my iPod.

Then blah blah blah nothing nothing boring landscape, man is El Paso ugly. However, at this point I put on Josh Rosey’s playlist and it was perfect! FYI, you’ve always been Josh Rosey in my cell phone since we met. I found the whole playlist to be thoughtful, subtle and tres Southwestern without overkill. The Death Cab song also made me tear up a little. Stop tugging on my heartstrings.

More after the jump, including hot burrito #1 and the day’s playlist.

Road Trip – Day Two – Kerrville, TX to Marfa, TX January 7, 2009

Apologies for the delay on getting this up – a wind storm in Marfa (allegedly) knocked out the Internet at my hotel, including ethernet (allegedly). I’ll get to that by and by…

I started off on Tuesday with no idea of what the landscape for the day would look like exactly, never having seen it firsthand myself, but encouraged by the amazing blue sky checkered with gray clouds.  I snapped a photo, again unsafely while driving, for your enjoyment of the electric blueness of it.

Follow my route today.

I put on Catonia’s playlist and ended up listening to it all day – over 70 songs! There was much singing along.

So, I didn’t know there was anywhere in the U.S. where the posted speed limit was 80 MPH but around Junction, TX (I think) when the hill country gives way to plateaus and the trees and bushes become notably shorter and more scrubby, the speed limit jacked up to 80.

Then, somewhere around Sonora, TX I saw the first state highway sign warning of cross winds. I thought that was interesting…until an 18 wheeler nearly drove me off the road some 40 miles later because of strong cross winds. I fought with the steering wheel all day. BTW @ Alex – Sonora is full of caverns and it made me think of that weird scary movie you recommended with spelunking and vampires. It was set in Texas, right?

I stopped in Fort Stockton with little more than gas fumes left, got out to fill up and was immediately smacked in the face by a giant wind (and some sand). We’re talking blow your skirt up, layer your scalp with dirt, rearrange everything about you wind. It was bracing, you could say.

More after the jump, including today’s playlist.

Road Trip – Day One – Montgomery, TX to Kerrville, TX January 5, 2009

I checked the weather report before I left Montgomery this morning and it predicted super cold (in the low 40s) and cloudy all day – so I opted to stay in bed with the puppies and watch TV until 10AM and not leave the house until 11AM. Total lazy ass start to my halfway-cross-country trip. HOWEVER, before I could really get going I had to go snap a photo of this local business to share, in a strip mall less than five minutes from my house.

Follow my route today.

Yes, entirely serious – that is the best thing in the vicinity of my parents home. Except for the Starbucks I went to next, which is across the street from our neighborhood. There are docks next to it where you can park your boat if you come in off Lake Conroe and need a mocha or whatever before you resume water skiing. Also, when the barista guy was making my Cafe Americano today he asked how my day was going. I said average. He than handed me the coffee and said, “Guess what? Your day just got a whole lot better!” Ummm…impossible to keep a straight face. Impossible.

Anywho, then I drove myself the long way to Austin for lunch. I intended to go to Pok-E-Jo’s for BBQ but in the mass tear down of business in Austin it’s apparently relocated and I don’t know to where! So I settled for Ironworks instead. Still pretty darn good BBQ.

Then I drove south to San Antonio to run by the Alamo real quick. I don’t think I’ve driven this stretch of highway since Russ and I went from Dallas to a polo field outside of San Antonio in 1999 to see R.E.M. and Wilco. I don’t think I’ve been to the Alamo since elementary school. It was much smaller than I remembered. This is the backside of the Alamo.

Across the street are a series of wax museums, hall of mirrors, souvenir shops and other nonsensical crap. Why would I visit a historical site and then want to try and walk through a hall of mirrors?

Then I drove through downtown San Antonio and by the Riverwalk on my way to the freeway. It’s very bizarre – tiny, dirty and an odd assortment of businesses. Here’s a completely out of place sculpture I passed.

So then I headed to my hotel, the charming Days Inn of Kerrville. And by charming I mean gross “hotel” in Texas Hill Country. The thing that is interesting to look at is the country – somewhere around Welfare, TX (yes really – and that is followed by Comfort and Waring) it turns into HILLS and ROCKS and DEAD GRASS and CACTI! Here we have an action shots I unsafely took while driving in between two stone walls that used to be a mountain.

More after the jump, including the day’s playlists!

