Grand Plans: A Few New Lists In The Works

Just wanted to give some notice... I am working on two new lists.

1. In honor of yesterday's release of his 33rd studio album, I will be ranking all 33 of Bob Dylan's masterworks. I have almost all of them on vinyl and CD already so this one should be do-able. Hopefully I don't abandon the project when I reach his mediocre 1980s period, hah.

2. I will be ranking every MAJOR animated Disney movie. This includes the Pixar joint efforts as well. I have no idea when the movie "Up" comes out but it's possible that it will time out nicely with Up's release as well. I am torn as to how to define which movies make the list. I was thinking I would go off of the movies Disney declares as "Platinum Editions" but this designation already rules out Dumbo, Sword In The Stone, The Aristocats and Alice In Wonderland which I think most would put as must-haves with this list. Plus, I think the movie "Bolt" should make the cut but I think none of the sequels to any of the movies except Toy Story should be on it. I'm not trying to discriminate, I just think there are movies we think of as integral parts of the Disney Canon that don't include the two sequels to The Little motherfucking Mermaid. Perhaps it will be strictly theatrical releases minus a few of the less important ones here and there.

So yeah, here's the list I have in mind (chronologically), let me know which films I am forgetting:
Snow White
Pinocchio
Fantasia
Dumbo
Bambi
Cinderella
Alice In Wonderland
Peter Pan
Lady And The Tramp
Sleeping Beauty
101 Dalmatians
The Sword In The Stone
The Jungle Book
The Aristocats
Robin Hood
The Fox And The Hound
The Little Mermaid
Beauty And The Beast
Aladdin
The Lion King
Pocahontas
Toy Story
A Bug's Life
Toy Story 2
Monsters, Inc
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles
Cars
Ratatouille
WALL-E
Up

I left out The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh, all regular animation films released after the Pixar/Disney merge, all films that are half live action and a slew of ones I'm not familiar with including the ones with Spanish names (3 caballeros, saludos amigos, etc.) So, if you think one of the omitted films should make the list or that I have some films on the list that shouldn't be on there, let me know so I can make this thing make sense. Keep in mind we're already over 30 films. Maybe I could exclude the Pixar films for a later list?

Three quick album recommendations for 2009 which might be better than anything I heard in 2008:
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion (indie rock, kinda trippy arrangements)
Bob Dylan - Together Through Life (look past the voice to find sense of humor, brilliance)
Manchester Orchestra - Everything To Nothing (alt rock, atlanta band i've been blabbing about for years now that is apparently getting national play and is somehow now huge - sophomore album - go buy it)

Lastly, just wanted to share more insignificant info on my Samuel Adams obsession. We are up to a ridiculous 39 beers. The latest being three from the 2008 LongShot Homebrew Contest. I wasn't as big of a fan of this year's homebrew winners as I was in recent years but I can see why they were chosen. The list:

Boston Lager
Sam Adams Light
180 (Boston Restaurant Exclusive)
1790 Root Beer Brew
Black Lager
Blackberry Witbier
Boston Ale
Brown Ale
Cherry Wheat
Chocolate Bock
Cranberry Lambic
Cream Stout
Double Bock
George Washington Porter
Hefeweizen
Holiday Porter
Honey Porter
Imperial Pilsner (Hallertau)
Imperial Series Double Bock
Imperial Series Porter
Imperial Series White
Irish Red
James Madison Dark Wheat Ale
Longshot Boysenberry Wheat
Longshot Cranberry Wit
Longshot Dortmunder Export
Longshot Double IPA
Longshot Grape Pale Ale
Longshot Old Ale
Longshot Traditional Bock
Longshot Weizenbock
Octoberfest
Old Fezziwig Ale
Pale Ale
Scotch Ale
Summer Ale
Traditional Ginger Honey Ale
White Ale
Winter Lager

Finally, The Best Of 2008

That's right, it's the best of 2008. As the coolest person you all know, I feel as though my opinion should be valued more highly than others. And as such we have the best of 2008. These aren't actually opinions though, they are facts. Every statement in this post is as true as the statement "the Red Sox play in Boston" or "Georgia Tech over Georgia was a fluke."

