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

Ranking Everything: The Albums of Radiohead

Wow. What an incredible experience this week has been for me. I have tackled the Radiohead catalogue - most of which was my first time through - and my life is significantly better for it. Because of OK Computer, which I had heard previously ad nauseum, Radiohead was already one of my favorite bands. Now, they probably make my all time top 10. This is without a doubt the biggest band in the world right now. No other band balances such popularity with such quality output. Much like most of the stuff I will be ranking on the site, you cannot consider yourself knowledgable about music without having gone through this body of work.





1.) OK Computer - Not only the band's best album, this is the runaway best album of the 1990s. Actually, this is one of the 20 best albums of all time. I'm not sure if it's perfect, but it's really, really close. This album works on every level. It works as a collection of individual songs, as a cohesive work of art, as a bold lyrical statement, a bold musical statement and as an all-around aesthetic masterpiece. This album is everything alternative rock can be and more.



2.) The Bends & Kid A (tie) - From what I can tell, there are two types of Radiohead fanatics. Some that love their alt/rock side more and some that like their electronic side more. Although OK Computer leans more to the alt/rock side, these two albums are your chief arguments for each side. The Bends came out right before OK Computer and is decidedly alt/rock. It has what may be the best Radiohead song of all on it in Fake Plastic Trees. Kid A, on the other hand, is your quintessential electronic Radiohead album. I wouldn't call this a full blown electronic album (keep reading for my thoughts on Amnesiac, which is one), but whatever it is, it's epic. It works better than The Bends as a cohesive unit of an album. It doesn't have the FPT-type song to carry it in that regard but it doesn't need it. At gunpoint, I prefer the alt/rock Radiohead but, quite frankly, if they wanted to try polka I'd be all over that album, too.

4.) In Rainbows - The band's latest is a bit of a throwback to the Kid A time period in my opinion. The most critically acclaimed album of 2007 does not have the high points of the three previous albums... or really the next two for that matter, but it works in a different way. I've read it labeled a trance album. I'm not sure of the parameters of the trance genre, but I can tell you this album sure has the capacity to put the listener in one. This is not to be confused with being bored by it, but rather it is paced in an interesting way. Around the 3/4 mark of the album it takes it up a notch to leave you with a nice taste in your mouth and a comfort in the knowledge that Radiohead is as good now as they were ten years ago.

5.) Pablo Honey & Hail To The Thief (tie) - I know, two ties in one small list, that's pretty lame. These albums don't have a whole lot in common (much like the previous tie) but it's hard for me to think of one being better than the other. Pablo Honey is the band's debut effort and it is, by a large margin, their least critically acclaimed. Hail To The Thief, meanwhile, is their second latest and is definitely on the electronic side of the band's catalogue. Despite the low ranking, I have to say I really, really like both of these albums. I feel Pablo Honey is unjustly regarded as their worst when it's just a different animal. It's a great debut album by any measure, it's just not some unified work of art. It is, for its time, quite regular. Post-grunge, pre-alt/rock, whatever. The fact is, it really has some great high points. Some of these songs hint to the brilliance the band would show on their next three albums and the others are hardly unpleasant. Hail To The Thief is actually similar in that regard. It has some really high high-points and the rest is pleasant. Its problem is that it meanders and is not really a cohesive unit like every other Radiohead album outside of, oddly, Pablo Honey.

7.) Amnesiac - Last but not least we have Amnesiac. This is an album that is about as electronic as they get. For many of the songs Thom's incredible voice is altered to create a different sound. It's not a BAD sound but I had a hard time getting into it. The long stretches of weird noise was less appealing to me as well. I really have no problem with Radiohead leaning electronic (I obviously think highly of Kid A) but this is too far in that direction for me. I can see what they're doing with it and I appreciate that but it's just not for me. I don't know any other way to explain it.

All in all, this ranking was beyond rewarding for me. I can honestly say albums 1-3 will make my all time favorites list with the next three not far behind. Please please please comment and share your thoughts on the list, the band or the project in general. Still chipping away at the Kubrick filmography as well as the Cormac McCarthy bibliography. Not sure which band/artist I'll tackle next. Still open to suggestions on all of this. Until then...

Mysterious Epic Video Tease

This week I will begin working on an epic YouTube video. I only post this for the sake of being mysterious and so that you can look back on this fateful day when I am a YouTube celebrity. That and so that I don't get too lazy and give up on it. Mostly the latter.