My Top Ten Albums of 2008 December 19, 2008

1. Los Campesinos! “Hold On Now Youngster” (Arts & Crafts)

Interestingly the press described this Los Camps record as twee, but it’s not any one thing – it’s twee/emo/punk/pop and completely heart wrenching. I love everything about this record – the pop hooks, the drawn out pauses between songs and most of all the lyrical references. My Last.fm profile indicates this album holds several of the songs I listened to most in 2008, which is certainly a sign of true love.
2. Thao & The Get Down, Stay Down “We Brave Bee Stings & All” (Kill Rock Stars)

She’s like Cat Power in dead pan tone but a very different person in lyrics. She had me at “Swimming Pools” (which is about adventures in spring break for those who aren’t really trying) and really won me over when everything else on her debut album was as great. Also, top album for singing along to in a car by yourself. Always by yourself, don’t subject others to that treatment.

3. Lykke Li “Youth Novels” (Atlantic)

Another album I listened to on repeat for the whole year. In spite of it being featured in everything from Grey’s Anatomy to a Victoria’s Secret commercial. She, like many female songwriters on my top ten this year, spoke to the human condition in a very specific way that I couldn’t help but find immediately relatable and could not get enough of.

4. The Dutchess and the Duke “She’s The Dutchess, He’s The Duke” (Hardly Art)

The official album of my fall ‘08. Sometimes it’s like The Zombies, sometimes like early Stones, occasionally like the Kinks with very different vocalists and, at the odd moment, like The Mamas & The Pappas. It’s too rough for a Wes Anderson movie and too good for the mainstream.

5. M83 “Saturdays=Youth” (Mute)

I’ve never been a huge fan of M83 before this album, but his trip to John Hughes nostalgia land was one I was extremely glad to take. This was truly a perfect album, especially if you loved ’80s L.A. synth bands and Kate Bush. This was also one of my top concerts for ‘08 at the Bowery Ballroom.

6. Be Your Own Pet “Get Awkward” (Ecstatic Peace)

Possibly the greatest travesty of this year was that Be Your Own Pet broke up after releasing this album, because that means the album won’t end up on many year end lists. A huge shame since it is such an improvement over their first. This go around the group incorporated more hooks and ’50s girl-group styling to their excessively violent (so much so that the U.S. release is stripped of a few songs their label found too offensive to release) lyrics. Yeah, girls are scary.

7. TV on the Radio “Dear Science” (Interscope)

When TVOTR said they were setting out to make a dance record this time around, who knew they’d actually come out with a dance record I’d want to dance to? It’s so up and full of life – an amazing cap to the end of the Bush presidency that has made so many of us feel so oppressed for nearly a decade.

8. Laura Marling “Alas, I Cannot Swim” (Astralwerks)

An amazing debut from a 19 year old girl – Laura Marling is one of the better lyricists I’ve heard in quite some time. Her quirky turns of phrase and cadence while singing remind me an awful lot of early Elvis Costello, minus significant amounts of snark. Really looking forward to hearing future works from Marling.

9. Hot Chip “Made In The Dark” (Astralwerks)

Everything about this album, from the beats to the packaging, is class with a touch of heartbreak. As always, Hot Chip deliver a record that is both dance floor ready and full of moments of quiet introspection. Honestly, listening to their work is like talking to an actual, complicated person.

10. Santogold s/t (Downtown)

There was a lot of licensing around this album and normally that might turn me off. The thing is, the songs Santi wrote are so incredibly catchy that I couldn’t stop listening to them all year. Also, if you live in NYC and didn’t at some point put on “LES Artistes” with the iPod for a walk around then you haven’t listened to it right yet.

Honorable mentions: the second Los Campesinos! album (how punk rock, two albums in one year), Death Cab, The Notwist, Vampire Weekend, No Age, She & Him, Cut Copy, Okkervil River, Raveonettes, The Last Shadow Puppets, Liam Finn (who made my ‘07 list instead), Passion Pit EP, The Muslims, R.E.M., Elvis Costello.

Best concerts: M83 at Bowery Ballroom, Foals at Bowery, Lykke Li at Le Poisson Rouge.