Without further ado... (Some of the subject ideas were stolen from McCluca, so big ups)

Favorite Female Celebrity: Anne Hathaway
The reason Get Smart is in my 2008 top 10.

Favorite Male Celebrity: Clint Eastwood
Changeling? Gran Torino? Still bad ass? Yes.

Top News Moment: Sarah Palin and my subsequent boner.

Top Sports Moment: Game 5 of the ALCS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wAlL988Z_U&feature=related
Red Sox down by 7 runs in the seventh inning facing elimination win the game
2nd place: UGA Basketball wins SEC Championship in staggering fashion
3rd place: Kansas kicks the piss out of UNC in the Final Four (I will no doubt remember this long after I've forgotten every other sports moment of 2008)

Favorite Athlete: Jon Lester... what a year.
By sport: MLB (besides Lester): Jonathan Papelbon, NBA: Mario West, NFL: Adrian Peterson, NCAA FB: Knowshon Moreno, NCAA BB: Greg Paulus (but whatshisface from Kansas who had the monster game against UNC deserves love as does Sundiata Gaines), NHL: Ilya Kovalchuk, NCAA Baseball: Josh Fields & Dean Weaver...

Five Best Movies (So Far - I've seen 45 of them this year which is about 35 more than most of you, but intend to see 100 more):
1. WALL-E
2. Synecdoche, New York
3. The Dark Knight
4. My Blueberry Nights
5. Changeling

Three Worst Movies:
1. The Happening
2. Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
3. The Eye

Best Blog:
"How Hi The Fi?" http://howhithefi.blogspot.com/

Five Best Albums (no order - this is also subject to mass overhaul)
Girl Talk - Feed The Animals
T.I. - Paper Trail
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
TV On The Radio - Dear Science
Flight Of The Conchords - Flight Of The Conchords

Favorite Hip Hop Song:
T.I. (Feat Rihanna) - Live Your Life

Best Live Band I Saw This Year:
Of Montreal

Favorite 2008 Book Of The Very Few I've Read So Far:
John Hodgman - More Information Than You Require

Funniest Internet Video:
Andy Samberg & Co: Jizz In My Pants (SNL)
2nd Place: Bo Burnham - I'm Bo Yo

Favorite Things I Got Into In 2008 That Don't Necessarily Have Anything To Do With 2008:
Cormac McCarthy, The Office, Flight Of The Conchords, Book Collecting, The City Of Atlanta, Octane Coffee, The Hawks, The Falcons, The Thrashers, cigars etc, and, oh yeah, this blog.

Hopes For 2009: I hope the blog continues to grow and turns into something more interesting. I hope the Red Sox win the World Series, Duke wins the NCAA Championship, UGA wins the BCS, Jeff Gordon wins the Sprint Cup, Love, New Music from Bob Dylan, Sufjan Stevens, DMB... New book by Cormac McCarthy... The movie "The Road" is the best of the year, a high paying job, losing weight, staying healthy, strengthening friendships, seeing more independent films, broadening my horizons further, having time to read my books, making lots of money, figuring it all out and continuing my 24 1/2 year dominance of everything. Happy new year, bigness.

A Survey About 2008

Looking back at 2008
Borrowed this from Phillip who borrowed it from Katy...

Where did you begin 2008?
Gainesville, Florida in a repulsive bar around very few people I still speak to.

What was your status by Valentine's Day?
See previous question

Were you in school (anytime this year)?
Nope

Did you have to go to the hospital?
Nope

Did you have any encounters with the police?
My all time greatest police encounter: I had the police called on me for going to get my stuff back from my ex before the police ultimately decided that I had every right to do what I did and she would've been breaking the law if she'd kept me from doing it. I am not very good at capturing the epicity of this in words.

Where did you go on vacation?
I can't remember any true vacations. Just lots of mini ones.

What did you purchase that was over $500?
Uhh... I can't remember

Did you know anybody who got married?
Didn't go to any weddings this year (except in the 1st week of Jan) but my friend Brendan got married the other day.

Did you know anybody who passed away?
Probably.