Most importantly, my beloved Duke Blue Devils won the ACC today. I couldn't be happier. Outside of the Red Sox, Duke Basketball is my favorite sports program. UNC was supposed to be handed the ACC title and possibly have an undefeated season so it's so extra sweet that every fucking asshole UNC fan I've ever known gets to watch Duke's success. Plus, barring any unexpected draft departures Duke will be even better next year. Sweet.

Tomorrow I'm going to start listening to another musician's body of work as to speed up the blog process because the Kubrick thing is taking a bit longer than I anticipated. I'm interested to see if a list is any different if I've heard NONE of the band's albums previously... Which is why I am thinking Joy Division would be fun to tackle, especially considering I just bought Unknown Pleasures. Absolutely cannot wait to delve into it and others.

As for personal things, I had an epic weekend with friends. Oddi, Amee, Phillip, Trevor and all of the new people I met. Really feeling great about that. I covered probably 600 someodd miles in traveling Atlanta -> Gainesville -> Athens -> Augusta -> Rincon (Savannah) -> Augusta -> Athens -> Atlanta.

Recommended listening:
The Lonely Island - Incredibad
The Welcome Wagon - Welcome To The Welcome Wagon
Various Artists - Dark Was The Night
The Sonics - Here Are The Sonics!!!
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
and... when it comes out...
Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything To Nothing

Changing The Focus Of The Blog...

Alright, the hiatus is over. After much deliberation over starting a new blog (a third?) I just decided I will change the focus of this one to a nifty new idea I've been toying with. So here you have it: How Hi The Fi is now the blog of rankings.

I obviously love lists and rankings. I think what makes this different is that I will strictly be doing full bodies of work. I would like to rank every film by a director or every album by a musician, etc.

What to like about this is that the blog will be more consistent. There will be at least a hint of incentive to come back every so often. It will still be my personal blog and updates on what's going on with me will still appear from time to time. I just feel like it would be pointless to continue the blog as it's been. Not every list I put up here will HAVE to fit this, but it will be clear when I post it that it's different. For instance, the 2008 movie list. By the way, there have been very few additions to that list.

Anyways, to start things off, here's every Beatles album ranked by me!

If you've been following my Twitter you know I've been listening to the 13 albums by The Beatles in chronological order. I'm not trying to make some great original Beatles statements beyond sharing my opinions. Feel free to comment to harass me about this.

1.) The White Album - Most of the songs on this album hold up as well as some of the better songs on Revolver. I think those who just absolutely love the Beatles tend to prefer this album. It's not that it, as a unit, is better than, say, the next three albums, but MORE Beatles is just undeniably a good thing. The only 2-disc release by The Beatles, The White Album is incredible in scope and there's just so much to like. The Beatles were at odds with one another during its making but in no way does it suffer from this. Instead it seems to me like they are trying to one-up one another. Genius + Competition = Wow. This album isn't perfect, but it is the best.

2.) Abbey Road - What a beautiful piece of work from start to finish. This, to me, is your prototypical album. Much like The White Album, this one has just about perfect track sequencing. I know I'm just repeating what everyone has said about this, but I just can't imagine a better note to go out on than this. The perfect end to any career, especially the so-called greatest band ever.



3.) Magical Mystery Tour - This isn't an official Beatles studio album in that some of the songs were not recorded with the purpose of ending up on it but it's better than some that are. It is, in fact, the better SOUNDING album of this mini-era (see: better than Sgt. Pepper). It maybe wasn't as culturally as important as Sgt. Pepper but it sounds like everything I want a 1967 album to sound like.



4.) Revolver/Rubber Soul (tie) - I can't decide which one of these two I like more. As an album, Rubber Soul is wildly better. But the sum of Revolver's parts is greater than those of Rubber Soul. Revolver has some absolutely astounding songs that still hold up today. In between these songs are punch bowl turds like McCartney's "Here There And Everywhere." This song wouldn't be so bad if it was on a different album, but man is it terrible on this. Plus I never really got in to Eleanor Rigby like others did. Rubber Soul meanwhile has a more cohesive, consistent sound with the epic song Norwegian Wood and some great songs that show the Beatles transitioning from poppish to original rock. It kind of reminds me of Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home as he was switching from Folk to Rock.