“The Day The Earth Stood Still” Is A Typical Summer Blockbuster Released in Dead of Winter December 12, 2008

[Cross posted on The Playlist]

There was very little chance that “The Day The Earth Stood Still” was going to be a good movie. We were, at best, hoping for something on par with “Independence Day” or “Armageddon” (or at least “Starship Troopers”). With Keanu Reeves apparently cast as an alien who feels no human emotions we were sure his wooden acting wouldn’t get in the way and, in a way, it didn’t – it was Jennifer Connelly’s constant and prolonged “omg!” face that was the real acting stand out. Frankly we were shocked she manged to out crap Reeves and Kathy Bates took her best shot at overacting everyone else. The only decent performance on the screen was Mad Men’s Jon Hamm as the scruffy scientist and so, of course, he was vastly under used.

The basic premise of the movie was greatly changed from the 1951 original. It needed a massive update to account for our growing knowledge of technology. The overall analogy is no longer one of Cold War invaders but now flatly laid out as environmental responsibility. It’s a noble message but given so obtusely that anyone actually effected by the message in the movie would have no idea how to do anything new to, er, reduce their carbon footprint or whatever. On the plus side the special effects were remarkable, even though the film constantly broke it’s own rules for what sort of damage the “monsters” could do causing numerous continuity problems.

The major flaw with this movie is its release date. It’s far too mindless and terrible overall to be a Christmas release. It’s also very dark with failed attempts at being heady that, when combined with being totally a brainless failure, make it feel terribly awkward as a holiday season release. If it were some mindless July blockbuster it wouldn’t feel out of place at all, but let’s just say that if the baby Jesus were to see this film he would weep and ask for his money back.

Why I Hate Coldplay October 26, 2008

I did a podcast a few weeks ago at my day job with a friend and one of the first things he said was, “You’ve got a lot of hate for Coldplay and I still don’t understand why.” I haven’t been able to articulate it, aside from a general idea that they write super boring music. Last night while watching them on SNL I realized a few points:

1) I hate that at some point over the last two albums they all started dressing like extras from a Broadway performance of Les Miserables. Is this some sort of political commentary? Probably? The arm bands are way worse than the previous Chris Martin taping of the fingers for OxFam or whatever.

2) While we’re discussing Chris Martin, let’s discuss that he writes some of the worst, most non-sensical lyrics I’ve ever heard.

3) The grandiose jumping off the stage, running around like a crazy front-man, weird percussion, “expansive” sound – they basically just want to be U2. They’re not trying to develop an arena rock sound on their own terms, they’re not in control of the stage and they’re not in any way original. Even if they did work with Brian Eno on the new record, doesn’t that really just mean they’re co-opting his ideas? Judging solely by their previous 3 records I would say yes.

Since NBC don’t upload musical performances from SNL, I’m embedding for you Coldplay’s equally boring performance from this summer’s MTV Movie Awards. Judge for yourself.

Coldplay – New Music – More Music Videos

A Girls’ Guide… August 25, 2008

I’m biting the bullet and publicly admitting that I’ve started writing a book. Well, it’s non-fiction so really I’ve started writing a book proposal. The topic is to do with women, record collecting and deciphering the man who loves record collecting more than women.

I’ve scratched out most of my chapter summaries and today I started working on researching my book’s market. Holy crap did that open a black hole of Internet information! It seems that in the last 3 years everyone realized that a) women have a lot of money and/or decision making power about purchases in their household and b) marketing to “women” as one group will not get you hot shit.

So today I’ve read the blog of one of the authors of The Soccer Mom Myth, a study on women and non-fiction book purchases from 2007, and the Pew Internet Study about online influencers of music and electronic purchases. I’m certain that I can piece some handy marketing information from these proposals together but you know what I can’t find? Any sort of research into women and music consumption.

If you come across any links then comment but I wasn’t surprised that my various Google searches didn’t turn up any helpful results – there are no books on the topic of women and music consumption or collecting either, of the fictional or non-fictional variety. There are, however, several titles on the history of women in music and encouraging women to get into music or start a band. Not a one, though, telling women to criticize music or run a record label.

I also image Googled “record collection” and every photo on the first two pages of results that wasn’t a radio station or story about that old guy who’s selling his collection for $3M was some guy’s record collection. So I’ve posted a picture of my own CD collection on this site to try and even it out.

