List #12: A New Set of Awesome Albums

Hey there, long time no write! Most of these have been around for a while (if not all of them, the list isn’t quite set in stone right now) but I just discovered them, and so, yeah.

Dark at the End of the Tunnel — Oingo Boingo

[This album is just super classic eighties. And also Danny Elfman, so how can you go wrong. Oingo Boingo came up recently when Danny Elfman was being discussed, and I listened to the one album I had and loved it, so acquired the rest of their stuff. It's really good! Except for their live album, which has too much guitar.]

Tapestry — Carole King

[Well, I knew I was bound to love this when I heard it, given that it's one of the top-selling albums ever, and everyone else loves it. Now I know why. I actually just randomly came across this when someone returned it at the library where I work.]

More Adventurous — Rilo Kiley

[I have had Under the Blacklight for a while, and liked a few songs on it (especially "15" and "Breaking Up") so I figured I should check out the rest of the band's stuff. More Adventurous does not have a bad track, in my opinion. In researching what album to check out, I discovered that Rilo Kiley is the band, not a person. Who knew? Not me.]

Who Do You Think You Are — Dala

[I discovered Dala at the Newport Folk Festival, as I am sure I have written about. Oddly, I realized that, though their most recent album (Everyone is Someone) has some better songs, the better album is their earlier one. Weird.]

And, last but not least, but it doesn’t quite count as an album:

Live in London — Leonard Cohen

[This shouldn't count because it's live, but it's still really good. Great back-up people really make it work.]

List #11: Bands I Discovered Through NPR

I recently wrote an article about the Newport Folk Festival on my other blog, and it got me to realizing how wonderful NPR has been in introducing me to bands that I wouldn’t have otherwise heard of. Here are some:

• Andrew Bird. Okay, so I had heard of him before, but only a few songs. A live concert or two got me hooked.
• Neko Case. I apparently had a full album before I heard her on NPR, but never knew it. She’s awesome.
• The Weepies. This isn’t strictly true. I still think I once heard an interview with them, but I can’t find any record of it.
• She & Him. A group consisting of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. I like them together, but not Ward by himself. This individual concert also turned me on to the Newport Folk Festival.
• St. Vincent. I’m still figuring out what I think about them. I love them/her (it’s mainly one singer) live, but the albums that I’ve listened to leave something to be desired.
• The Avett Brothers. Sometimes they’re too loud, but their folky stuff is great. (They were also at Newport.)

There are also a bunch of artists, like the Decemberists, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, and so on, that have concerts archived through NPR. Also many world music groups. It’s an amazing resource and I’d encourage you all to check it out. Especially listen to these few ones I picked out, but there are so many more, too.

The Sabbath and the Sunday

This isn’t going to be a list, just some thoughts that I’ve had recently. As some of you may know, for the past month (maybe five weeks?) I haven’t been using my computer on Sundays. This isn’t a religious thing or anything, I just wanted one day a week that I would be internet/technology free, and Sunday seemed easiest. But a week ago I realised that the better day would be Saturday. That way, if anyone had something that needed my urgent attention before work/school on Monday, I could still deal with it in advance, since anything that happened on Saturday would most likely be about Monday.

And this got me to thinking. The Jewish day of rest is in a much better position than the Christian one. But, not originally. When it was only Saturday, that would have no advantages or disadvantages. But as soon as Sunday popped up too and became the mainstream, that meant that the Jews were one day back, and so could catch up when Christians couldn’t (on Sunday). This wouldn’t be as much of a big deal before computers and other instantaneous communication, but it must have made some kind of effect.

The Jews also have the sundown to sundown deal going, which also seems like a good idea, because no one day is completely taken up by religion, but parts of two.

So yeah, Jews=awesome. Also, sabbath sounds so cool, compared to Sunday, at least.

List #10: Adjectives I Enjoy

Not that I use these very often, but I just like saying them. I put definitions in, just in case.