6.) Yellow Submarine - Just to clarify, this is the songtrack, not the soundtrack. The original soundtrack had about 6 songs from the movie and the rest was just exerpts of the score. This is kind of a stretch for this list, but the majority of these songs were clearly written with the purpose of being together (unlike, say, the Past Masters releases). Anyways, it's like a who's who of underrated Beatles songs on this one. It takes the better parts of Sgt. Pepper, throws in a few other hits and then it's just underrated great rockers with great sequencing. Not a real album, I admit, but worthy of being ranked here.

7.) Help! - Underrated much? Wow, what a fun album. Nevermind that it has "Yesterday" on it, there's so much Rubber Soul in this album it's unbelievable. Rubber Soul got the cooler cover and a more cohesive sound but the sense of humor and energy and just sound in general are very similar. Just as Rubber Soul is Dylan's "Bringing It..." this is Dylan's "Another Side."



8.) Let It Be - I think this album suffers from the same things that Revolver does. It's got some of the band's greatest songs ever but it's filled with ballad-y crap that doesn't work. I love the way Spector let the Beatles sense of humor seep through in this album. If the list was based strictly on "number of epic songs" then this would be in the top 5, but it just doesn't have an overall feel to put it higher than here.



9.) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Yeah, I know. It's not that I dislike this album, it's just... it doesn't keep my interest from "Lucy" until "Sgt. Pepper (Reprise)." Lovely Rita and Good Morning are decent songs, but really the rest just BORES me. I see what they're doing, I appreciate it, I love the cover art, love some of the songs, especially A Day In The Life, but man, ugh, so bland in the middle.



10.) Beatles For Sale - From start to The White Album, with the exception of Sgt. Pepper, it seems to me like every Beatles album was better than the one before it. Beatles For Sale maybe isn't regarded as one of the better albums or even necessarily as better than its three predecessors but it really is great. I guess as I have grown to love garage rock bands like "The Sonics" I have come to appreciate this era of The Beatles more and more. They were doing less of the sappy covers and more of the rockers and originals.


11.) A Hard Day's Night - The band takes a clear step-up from its first two albums with this, a release to promote the movie of the same name. The movie is the most joyous and wonderful music film ever made and the soundtrack gets bonus points for reminding one of the movie while including a lot of the same attitude the band took on Beatles For Sale.



12.) With The Beatles - The good songs on this album are just as good as the good songs on the one that came before it and after it. What makes it better than Please Please Me is that its sappy covers are better songs. What makes it worse than A Hard Day's Night is that it has these sappy covers to begin with.





13.) Please Please Me - Let me say that if this is your worst album, your band is pretty damned good. There are some absolutely epic songs on this thing it's just that there are a lot of sappy covers that do nothing for me... or anyone else for that matter.

So that about does it, be sure and sound off in the comments if you agree or disagree. Coming soon: Ranking the films of Stanley Kubrick (yes, I've seen them all and am rewatching them now), album rankings of Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and anything else I can get my hands on. Feel free also to suggest lists for the future.

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.

What A Year For A New Year

Happy 2009. I'll have my best of 2008 lists up later today or tomorrow. In the meantime it's lyrics to the song I'll be playing all day. Also coming later: Christmas, various life developments, various sports things...

Anyways, here's Dan Wilson - What A Year For A New Year:

What a year for a new year
We need it like we needed life I guess
Last one left us lying in a mess
What a year for a new year

What a night for a sunrise
And we thought the dark would never end
Reaching out to try to find a friend
What a night for a sunrise
Sunrise

What a day for new day
And our star shines like a miracle
And our world is almost beautiful again
What a day for a new day
New day

What a year for a new year

What a night for a sunrise
And we thought the dark would never end
Reaching out to try to find a friend
What a night for a sunrise
Sunrise

Soon we’ll be lying in our beds
And new dreams will fill our heads
And the old ones will be ended
Hope we’ll forget about this place
Let it go without a trace
Wipe the teardrops from our faces
Oh! What a year for a new year!

Guess Who's Back, Back Again, Shady's Back, Tell A Friend

I have a new favorite song of all time.

T.I. & Rihanna - Live Your Life

Hip Hop + Numa Numa = Full integration between the races.