Lulz @ The Hills – Season 4 Ep. 1 August 18, 2008

I knew I was going to do a live blog on my reactions to this season of “The Hills” when I read the quote in last week’s Entertainment Weekly where MTV exec Toni DiSanto said, ”It’s almost becoming like a novel at this point, like this generation’s ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ or ‘Oliver Twist,’” proving that he’s never read a Dickens novel. Although I must admit that, at times, “The Hills” can move as slowly as a Dickens tomb, the handy literary reference of choice for TV critics to describe the show is “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” because everyone in last season who isn’t Lauren appear to be a peripheral character with very little to say or do.

The TV show choice comparison for has become “Sex and the City” – with Lauren Conrad cast as the show’s answer to Carrie and thousands of young women identifying with her for the last seven years, from “Laguna Beach” to her current incarnation as a fashion designer/celebrity ingenue.

Watch this full episode on MTV.com.

10:00 – Recap of last season. Blah blah, crying.

10:01 – Open on Lauren and Whitney at work for People’s Revolution. Yay, more fashion diva Kelly Cutrone this season! Lauren dishes on a date named Doug, setting the stage for this season’s boy centric drama. That was a lot of alliteration.

10:02 – I really wish this show would get a new theme song or at least reinvent this Natasha Bedingfield song this season. It’s so outdated.

10:03 – Heidi goes to work and they do an overly dramatic set-up for a visit from her sister. Heidi got really orange.

10:04 – Audrina’s still toiling at Epic Records, which insures we’ll see special appearances from bands on Epic again this season! Audrina outlines the tension between her and Lo and sets up for the party scene at their house that’s to come.

10:05 – Heidi’s sister is rather country-music-singer looking. At least her skin is a normal looking color. Spencer immediately throws a fit about her sister staying over, petulant child style. Boring dude.

10:06 – Back to Lauren & Lo’s house. Yay, the first face to face communication entirely via facial expression moment of this season happens when someone rings the doorbell!

10:07 – Lauren on a date seems like the most boring Lauren of all. Apparently she used to pull drive-bys on this Doug guy years ago. How embarrassing.

10:08 – Drinking beer tells Lauren that Doug is a guy’s guy. Logic courtesy of Lauren who orders something called a Fuzzy Dragon, which I’m pretty sure says she’s a girl who’ll get drunk and sleep with you on the first date.

10:09 – Commercial break! Holy crap I never realized how many quick cuts are in this show. You never watch one vignette more than 2 minutes. No wonder these people lack depth – they’re not given time to have any in the editing room.

10:17 – Back from the longest commercial break known to man. There was a teaser for “Exiled” this awesome looking new show where they send the chicks from “My Super Sweet Sixteen” to developing nations to do good works. Perfect.

Cut to Heidi and Spencer’s where the latter has a frown on his puss and acts like a douche to Heidi’s sister and then tells her to mind her own business when she says hey be nice to my sister. Ironically it’s followed by the Ting Tings singing “I ain’t freakin’, I ain’t fakin’ this.” It’s funny because Spidey fake everything. To quote Lauren, “like, you need to stop rehearsing your breakfast.”

10:18 – Audrina’s BBQ! ZOMG, she’s friends with faux punks and rocker boys! Maybe she like, legitimately likes music and stuff? Oh and it’s also Audrina’s birthday! Lo doesn’t know anyone and acts like a snob about it with a big frowny face. Lauren looks vaguely surprised? Pissed? I can’t quite grasp that look.

10:20 – Heidi takes her sister for a make-over! Yay she’s gonna cover up those awful roots I hope. Her sis quizzes her about how different she’s become and how much she’s sacrificing for her relationship. Everyone who meets Spencer immediately hates him. It’s amazing.

10:21 – Lauren and Doug interlude. Wow, they’re hella boring. 15 seconds was plenty. Lo refuses to attend the party and goes upstairs to play with her dog because hates life and Audrina. Uh oh, bitchy Lo from the Laguna days is back in full effect.

10: 23 – Lauren tells Frankie she wants things to be like they used to be, foreshadowing a big fight that’s gotta be coming this season. Yay!

10:24 – Another commercial break that’s a special preview of “The House Bunny” which kind of makes me contemplate poking my own eyes out.

10:26 – We’re back! Heidi’s sister is heading home with extensions and the bad roots are still there. Bumz. When she suggests moving to L.A. Spencer loses control of his hand and slams the door while grinding his teeth and Heidi gives it an, “oh really?” Ha!

