“just be cool, and whatever you do, don’t look at the camera.”
Author: Chris G Page 74 of 77
just before kickoff. it’s a thousand times colder than it looks #frickingfreezinginFrisco
Part of a balanced game day breakfast
this odd cat-shaping carving is on a tree in our yard, god knows how it got there #weird
A couple years ago, I started doing my own personal “best of the year” selections in iTunes. It’s easy to make an iTunes smart playlist that includes all the tracks added during the calendar year. Just set “Date Added”, “is in the range”, and pick the dates (I also add rules to exclude some tracks, like audiobooks, podcasts, etc.).
I use “date added” rather than “year”, so my selections are based on music that I bought during the year, regardless of when it was originally released. If I discover an old artist or pick up an old album years later, then so be it.
I buy full albums only; I never buy just single tracks. And so that’s what I pick 10 favorites of: albums. Here are my 2011 selections, in alphabetical order (yes, really) by artist. The links are to Wikipedia, and a playlist of these albums (except Dum Dum Girls and Francisca Valenzuela, unfortunately) is here on Spotify.
- Hadestown, Anaïs Mitchell – released in 2010, but I only heard about it in 2011. A “folk opera”, it’s one continuous story from start to finish. There are some tracks that I don’t love (the Justin Vernon ones, mostly), but others that are fantastic (“Why We Build the Wall” and “How Long?”, in particular – though they pack more punch if listened to as part of the whole work).
- A Bestiary Of, The Creatures – A much older one, released in 1983. I’ve been a Siouxsie and the Banshees fan forever, but somehow never checked out the Creatures side project until I came across this CD, at the library of all places. It’s a little uneven, honestly, but it earns a place here for helping me discover Siouxsie music I was missing out on.
- Only In Dreams, Dum Dum Girls – This one actually did come out in 2011. I discovered this band because they played a free set at Waterloo Records during SXSW. Good fuzz-guitar pop rock.
- The Valley, Eisley – Another 2011 release. This band is one that I’d seen a few videos of and heard here and there, but never really checked out. This album is solid all the way through.
- Ceremonials, Florence + the Machine – and:
- Lungs, Florence + the Machine – How on Earth I hadn’t already known about Florence + the Machine, I couldn’t tell you. I finally found them in November, including 2009’s Lungs, and dig both albums so much that they’re both on this list.
- Buen Soldado, Francisca Valenzuela – I’ve liked her since her first album, and her performance at Austin City Limits Music Festival was fantastic.
- Oh Land, Oh Land – Slightly odd Danish electro-pop. Another one I found because they played a free set at Waterloo Records for SXSW.
- Wild Flag, Wild Flag – While I also saw this band at Waterloo’s SXSW showcase, the chances of me not loving a band that includes two-thirds of Sleater-Kinney were always low. I subsequently saw a full concert at La Zona Rosa, which was awesome. . . right up to the point where they skipped the encore. This band is great, but I may hold a grudge about that forever.
- Civilian, Wye Oak – Yet another band I caught live at Waterloo during SXSW, and which I also saw later at The Parish. This album is good, but as Paul Krugman found during his appearance on Sound Opinions (yes, really), their live performance is an order of magnitude more awesome than their recorded material.
So those are my favorite “new” albums of 2011.
There are good albums among the rest of what I picked up in 2011, and good tracks even on the not-so-good albums. To keep them from getting lost in the iTunes library, I also made a playlist of favorite single tracks from all of the year’s albums that didn’t make the best-album cut. (Some albums were so close to best-of status that they get two tracks here.) This “Best of the Rest” is also a playlist on Spotify, minus, once again, the few tracks they don’t carry.
- About To Happen — Siouxsie (Mantaray)
- Romance Is Boring — Los Campesinos! (Romance Is Boring)
- Don’t Carry It All — The Decemberists (The King Is Dead)
- Bhang, Bhang, I’m a Burnout — Dum Dum Girls (I Will Be)
- Neighborhood Girls — Suzanne Vega (Suzanne Vega)
- Lero-Lero — Luisa Maita (Lero-Lero)
- Revel In Contempt — Buke And Gass (Riposte)
- (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville — R.E.M. (Reckoning)
- Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole — Martha Wainwright (Martha Wainwright)
- Oro Y Plata — Hello Seahorse! (Lejos. No Tan Lejos)
- Culture Of Fear — Thievery Corporation (Culture Of Fear)
- Nylons in a Rip — Nikka Costa (Pro*Whoa! EP)
- Cruel — St. Vincent (Strange Mercy)
- Americano — Lady Gaga (Born This Way)
- Nail In My Coffin — The Kills (Blood Pressures)
- You Won’t Let Me Down Again — Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan (Hawk)
- Down By The Water — The Decemberists (The King Is Dead)
- Smart — Girl In A Coma (Exits and all the Rest)
- There Is a Light That Never Goes Out — Dum Dum Girls (He Gets Me High)
I hope this helps someone who comes across it discover another band or two they like; let me know on Twitter if so.