The lyrics, without further ado:

You're gonna be a shining star, in fancy clothes, and fancy car-ars.
And then you'll see, you're gonna go foward,
Cause everyone knows, just who you are-are.
So live your life, ay ay ay.
Your steady chasing that paper,
Just live your life (Oh!), ay ay ay.
You got no time for no hata's
Just live your life (Oh!), ay ay ay.
No telling where it'll take ya,
Just live your life (Oh!), ay ay ay.
Cause I'm a paper chaser,
Just living my life (Ay!), my life (Oh!), my life (Ay!), my life(Oh!),
just living my life (Ay!), my life (Oh!), my life (Ay!), my life(Oh!),
just living my life
Nevermind what haters say, ignore them 'til they fade away.
Amazing they ungreatful after all the game I gave away.
Safe to say I paved the way, for you cats to get paid today.
You still be wasting days away, now had I never saved the day.
Consider them my projay, how much I think they should pay.
Instead of being gracious, they violated and made you wait.
I never been a hater still I love them, in a crazy way.
Some say they so yay and know they couldn't even work on Labor day.
It aint that they black or white, their hands of area in shades of grey.
I'm West side anyway, even if I left the game and stayed away.
Some move away to make a way not move away cause they afraid.
I give back to the hood and all you ever did was take away.
I pray for patience but they make me want to melt they face away.
Like I once made them scream, now I could make them plead their case away.
Been thuggin' all my life, can't say I don't deserve to take a break.
You rather see me catch a case, and watch my future fade away.
(Rihanna):You're gonna be a shining star, in fancy clothes, and fancy car-ars.
And then you'll see, you're gonna go forward,
Cause everyone knows, just who you are-are.
So live your life, ay ay ay.
Your steady chasing that paper,
Just live your life (Oh!), ay ay ay.
You got no time for no hata's
Just live your life (Oh!), ay ay ay.
No telling where it'll take ya,
Just live your life (Oh!), ay ay ay.
Cause I'm a paper chaser,
Just living my life
(T.I.):I'm the opposite of moderate, immaculately polished
With the spirit of a hustler and the swagger of a college kid.
Allergic to the counterfeit, impartial to the politics.
Articulate but still would grab a nigga by the collar quick.
Whoever having problems wit, they record sales just holla Tip
If that don't work and all else fails, then turn around and follow Tip
I got love for the game but ay, I'm not in love with all of it.
I do without the fame and the rappers nowadays are comedy.
The hootin' and the hollerin', back and forth with the argueing.
Where you from, who you know, what you make and what kind of car you in.
Seems as though you lost sight of whats important with the positive.
And checks until your bank account, and you're about poverted.
Your values is a disarrayed, prioritized are horribly.
Unhappy with the riches cause you piss poor morraly.
Ignoring all prior advice and fore warning.
And we mighty full of ourselves all of a sudden, aren't we?
(Rihanna):You're gonna be a shining star, in fancy clothes, and fancy car-ars.
And then you'll see, you're gonna go far,
Cause everyone knows, just who you are-are.
So live your life, ay ay ay.
You steady chasing that paper,
Just live your life (Oh!), ay ay ay.
You got no time for no hata's
Just live your life (Oh!), ay ay ay.
No telling where it'll take ya,
Just live your life (Oh!), ay ay ay.
Cause I'm a paper chaser,
Just living my life (Ay!), my life (Oh!), my life (Ay!), my life(Oh!),
just living my life (Ay!), my life (Oh!), my life (Ay!), my life(Oh!),
So live your life
Got everbody watching what I docome walk in my shoes
and see the way Im livin if you really want to
got my mind on my moneyand Im not goin awaaay
So keep on getting ya paper and keep on climbing
looking in the mirror and keep on shining
till the game ends till the clock stop
we gonna post up on the top spot
living the life, the life
brand new city got my whole team with me
the life, my life
I do what I wanna do
Im living my life, my life
I will neva lose
Im living my life, my life
and Im not stopping

Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley, Have You Heard?