• igniparous – producing fire [found this at Save The Words]
• incongruent – [the official definition is apparently "not congruent." Lame.]
• palpable – capable of being perceived
• interminable – endless
• onomatopoeic – [stupid one again. "Of or related to onomatopoeia."]
• caustic – harsh or corrosive
• salvageable – capable of being saved from ruin [Why isn't this officially "able to be salvaged?"]
• peripatetic – walking about
• mingent – discharging urine [also Save The Words. Does this mean "to minge" is a verb?]
• eschatological – relating to the ultimate destiny of the world

That is all.

A Plug for My Other Blog

A review of the new(ish) NBC show “Kings.” Check it out!

Here!

Lists #7, #8, and #9: Size Doesn’t Matter

These are a few things that have been on my mind recently, yet didn’t have enough entries to really be lists on their own. So, without further ado, three short but interesting lists:

Things That Remind Me of Summer (and make me wish for it at any time of year, even though winter is my favorite season)

• Ray Bradbury (particularly Dandelion Wine, although a lot of his other stuff too)
• Bob Seger (not sure why this one, but it’s always been true)
• The Midwest (whenever I picture an ideal summer, it’s always in the Midwest. Which may have something to do with the other two entries. It’s also odd, because I’ve been in the Midwest in summer. Way too hot for me. But not in my mind…)

Movies That I Hate That Everyone Else Likes (and thinks I should like)

• Fight Club (it’s fine, but not the best thing ever)
• The Usual Suspects (it cheats. I won’t explain, in case you haven’t seen it, but if you have you probably know what I mean.)
• Harold and Maude (HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE)
• Donnie Darko (ditto)

Pulp Fiction, however, which I feel belongs in the same grouping as most of those, I really enjoyed.

Finally,

Things I Don’t Understand (however hard I try)

• How cranes are put up. (think about it)
• Why cigarettes aren’t prohibitively expensive.
• Computers.

That’s all folks!

Outsourced Graph #1: OECD Factbook eXplorer

This is a pretty sweet site. It has data for all kinds of statistics for pretty much every country, for pretty much every year. If you want to graph the US expenditure on R&D versus the total GDP, you can! Or, the employment rate versus fertility rate of all of the countries in Europe, you can! I’ve only just discovered this site (Thanks, Mom!) so I’m still playing with it, but it’s pretty cool, so I would check it out if I were you. Let me know if you get any fascinating correlations!

OECD Factbook eXplorer

In addition, this is not a graph or list, but it’s so cool that I couldn’t resist: ToneMatrix. Click on a box, and it’ll make a note. Click on another, and it’ll make another. Left to right is when in the sequence the note is played, top to bottom is how high or low the pitch is (top=high). I’m pretty sure they made it so you can’t make something that sounds bad, but just like the above, I’m still playing, so I have yet to find out.

Outsourced List #2: FlickChart

This site is very much along the same lines as Pick One, but has a much more specific subject matter, as well as a more specific mode of doing it. At FlickChart, you rate movies. No; a correction—you pick movies. You are given a choice between two movies and, as long as you’ve seen both (you can change pairs until you have), you have to choose the one you prefer. These choices slowly form themselves into a list of your top movies. It’s a very addicting process, and one that really shows you how much time you spend watching movies… I have, at the moment, 416 movies in my list, and it’s just growing. If you take the average length of a movie as an hour and a half (which, I think, is low), that’s already 26 full days right there .

It is a lot of fun to do this, both just because, and also because it’s entertaining (although frustrating) to have to pick between two movies that have pretty much nothing to do with each other. Lost in Translation and the Little Mermaid (I’d pick the first, but it’s close), for instance. Or Terminator and Bowling for Columbine (definitely #1). You can limit your choices by genre, or year, or decade, or any number of criteria, but, to me, that takes some of the fun out of it. Sure, it’s easier to compare Starship Troopers with Alien (the second) than it is with Beauty and the Beast (that’s close. The first, I think), but you have to think less. It sort of makes you think of a film as being good or bad, in terms of its style, skill, etc, rather than anything specific to the movie.