Did you move anywhere?
From Athens to Lithia Springs in January. From Lithia Springs to Buckhead in July. Hoping to be there for awhile.

What sporting events did you attend?
A ton. 2-3 Hawks games, at least 10 Braves games, 1 UGA football game, 1 Thrashers game, 2 NASCAR races, 11-12 high school football games, several other random high school games, and probably some I'm forgetting.

What concerts/shows did you go to?
Of Montreal in Athens recently. I'm sure I saw others but it wouldve been much earlier in the year.

Where do you live now?
Atlanta, GA

What's the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2008?
Oooh... uhh... I'll go with "Enjoy a new Jason Mraz song"

What has/have been your favorite moment(s)?
Game 5 of the ALCS. There is no greater feeling.

What's something you learned about yourself?
I learned a lot about love. Stuff like what really matters in a relationship...

Any new additions to your family?
I'm sure my brother has impregnated a few mexicans that we don't know about.

What was your best month?
June. But I can't say why or else I'll get sued.

What music will you remember 2008 by?
Hip-Hop in general. T.I., Lil Wayne, Chris Breezy... Living in Atlanta has really broadened my Hip Hoprizons. I expanded my Indie tastes too but to a much lesser degree. I'm sure there are some I'm forgetting.

Made new friends?
Actually I've made a ton of new friends. I still don't know how this happened. Most of the people linked to the right for fellow blogs were people I wasn't that close with this time last year. I'm pretty glad about that.

Favorite Night[s] out?
The Of Montreal concert... the night with Tyler and his work friends... and best of all, the night at the Venezias til 4am.

Any regrets?
Always.

What do you want to change in 2009?
I dunno, I did most of my changing in late 2008. I guess I'd like to lose weight and improve my faith but I've been working on those things for years now.

Overall, how would you rate this year?
Pretty crappy. No sports titles outside of the Georgia Basketball SEC championship... Spent a lot of time in relationships that are no longer going... Never overly thrilled with my work situation... I dunno. The year certainly had some high spots, too, but generally it won't be missed.

Other than home, where did you spend most of your time?
Friends houses, movie theatres, sporting events, work...

Change your hairstyle?
I keep it short now. That's probably not something I was doing this time last year.

Get a new job?
Yeah.

Do you have a New Year's resolution?
Sort of. Already mentioned it earlier.

Did anything embarrassing happen?
Hmm... probably... nothing comes to mind off hand.

Buy anything new from eBay?
Not as much as last year. Money hasn't been free flowing.

What was/were your favorite purchase[s]?
This laptop is certainly up there. My GPS, my crappy but excellent service phone, all of my books, DVDs and records, my DVD rack (i know, lame), the lunch boxes, everything pertaining to the Red Sox, work clothes, the Wii... I'm forgetting some.

Get married or divorced?
Haha!

Be honest - did you watch American Idol?
I hate everyone who watches this show including members of my family.

Did you get sick this year?
Of course. I'm still fighting off the damn cough from it, too. I'm on prescription meds though so it's almost over.

Start a new hobby?
Book reading/collecting! Also: lunch boxes (even though I only have 6), and then just expanding upon other hobbies... I also slowed/stopped some hobbies (I rarely buy new Red Sox hats)...

Are you happy to see 2008 go?
Absolutely. Anything I liked about 2008 could easily be repeated in 2009 whereas the crappy stuff is stuck in 08.

Drank Starbucks in 2008?
Yes. I love the Starbucks vibe: the music, the mugs, the people... but all of their beverages are awful. Which is why I am addicted to Octane which has all of the better parts of this minus commercialism.

What are you wishing for in 2009?
Red Sox World Series, Duke championship, UGA championship (2010?), love, money, health, the continuation of my favorite hobbies, a new job, Hanley Ramirez in a Red Sox jersey, Mark Teixeira's death... a fantasy football championship, the movie "The Road" to be brilliant, a new brilliant Sufjan Stevens album, Bob Dylan doesn't die... I don't die either.


I'll be back tomorrow with actual Best-Ofs for 2008.