So I've got a big recommendation for this Thursday afternoon. If you haven't already listened to it, that is. Check out "Girl Talk." Girl Talk is a guy who does remixes or mashups of popular songs, mostly hip-hop based, with "classic" hits. Classic is a word I use very loosely as some of the sample material is awful but he turns all of it into a wonderful album-long song that would fit in nicely at a club. Not a shitty club though. One of my favorite interchanges is the blend between Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" and T.I.'s "What You Know About That." It's hard to believe these things would mesh, but they do and it's awesome. Even more surprising is that Girl Talk isn't facing hundreds of lawsuits because he puts this stuff out on CDs available most places and has done so for years, clearly without the original artists' permission. My only guess is that because he uses relatively small snippets of the source material he escapes legal requirements. That or he pays a lot of money for the rights.

I guess this can serve as a Vinyl Find of the Week post, too. This week I'll go with Bo Diddley's debut self-titled album "Bo Diddley." This was found along with the Chuck Willis album from like 2-3 weeks ago in a Marietta antique store. It's worth $250 and unfortunately has its former owner's signature across the top. No matter, it's in great shape and is one of the great early rock & roll albums ever made. It also makes me laugh. The first (and biggest) single off of this album was a song called "Bo Diddley." So if you're keeping up, that means "Bo Diddley" by Bo Diddley was on Bo Diddley. That is, the song by the artist was on the album. I love it. This is one of three Bo Diddley albums I'll have on here eventually. His early stuff is pretty valuable and I've inexplicably turned up three different records in this category.

Hmm, what else is going on? I've been reading a Chuck Klosterman book lately for the first time. I'll probably write more about it when I've read enough to adequately comment. I'm excited because one of my favorite books "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy (2006 Pulitzer Prize winning book) will be in theatres by the end of the year, sure to make an Oscar run like its predecessor, No Country For Old Men. Viggo Mortenson plays the lead and photos have leaked online. Very, very exciting.

Work has been insane lately. I've added "photographer" to my resume as I've been taking pictures for the South Fulton paper I write for. More work without more pay is never welcomed, but I like having control over the pictures and I am surprisingly good with the camera. The Vince Dooley photo(s) from last week's paper were mine and from now on most of the South Fulton photos will be mine as well.

I've got to try and see some more 2008 movies to blog about. I've really enjoyed keeping a running list of the movies I've seen this year and ranking them but it's so wildly (and unnecessarily) incomplete that I feel bad. I think I'll be checking out Tropic Thunder and Mamma Mia some time in the near future. The concepts behind each movie seem terrible, especially the morally repulsive Mamma Mia, but I'll do my best to put my biases aside.

Anyways, that's all I've got today. I think I'll start sharing more links in the near future to spice things up around here. Use the comments things below, even if there's nothing to say. Later!

Come On! Feel The Georgianoise!

Some exciting news today. Through the Sufjan Stevens rumor mill we have come to the conclusion that his next "State" album will be about a state whose first letter would be enough to determine which state it is. Thus, we can conclude that the state's first letter is not shared with any other states which leaves eight possible states:

Delaware

Florida
Georgia (!!!!)
Hawaii
Louisiana
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Utah

My money's on Pennsylvania or Utah with Rhode Island being a possibility just because the name is so easy to turn into an album title for him. For those unfamiliar, Sufjan Stevens is probably the best musician to come out in the past ten years and it's been at least 3 years since he's put out a completely new album (there have been Christmas and Outtakes releases since then, but not real albums). He has thusfar done "Come On Feel The Illinoise!" and a Michigan album.

In other news, the fantasy football season is upon us which for me is significantly more interesting than the actual NFL season and even the average college football season. Technically this college football season is more interesting than the average one because of UGA's projected success but fantasy football is one of the most wonderful things in the world. People will be coming to my apartment Saturday evening for our draft. Nearly all of my closest friends are involved in my primary league this year which is really fun for me. It dawned on me recently that a lot of the people in the league don't know each other but everyone knows at least 2 other people so it should work. Two years ago I won the league and last year I came in third so it's been a good run thusfar for me in this game. The baseball league I'm in with Rob & B.J. is going especially well. I am in 2nd place with the playoffs right around the corner and I am playing the first place team and kicking his ass so far. A win could put me in first which I could possibly hold on to going into the playoffs. Not bad considering I was in 4th less than a month ago. I have an unhealthy interest in fantasy sports. Meanwhile, Rob is saying this fantasy football season will be his final due to waning interest. I cannot even fathom this. I can understand people not being into it to begin with, but I can't see someone being completely into it and then dropping it. Oh well. He'll be back.