wow, this Whole Foods sells some serious diapers
new mug, design painted by my favorite daughter
presented without comment
This is — no kidding, swear-to-god — a heart necklace my brother-in-law made out of toenail clippings #redneckxmas
The @FCShirtsUnited Twitter account got an interesting new follower today. After a quick skim of the new follower’s recent tweets, I actually (embarrassingly) thought it was real. Later I got another new follower, who also looked real at first glance. But then I happened to notice one of their tweets that sounded oddly familiar, so I brought up the other new follower’s page. . . Sure enough. Spammers.
It’s a new (to me, at least) spammer scam. It’s more subtle than what I’ve usually seen, which is usually just an account with a crazy name that follows or mentions one of the accounts I run, possibly with a short phrase or a few random words, and then a link. Those are obviously spam, and I admit to a certain satisfaction in marking them as such in my Twitter app.
But this new style is more subtle, and seems aimed at a longer play. Before starting whatever spammy activity is surely planned, these accounts are being established more carefully. A single one of these accounts could almost be confused with a real (if annoying, repetitive, and kind of dumb) person. But two together clearly shows the pattern, including the intentional attempt to make them seem random, different, and more believable.
I give you: Exhibits A and B, “tomiko lykins” and “shaquita link”.
td, th { border-bottom: solid silver 1px; padding: 6px; vertical-align: top; }
 tomiko lykins |
 shaquita link |
|---|---|
| My annoying sister has put something on my mac. Was that really necessary? #somad | My cheeky brother has changed something on my mac. I wish I understood more about these things #somad |
| Feel great right now. Not sure what I consumed that has done this, but would like to feel it more often. :) | Feel tip-top today. Not sure what I imbibed that has done this, but would like to feel it more often. :) |
| How come when I put the Sky control down, I can never find it for ages.!! | How is it when I lay the Sky control down, I can never find it again#wtf |
| Taking my friend to a speed dating later. Should be interesting, lol | Taking my sister to a singles night later. Weirdly nervous for her, :) |
| etc. | etc. |
(They aren’t tweeted in that same order; I found the similar ones and matched them that way.)
So, anyway — if you’re followed by similar fake young British-y women, mark them as spam ASAP, before whatever diabolical plan they’re part of can come to fruition!
happy trash can is happy
daughter’s first trial of marbleized nails
How they decorate Fuddruckers in Kerrville
Everyone gets leftovers
The Cat Who Packed Herself In Suitcases
someone got into the candy too early :-(
Last thing: Because we’re both on the internet right now and these answers are for people who want to know about webcomics, well, someday you are going to run into some jerks who will tell you your comic sucks the worst forever or something. Even though we’re all grown ups and you know better, you’ll probably feel pretty down about it. Remember that usually they really are jerks because jeez, are we on the internet or are we on the internet? That’s where jerks live. You probably already know the weaknesses in your work because you are a Great Artist in the Making and we are all our own worst critics. Remember that on the internet you can go to a place that reviews Citizen Kane and underneath it someone will have written “this is the most overrated piece of shit on planet Earth.” Then remember that whoever said that doesn’t matter. So keep it up! And nuts to the haters, you’re the best.
— FAQ/About page for “Hark, a vagrant”, Kate Beaton
Car for sale, less than 100K miles
shroom in the city
our derp cat, who likes to sit and stare at the wall
supervising
Sunset from the highway (no filter)
the old “the cat sat on my homework” excuse
recursive plants
ACL, day 3 (at @ElbowOfficial)
Hrmm, is our record-setting drought going to end during the outdoor music fest?
HIIIIII!
I’m not going down first, YOU go down first
View from section 445, row 18,563, altitude 22,000 ft #worldfootballchallenge
I’m a one-eyed step derrrr