There are some issues with the site. But it is a beta, so it’s still a work in progress. (Incidentally, this means that you also have to apply for an invite before being able to use the site, but it’s a great time-waster, so it’s worth it[?]) My biggest is that the method they use of converting the choices into rankings is seriously flawed. The picked movie either stays in the same place as it was (if the other movie was already below it), or moves up to directly above the other movie. This seems fine, but causes all sorts of issues, especially when paired with the fact that strictly only the top movie moves—when a new movie is added into the ranking, it automatically goes to the middle of the list. So, if you have 300 movies, any new one is going to be added at 150. Even if you’ve just ranked it as less good as a movie at position 200. It also doesn’t keep track of past rankings (which I think is understandable because this would require a much more complicated program). For example, if you rank Star Wars above The Empire Strikes Back, and, because of the limited choices you have made so far, have the following list:

1. Gigli
2. Star Wars
3. Empire Strikes Back

Then the choice comes up between Gigli and ESB. I would assume you would pick the latter. However, despite the fact that Star Wars has been proven to be better, in your mind, than ESB, you end up with the following list:

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. Gigli
3. Star Wars

This is because only the chosen movie moves, and nothing else. So, Star Wars is back to being worse than ESB, and, perhaps an even worse fate, it is still worse than Gigli. This is, however, a problem I don’t really know how to fix. I’ve offered them assistance in trying to figure it out (I don’t know whether they’ll respond), but I can only help from a math angle, trying to create a better algorithm, and not at all from the programming direction, which is probably the more difficult part.

Nevertheless, this is a fun tool to play with, and I expect it’ll only get better. It also solves (almost) my problem of not being able to choose a favorite movie. Bit by bit, film by film, this creates the list for me, and maybe one day I’ll be able post a top ten film list!

A Note on Graphs

This is a bit of a cop-out of a post. but I’m looking for suggestions. I’d really like to get more graphs into this blog, not just the lists that have been previously populating its posts. Not to say that lists are lame, but a good mix is always to be desired. But, to avoid this turning into a) the lameness that is GraphJam, or b) just a cheap knockoff of indexed (I link when i like, not when I don’t), I ideally want to do graphs with specific data, not just generalizations. For example, my most played songs. I could do something like when I play music, during the day, or during the week, things like that, but that’s pretty much where my creativity ends on this front. Things that don’t come from iTunes would also be nice. So, what I’m looking for is advice. There are a bunch of things in life that I could graph (how often I watch movies, or TV, or something), but a lot of that needs preparation time. I don’t want to just pull something out of nowhere and pretend it’s accurate data. And I want to cater to you.

If you think of anything that it might be interesting to graph (in your own life, in life in general, in mine…) let me know, and I’ll take it on for you. I can’t guarantee it’ll turn out to be earth shattering, but it’ll at least be a start. Thanks!

List #6: Ten Tracks I’ve Been Obsessed With at Some Point In My Life

There are obviously more than ten of these. But these are a selection that stand out for various reasons, such as the duration of the time in which I was so obsessed, or the recent nature of the obsession, or… The list (ha) goes on. These are all songs that I’ve just loved listening to, often on repeat, over and over again, over a certain period of time. They are not, it must be noted, the most played songs in my library, nor are they (probably) my favorite songs. This will probably be my last music-related list for a while; I’ll probably go on to more mundane things that often seem to be more interesting, such as a list of bets my brother has lost, or books people have borrowed from me, or things I have been lent and never gave back. As always, suggestions are welcome. And without further ado (I saw Much Ado About Nothing today), the list.