Now for everyone's least favorite weekly blog feature: vinyl find of the week! This week is Gene Chandler - The Duke Of Earl. This is easily one of my five greatest record finds ever. I paid $3 for it, thinking it was perhaps a Duke Ellington record or just something random that might be interesting to check out. When I got home with my record finds that day, I began to look them all up. I was very disappointed that I had spent way more than I should've and came home with only 1-2 decent records. I couldn't find the record in question in the price guide thingy because it didn't have an artist's name listed in any of the common areas. A few weeks later I looked again. In the blurb of text on the back it had mentioned something about Gene Chandler. I knew Gene Chandler had written the original Duke Of Earl song but I had thought this record was someone else singing that song or something like that. I was wrong. Turns out this is the original Gene Chandler record. Then it got better. The standard issue of the Gene Chandler record was worth about $200, which is the value they generally give for older records featuring black artists and extremely popular songs from the time period. For instance, most of Chuck Berry's original records are worth $200. But this one had something a little different. The word "Stereophonic" is on the top of the cover. This meant that the record is "stereo" as opposed to "mono." This is significant in that it was released in 1961 but in 1961 there were very few stereo record players. Not until the Beatles came along were people like "holy crap I must listen to this in two speakers!" So basically, with no one having stereo record players, no one was yet buying stereo records. Especially stereo records of black artists. This turns a $200 record into an $800 record. That's right, book value $800. But it gets even better. Unlike all of the other high end records I own, this effing record is SEALED. Sealed records carry a value higher than anything else. This one has stayed sealed for 47 years. I could likely sell this one for it's book value or more if I found the right buyer. Wow. Not bad for $3.

Just to put this in perspective, I only own 5 records worth more than this and one worth the same. Of those 6, only one is not a Beatles record. None of the others are sealed. Woot.

R.I.P. Leroi Moore

This saddens me to no end.

I'll Make Up A New God And Have A Funky Tea Party Of My Own

Just a few cool things to share today...
Three new cool gizmos for the blog's sidebar which will serve as the lists of the week...

Photos of the 20 or so drawings of jazz musicians I've done:



Photos of the posters or DVD covers from the top 25 greatest movie list from 2 weeks ago:



photos of the 20 albums everyone must own in order to be taken seriously when discussing music with me (aka my 20 greatest album list)



Hopefully tomorrow or the next day I will have photos from the awesome day at work I had today. I got to re-meet someone famous! Woo! With pictures! Wowza! Anyways, that's all I've got. I'm not particularly inspired lately when it comes to the blog.

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.

I Intend To Live Forever. So Far So Good.

In this, the latest segment of "my job is better than yours" we see some photos from work from a few weeks ago. The full gallery is available in my "Picasa" link in the "STALK ME" section of the side bar. Check out the side bar if you've got a chance because I've literally spent hours on it in the past week to make it more interesting and full. I've been meaning to post these pictures somewhere for a few weeks now and I figured it would make an interesting blog post. The guy and his friend built this car themselves and he races it around the country. Turns out he's from Douglasville, which is where I work and it also turns out that it's street legal which is cool. So he offered to take me around in it. He got it up to about 125mph at one point which was fun for me because I was easily the tallest person to ever ride in it and I had no helmet, seatbelt, glasses or anything to protect me from being impaled by a pebble or something. Suffice it to say it was awesome. Clicking on the photos should make them larger as blogspot apparently doesn't like photos to be very big on the entries themselves. All in all I've done some very cool things at my job. Most of you know about the thing with the Braves (see the aforementioned Picasa gallery for photos from that), I've also had the chance to meet a few NBA players, the best high school basketball player in the country Derrick Favors, Georgia State football head coach Bill Curry (see: former Ga Tech & Bama coach) and a bunch of WNBA folks. There were also several others I am probably forgetting in addition to the sorts of things depicted in these photos. Believe it or not, I'm not really bragging. Work is usually more of a pain in the ass than fun, but it's nice to spotlight the better things to remind myself they exist.