Strange Encounters With Minor Celebrities

It has been a strange week.
Obviously, I live and breathe the Boston Red Sox. I know more about the Red Sox than most people I know and I just about never leave home without a Red Sox hat on my head.
As I do this, I get a lot of attention from strangers who want to offer their two cents on the Red Sox. Generally, I am okay with this, but a lot of times it gets annoying because it usually goes the same direction every single time.
Today, I stopped in an antique store in a part of Atlanta that I almost never visit. The store itself I had never been to and had I had even the slightest better plan for something to do, I would not have stopped, I was just bored and I generally like looking at antique stores.
As I am sifting through books and records a tall African American man approaches me and begins to ask me questions about the Red Sox and my interest in them.
"You a Red Sox fan?"
"Ahh-yuh"
I was not enthused about this particular conversation and I made little eye contact.
"You know a lot about the Red Sox?"
"Yep..."
"Alright..." Here, begins to formulate a random trivia question about the Red Sox that I am already aware will determine how he views me and all white 24 year old men who wear Red Sox hats into random antique stores forever.
He begins... "Who was the hitting coach for the 2004 World Series Champion Red Sox team?"
Now, like I said, I am no bandwagoner. I have loved the Red Sox for a long time. I can tell you the THIRD BASE COACH from that team, the songs that played during the post-game celebration after game four of that team's championship and several other completely inconsequential facts about them. However, for some reason, I did not know who the hitting coach for the 2004 Red Sox was.
"Dave Magadan?" I say.
"Nope, he's the hitting coach now."
"Ah. Crap. I forget."
"I'll give you a hint. His nickname was Papa Jack."
"Uhhh... Still don't know. I'm drawing a blank."
"Ron Jackson."
"Ohh, yeah, sounds familiar." It did sound familiar.
"Alright, who played first base for that team?"
"Doug Mientkewicz and Kevin Millar."
"Second base."
"Pokey Reese and Mark Bellhorn."
"Shortstop."
"Orlando Cabrera"
"Third base."
"Ugh, Bill Muller."
"Alright, alright. Have you ever seen a 2004 World Series ring."
By this time I am pretty annoyed and, again, not paying him much eye contact. "I've seen pictures, of course. I've never seen one in person."
Around this time I turn over towards him. He is holding his hand out and reaching to it with his other hand to remove his ring, a 2004 World Series championship ring.
The ring itself is valued in jewels alone at well over $20,000. The historical significance of THIS Red Sox team and what it means to people like myself make it virtually priceless.
He hands it to me.
I read the name. Ron Jackson.

Just to recap: This man approached me to ask me questions about himself. In an antique store. In Decatur, Georgia. Wow.

I, of course, apologize profusely for not knowing him. Once I stopped being a douche and started taking a better look at him, he looked extremely familiar and if one had asked me what role Ron Jackson had on the 2004 Boston Red Sox, I would have surely answered "hitting coach." Unfortunately for me, that is not how the initial question was phrased.
Fortunately for me, Ron Jackson is an exceptionally nice man. He shook my hand and talked baseball with me for awhile. At one point I went off to the other side of the building to call my father who suggested I take a picture. My phone however is a piece of crap without a camera on it so I was seemingly S.O.L. Luckily, there was a Big Lots store in this bizarro shopping center so I was able to run over and grab a disposable camera for $3 and get back in time to catch Jackson before he left. He was more than willing to pose with me and he again handed me the ring so that I would get to hold it in the picture. Unfortunately I have to take 25 more pictures before I can get this developed and share it with you all, but I could not wait to tell the story.
Jackson went on to tell me a lot of funny anecdotes about the Sox. He works in the Astros organization but definitely knows his legacy was with that team. He talked about his friendship with David Ortiz and offered some very interesting insights to various Red Sox happenings. We talked for quite awhile. One especially interesting part was his story about Kevin Youkilis.
Youkilis is known for his incredible plate discipline but he was never known as a good hitter until he met Jackson. Jackson demonstrated how Youkilis USED to hold his bat and then how he holds his bat now and how it was based on his suggestion. Youkilis has one of the most unique and recognizable swings in baseball and is now a notorious power hitter and MVP candidate. At some point during this part of the conversation I literally looked around as though I was on candid camera. "Is this really happening?"