• Bruises – Chairlift: As already mentioned, this is off the CD Does You Inspire You. A very nice peppy number, its only flaw to me is that I don’t really like when the second voice comes in (which is actually rare for me; I usually love duets). Nevertheless, it’s great musically, the beat is just fun, and the… synthesizer? Fake theremin? Instrument solo at the end is a great sound to end it on. And yeah, I guess it was in a commercial or something. Didn’t see it.
• Chances Are – Bob Seger and Martina McBride: And here we go with me liking duets. This is sort of typical 90s melodramatic semi-country, which is great. Apparently from some movie Hope Floats, which I have never seen. Anyway, I like it a lot. I also love Bob Seger in general, so that helps. I basically got a bunch of his music, and this stood out because it was a duet.
• Inama Nushif (Montage) – Brian Tyler: This is the reason the title of this list is “Tracks” and not “Songs.” The Children of Dune miniseries from the Scifi Channel is not good. Don’t see it. Its music isn’t that great either. But this track stands out. It’s fairly midde eastern with the calssic uplifting chord progression found in a lot of movies, especially over emotional montages. Like someone being buried alive. And breaking a tank of gas with an alien in it. You know, that kind of stuff. Anyway, this was really my first experience with the eastern-flavored trend in soundtracks which has become very common nowadays. It helps that all of Dune pretty much is Arabic culture and language, loosely altered. And aliens.
• In the Sun – Joseph Arthur: This is another emotional montage song, although clearly it is actually a song rather than a section of a soundtrack. I actually first heard it in the alternate ending to The Bourne Identity, which I greatly prefer to the original, primarily because of this song. I hadn’t heard much of Joseph Arthur at the time, and still haven’t really, but this really stood out and I just loved the sort of unexpected way I found it.
• God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings – Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan: Clearly not a montage song. I heard this on the radio of all places, which is only very rarely the way I discover music nowadays. (I can no longer deal with ad breaks and not liking songs, I overly surf and I only listen when I have no iPod, and I’m usually pretty unsatisfied.) As I have mentioned (many times) before, I love two melodies converging, and this is just that. I also love the Barenaked Ladies, and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is my favorite Christmas carol. So, this is pretty much perfect. I also still have marathon listening sessions of this song, even when it’s not Christmastime. Weird, I know.
• L’aveu – Garou: This could be an emotional montage song, but isn’t, at least not that I know of. Garou is a French-Canadian singer who is very similar to the likes of Joe Cocker and Bob Seger. His subject matter is entirely different, but the voice is similar, especially to Cocker. The songs drip with melodrama and emotion, and for a long time I had a sneaking sense that, if they were in English, I would hate them, but the French carries them through with just the right amount of cool so I love them. I first heard them in French class, and was hooked ever since. I recently had the opportunity to test my theory, because Garou has released an English album. I was right. It sucked.
• For the Widows in Paradise; For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti – Sufjan Stevens: Emotional montage! The last one in this list, I think. This one I first heard on the OC, played over a funeral or somesuch. It’s very calming and peaceful, if very melancholy. Probably my favorite song that Stevens has done, although I have an immense respect for his idea to do one album for every state. I don’t think it’ll ever get done, but I admire the man. This one is from his Michigan album, I believe (correct me if I’m wrong).
• All These Things That I’ve Done – The Killers: Okay, well here’s another I heard first on the OC. Or at least I heard the Killers first on the show. I can’t remember if they played this song. Anyway, in the same vein as Meatloaf, this song is many in one, starting as a slow solo and ending with a gospel chorus number. I love it.
• Graceland – Alison Krauss and Jerry Douglas: This is, as far as I can tell, not officially released. I ripped this from the PBS broadcast of Paul Simon’s Gershwin Award Ceremony. I love the song in the first place (second only to “African Skies” of Simon songs in my book), and I love the performers, so how could you go wrong. The bending of the dobro goes just perfect with the feel of this song, and it adds so much. If anyone knows whether there is an album of this concert/ceremony officially, let me know and I’ll buy it in a second.
• Glory Days – Bruce Springsteen: Last but not least. This song was one that I tried to connect with a specific time in my life, a specific relationship. It failed, as did the relationship, but I still love the song. I think I first heard it on the car ride back from meeting a girl, and the rest was (not) history.

So, there are ten. As I said, there are many more, some more temporally tied, others just because I loved the songs. For example, a song that satisfies both categories just came up on my iTunes (“This Year” by the Mountain Goats). Listening to my top 500 played I’m sure I’d come up with nine or ten more in an hour. Given that I listen to music pretty much constantly, it’s not hard to find them. What are some that you’ve loved at a particular time, whether you’ve discarded them later, or still love them just as much?