Since this post is pretty boring, I figured I could share something more interesting. A few weeks ago (aka "the olden-days") my friend Kelly and I devoted hours of our precious, precious lives to establishing a perfect Mixtape/CD of indie rock for popular consumption. That is, this mixtape may not be our 17 favorite indie songs of all time, but it's the exact sort of CD one should listen to should they want to try and get into indie rock. I should probably mention that some of the music on here (see: Bob Dylan), isn't really indie music but just seemed to fit the tone of the CD rather well. We're currently working on perfecting an alternative rock CD that I'll eventually share here as well. Anyways, this CD has a good number of songs you may have heard in the past, which was part of the point. It's just an introduction to indie, not necessarily representative of the genre as a whole. And just to clarify, I mean indie strictly in the genre sense, not the literal sense of "independent music" which is often quite different. Admittedly, some of these bands suck (see: The Postal Service), but the songs fit the feel so we're rolling with it.

1. The Format - I'm Actual
2. Ben Kweller - Sha Sha (How It Should Be)
3. Belle & Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap
4. Of Montreal - Wraith Pinned To The Mist...
5. The Shins - Young Pilgrim
6. The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
7. Peter, Bjorn & John - Young Folks
8. Sufjan Stevens - Decatur
9. The Format - Dog Problems
10. Of Montreal - Disconnect The Dots
11. Joanna Newsom - Inflammatory Writ
12. Anathallo - Hanasakajijii (A Great Wind, More Ash)
13. Melanie - Brand New Key
14. Sufjan Stevens - Chicago
15. The Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane
16. Bob Dylan - Lonesome Day Blues
17. David Bowie - Queen Bitch

Also, if you want to make it a playlist (which can hold more music than a standard CD) I'd throw the following songs in there:

• Mika - Lollipop
• Mika - Love Today
• The Cat Empire - Sly
• The Flaming Lips - Yeah Yeah Yeah
• Belle & Sebastian - Stars Of Track & Field
• Peter Sarstedt - Where Do You Go To My Lovely (which, pending Kelly's approval, will be put in between tracks 7 and 8 on the above mix officially)

Actually, I could name dozens of songs you could throw into a playlist of this sort. If you decide to put this CD together, let me know what you think. My ego is my second favorite thing to have stroked. That is, behind my hair. Right.

2008 So Far

I've seen more movies than you. I've listened to more music than you. It actually is true. It's not necessarily a good thing, but it actually is true. Surprisingly, I never watch things as they come out. I see relatively few movies in theatres and I generally wait for the musical year to end to read lists of what's better and what's best. It's something of a pretentious process, but it is what it is. This disclaimer is designed to point out how unusual it is for me to be ranking things that came out that year in July of that year. Here we are, halfway through July and I have the best of what I've seen and heard. I am 100% positive these things will change and I could end up hating all of them by the time it's all said and done, who knows? Technically There Will Be Blood was a 2008 movie, but it counts for 2007 because it won Oscars last year.

The 2008 movies I've seen, ranked in order of preference (with parenthetical commentary):

8. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Aliens. I'm not spoiling the movie for you, aliens are involved. Aliens. Aliens from outer space.)
7. Definitely, Maybe (My mother was in charge of renting movies on the 4th of July.)
6. The Incredible Hulk (If both Hulks can take any amount of punching without impact, why do they continually punch one another?)
5. Semi-Pro (This ranking proves how awful the previous three were.)
4. Get Smart (Pleasant surprise. Miss Hathaway should be Mrs. Rehm before long.)
3. Iron Man (I dare not rank thee any lower lest I upset thine fanboys.)
2. My Blueberry Nights (Incomparably beautiful. Will probably change it to #1 by the end of the year.)
1. WALL-E (Emotional attachments to metal boxes don't come easy. The first third of this movie is perfection. The pre-spaceship third is absolutely without flaw.)

For music I had to go ahead and nix the terrible stuff. I don't listen to shitty albums over and over so it's hard to accurately rank them. I've narrowed it down to 5 so far.

The Top 5 2008 albums I've listened to, ranked in order of preference (with more parenthetical commentary):

5. The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave (Beautiful, clever, whatever)
4. R.E.M. - Accelerate (Love the band, hated the last album, welcome back boys)
3. Coldplay - Viva La Vida (Hate the band, couldn't be more surprised, gets better each time)
2. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive (Love them, love this, right album at the right time)
1. Flight Of The Conchords - Flight Of The Conchords (Perfect comedy and damn good music)


That's it so far. What you could possibly do with this information is beyond me, but enjoy and feel free to comment on it. I could use some commentary. Couldn't we all?