10:27 – “How was the BBQ?” Whitney asks, stepping into her sidekick role to facilitate Lauren’s exposition. Lauren has word vomit as if Whitney is her LiveJournal. Really, if there’s a Whitney spin-off show as rumored (and there is) how’s Whintey ever gonna know what to talk about with no Lauren around?

10:28 – Lo is rocking a side ponytail and a mean frown as she heads to Audrina’s for a chat.

At this unfortunate point the power went out AGAIN on my block. I set the DVR to record the show again on the 11PM repeat and I’ll get you the last four minutes of the show then.

11:32 – Back to the Audrina/Lo showdown! Lo goes “it was fun” while rolling her eyes about the party and then launches into a heart to heart about how their friendship isn’t growing. Audrina tells her they’re just not clicking and that Lo has an “attitude”. No duh. This conversation gets more boring as they start every sentence with “I feel like…” until Audrina finally says, “We’ll never be friends.” WOW. Ok then.

11:34 – Magically they just had an entire fight in two minutes. Impressive!

Coming up this season on The Hills…

more blogging!

What Stopped Ancient Greece? August 1, 2008

The NY TImes (via the Nature science journal) ran an article a few days ago about the discovery of the Antikythera Mechanism, a recently discovered astronomical computer built by the ancient Greeks circa 100 B.C.

Long story short: after much studying of the device for the past two years scientists have discovered it was not only a complex astronomical tool but that it tracked the calendar of important Greek events such as the Olympic games. The NY Times originally ended their article with a question, since removed, that alluded to not understanding why Greek technology faltered not too long after this invention (around 300 A.D.) until around the 14th century. I can only assume the removed it after a few history professors emailed them and reminded them that western technology faltered during the great takeover of Christianity, when secular knowledge was suppressed by the church in favor of religious knowledge. Tony Freeth, a scientist mentioned in the Nature article, says it is “an instrument of unparalleled sophistication in antiquity, more or less unrivalled until the clockwork mechanisms of the later Middle Ages.”

The device is reportedly related to rough designs reported by the great Greek mathematician and astronomer Archimedes.

At any rate, I found the question interesting because I’ve just in the past few days finished reading a book called The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise and Fall of Wisdom that outlined the history of the height of the Roman empire into the history around Biblical times and on through to the height of the Christian church in the empire. The first half of the book is especially engaging but if you choose to read it know the agenda is decidedly anti-religion and pro-logical thinking and sciences. The historical accounts of the writing of the Scriptures in the Bible were quite interesting and the book does present a believable theory on the church’s quelling of the ancient Roman and Greek traditions of logical reasoning. If nothing else the lack of technological, astrological and mathematical developments from the era of Roman emperor Constantine until the (eventually condemned by the church) works of Copernicus is something of interest to contemplate in the context of the Antikythera Mechanism.

He’s Just Not That Into You – Now An (E)motion Pitcure July 29, 2008

Were you one of the millions of women who were swept up in the frenzy for “He’s Just Not That Into You”- the book? Did “Sex & The City” turn you on to it? Maybe it was Oprah? At any rate, you are probably one of the millions of (largely urban, I suspect) women who were somehow exposed to the “would you stop devaluing yourself in relationships” message of the book. What can we say, years of watching “Sex & The City” totally fucked a lot of women up and somewhere along the way a lot of us lost sight of what to expect in relationships. Especially those of us living in New York where there are something like 13 million times as many women as straight men.

When I heard that Drew Barrymore’s Flower Films had optioned a movie adaption of the self-help book I was intrigued. Obviously it’s going to be a chick flick. And then when they cast a group of what seems like dozens (including Barrymore, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck and more) of actors spread across their 20s and 30s it was clear that this would be one of those ensemble pieces a la Love Actually where every person’s story eventually intertwines.

All of the media mentioned above? Total guilty pleasures. Will this adaption be any good? It looks hit or miss. I predict Gennifer Goodwin’s desperate for love character will be the best thing about the movie. The Aniston/Affleck coupling will be the most boring part. The Jennifer Connolly/Bradley Cooper/ScarJo love triangle will be dramatically overacted. And the casting of Kevin Connolly and Justin Long will lead to much chin scratching.

This adaption is a very interesting idea, but I would have written it with one particular female hero at the center who fumbles her way through dating a la Lucille Ball in a chocolate factory. She can have a sidekick and it could be the chick flick equivalent of an action movie with a rotating group of pretty man faces to gaze upon.