Looking back at this strange and awesome meeting, it seems even more bizarre. I mean it would be pretty unusual to run into a Braves player or manager or something in this city, let alone an integral part of one of the greatest Red Sox teams ever. He lives in Fayetteville now and was in the area visiting family. For what it's worth, he was very interested in my life and who I was and asked me almost as much as I asked him. Although it is a little unusual to solicit such attention, I cannot sing his praises enough.

If you've seen the title of this blog posting, you may have noticed that I said "celebrities" which is plural. Ron Jackson is not the only minor celebrity I have met this week. The other was a little bit more orchestrated.

John Hodgman had a book signing at my local Barnes and Noble store. You may know him as the PC in the Apple Mac vs. PC commercials. He is also frequently hilariously featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and has now written two great books. This book tour was to promote "More Information Than You Require," his latest book which came out in late October. I would have been perfectly content if he had just answered questions and then signed books but he actually spoke for 90 minutes and was utterly hilarious. He told of how he came to become a "famous minor television personality" and was very willing to make fun of any and all audience members. He is unbelievably clever and all in all it was a great pleasure to meet him.
He had made a cameo appearance on the first season of Flight Of The Conchords so I had him sign my Conchords DVD cover. He crossed off the word "Conchords" and wrote "Hodgman."
This followed in a pattern as he crossed off his name on the title page of the book and then signed it beneath. I am a big fan of this type of humor and now a big fan of Mr. Hodgman. Also, having now delved into his book, I have to say it is definitely worth a look-see.

Anyways, I'm gonna wrap this up finally. I saw Kung Fu Panda yesterday so I'm gonna put that in the list:
18. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
17. Charlie Bartlett
16. Definitely, Maybe
15. Incredible Hulk, The
14. Semi-Pro
13. You Don't Mess With The Zohan
12. Step Brothers
11. Horton Hears A Who
10. Pineapple Express
9. Kung Fu Panda
8. Role Models
7. Get Smart
6. Burn After Reading
5. Iron Man
4. Changeling
3. My Blueberry Nights
2. Dark Knight, The
1. WALL-E

Valdosta, Georgia: What A Joke

Last night, the goons at ESPN named Valdosta, GA as "TitleTown USA" based on a website poll in which Valdosta supposedly bested 19 other finalists with 30% of the vote. Just to give you an idea, that's more than New York, NY and Boston, MA got combined.

I write about sports for a living in an area where sports is not THAT big of a deal and you couldn't pay me enough to go to Valdosta to write about that crap. Their sole claim to fame is their arguably unparalleled success in high school football. I think we all have an attachment to high school football, but you mean to tell me THIRTY PERCENT of voters thought Valdosta's high school football accomplishments were better than that of the Yankees (26 World Series titles), Giants (defending champs) and Knicks? They thought Valdosta's high school accomplishments were better than the Red Sox (7 World Series titles, defending champs, currently most popular team in baseball), Celtics (17 NBA titles, defending champs), and Patriots (you know their resume)?!?! Bullshit. There is a zero percent chance this voting was done fairly. Zero. Not only should Valdosta not have won this thing, they shouldn't have come in the top 15 out of 20. It's preposterous. Let's just say the entire state of Georgia was voting for them (which is preposterous as well when you consider the entire state doesn't even agree to root for ANY of its pro sports teams), and let's say Valdosta pulled a lot of votes from Florida because it's on the border. Let's also assume they jacked some votes from people who found the special ESPN did on them particularly heartwarming. EVEN THEN they shouldn't have gone over 6% (which is what Boston got and MORE than what New York got).
Famous professional athletes to come out of Valdosta: J.D. Drew, Jesse Tuggle, and, uhh... Buck Belue? Huh?
I don't know why I let these things anger me. What could be less significant than this poll? I think it's got more to do with the fact that the city of Valdosta will probably take this as the compliment to end all compliments than the actual fact that they won. This designation would be forgotten at about 15 of the 20 finalist cities.

Okay, deep breath, and we're back.

I am officially an Atlantan now. That is, I live inside 285 which is the real Atlanta. My address now ends in "Atlanta, GA" and whatever my zip code is. I am excited. Besides the ridiculous cost of gas for me to drive to work each day, there is no major drawback. I am in the social center of the southern world and I couldn't be happier. Within a few miles of me is my favorite coffee shop, one of my favorite record stores, my favorite Church, some of my best friends, some excellent restaurants (I've already had Fellini's Pizza TWICE since moving 3 days ago) and just about anything one could think of needing. The only thing it's lacking is a killer video store. The only decent one is in the Highlands which, if I'm not mistaken, is far.

I am now reasonably close to the Venezias, Tyler, Kelly, BJ, Stephen and of course my roommates who have taken surprisingly well to boxes being in the common area and some of my space consuming stuff being in the living room. We all live in a Yellow Submarine. It should be a decent living situation as all 3 of us are laid back, we have enough common interests that would make us friends if we weren't living together and we all, apparently, like the Beatles. We've already developed a playful college football disagreement that should make for a very fun season. I feel like I have been unpacking non-stop for a few days and still have so much left to do it's scary. As for transitions to an apartment, this one has been very reasonable. We haven't had to deal with utilities, bugs or too many malfunctions. Some of the neighbors are scary but I suspect they just look that way. It's pretty unlikely that there would be genuinely threatening people living in this place.
I'm still trying to decide what I want this blog to be. I'm beginning to think it would be good to go back to writing the sort of tongue-in-cheek op/ed stuff I wrote in college but I'm also enjoying writing about the day-to-day crap. Plus I haven't figured out how my "____ of the week" gimmicks would fit in. Suggestions welcomed as are comments. I'm looking forward to "unveiling" my list website project if I can ever get it together. Unveiling in quotation marks due to it being a wayyy too important designation for this. Still, I've been looking for a site that will allow me to simply share a few different link rolls without getting too complicated. Del.icio.us should do it but they overcomplicate things. I'm seriously considering just using a stupid Geocities page, haha. At least I know what to expect from them.

I Was So Much Older Then, I'm Younger Than That Now

Tomorrow I move to Buckhead (click to enlarge the photo). The irony of someone such as myself moving to the yuppie capital of the (southern) world is prevalent. Still, I'm excited. I'll finally be "in the city" and I'll be near some of my favorite places and favorite people. Which is a pretty big upgrade over being near none of my favorite places and none of my favorite people, hah. Other positives include: getting a majority of my stuff out of storage, not being in Lithia Springs, cheaper rent (negated by more gas used, at least at first), far more interesting social life, far more interesting roommates (for better or worse), ease of tricking myself into believing it's okay for me to live a lifestyle very similar to that of a college student and there will probably be some financial gain to having my shit together as I intend to hijack my dad's eBay account in order to sell off a lot of stuff I no longer need. It's going to be extremely difficult to part with some stuff (and I may be skittish) but I really love going through old stuff and any money I make will go right back into my ridiculous hobbies.

Speaking of making money on my ridiculous hobbies, I went to my first ever record show last week and it occurred to me that I'm plenty qualified (and willing) to set up a booth at the next one they have which will be late September. I might be dillusional but I think I could make a lot of money en route to thinning my collection out (something I've been planning on doing for a long time).

I find myself listening to Rilo Kiley (left) a lot lately. It's sort of funny considering I'm a guy and this is empowering crap for women to listen to, probably especially lesbians, but there are some really good lyrics, some of which fit me pretty well right now. I think it's pretty ridiculous to say lyrics fit one's life, but I do it anyway. Someday I may walk the walk.

Does anyone have a digital camera they're interested in selling? I really need a cheap digital camera for the aforementioned projects and to make this blog better. It occurs to me I won't be able to afford a Best Buy one for another 3 weeks which sucks. Let me know.

T-minus one week to the GALLON CHALLENGE. I'd tell you to get excited but I know you already are. I'm trying to think of the best way to practice for this. I've been drinking a little milk here and there but I don't think anything short of a trial run will help anything. Suggestions welcome.

Have a good weekend if I don't write sooner.