2011 In Review

Once again, it's time to wrap up the past year in list form, and though this obviously doesn't cover everything that happened with me this year, I've scoured my blog to help remind me of at least what I've talked about here, so this should catch most of the highlights. Naturally, I still have to wrap up my CD listening from Q4 and the numerous Top 5 posts that are sure to follow, so keep an eye out for those too! Here we go:

Around Town: Brew At The Zoo, I.C.E. Fair, ATL Rollergirls, World of Coca-Cola, Braves game w/Dad, Suzi's reunion, storage unit birthday, Suzi's art shows

Band: Spangler and Max, Chad and Jeff's guitar auditions, Spangler and Jeremy leaving, end of vox lessons, band's future uncertain...

Family: rough year for Dad (hernia, diabetes, misc. cancer stuff), but pulling through!

Freelancing: HiFi reviews, mc chris is alive mash-ups, Remix Wars!!!

Friends: Necromunda w/Andy (before leaving for Afghanistan), Dave's surprise visit, Cole's visit

Gear: new Vizio, hard drive issues, iMac, Ableton 8

Health: health insurance, veggie supplement, fainting @ doctor, dental concerns, end of year cold

Relationship: First full calendar year with Suzi and still madly in love!

Trips: Greenville, New Orleans, Seattle, Boston, DC, Greenville/Asheville, Nashville, San Diego

Weddings: Jeremy's reception, Evan's bachelor party & wedding

Work: Reflections project, Georgia Academy, Thunder Road, and two more interviews

Miscellaneous: Snowpocalypse, streaming Netflix, lots of car issues, Ron Paul stuff, best blogging year yet

All told, 2011 was a solid year with lots of great memories. Suzi and I are doing really well, we've had some amazing trips, and mc chris stuff has been really exciting and fun. That's not to say that there weren't a few negatives this year (band stuff falling off, my growing antisocial reclusiveness w/friends, and more than anything, Dad's declining health), but none of these are things I can't do something about to make better, including spending lots of time with Dad, so it's good to keep them in perspective. =) Here's looking forward to hopefully an even better 2012, including more great Suzi time, more awesome trips, my dad's health, mc chris stuff taking off, and me getting off my ass and hanging out with more of my friends! ;) Thanks to everyone who helped make 2011 a special year!

Star Wars Omnibus: Boba Fett

If you're trying to keep up with where in my real-life chronology we are in the blog, it's worth noting here that starting with this post, everything I'm writing about will be referring to events that happened in 2012 unless otherwise noted. That said, the graphic novel featured here, Star Wars Omnibus: Boba Fett was actually begun (and almost finished) while on my trip to San Diego before year's end, but I technically didn't finish it until 2012, so I guess I'm looking at it as being a new year read. The motivation behind buying this collection of Dark Horse Comics' publications covering the infamous helmeted bounty hunter was a combination of the sexy cover design for the whole Star Wars Omnibus series (which I might start collecting...) and a recently-sparked interest in all things Star Wars bounty hunter due to mc chris' frequent references to them on one of his albums I'm listening to now, mc chris goes to hell.

So, prior to this read, I knew very little about Boba Fett apart from the little that's covered in the six Star Wars films, and I knew even less about his fellow bounty hunters IG-88, Bossk, Dengar, and Zuckuss, all of whom were technically featured in The Empire Strikes Back, but featured here much more prominently. As such, the omnibus collection, covering stories from a wide range of times (before, during, and after the original Star Wars trilogy) taught me a good bit about the character, though this really wasn't quite as much as I'd like, as Fett's character is generally pretty quiet and non-emotive, even compared with his bounty hunter brothers. The one thing that particularly caught me off-guard was discovering that Fett somehow survived his notoriously foolish demise in the Sarlacc pit in Return Of The Jedi (!), which I had thought all this time was the kind of thing no one could escape...(evidently Dengar came and scooped him out off-camera, but whatever). At least Fett was a little more emotive after his Sarlacc experience due to people questioning his abilities and all...

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the Boba Fett book, and though some of the writing was definitely cheesy and a tad fan fiction-y, I wasn't put off enough not to check out more books in the near future. Of the large list of Star Wars Omnibus titles already out there (with more to come), the Droids & Ewoks book is looking rather interesting (due to the droids, not the Ewoks...), so maybe I'll start there?

San Diego Winter Getaway w/Suzi

The last big event of 2011 was easily Suzi and my hopefully-annual trip out to the West Coast for her only long work break all year, this time to San Diego. We were initially pulling for a trip out to L.A., but seeing as that trip was starting to look pretty expensive, we decided to scale it back a few notches, especially once we saw that San Diego's typically expensive flights (relative to L.A.'s) had dropped quite a bit if we returned on New Year's Eve day. Still, our trip was far from cheap, coming out roughly as expensive as our incredible San Francisco trip from the previous year despite being one night shorter this time around, but it definitely would have been cheaper than the cost of going out to L.A. for roughly the same amount of time and renting a car every day...

Anyway, onto the trip itself. Seeing as 2011 had been a year full of good-but-not-mind-blowing trips when compared with those of 2010, I was really pulling for San Diego to be an instant hit, possibly bringing home the crown like San Francisco before, but honestly, while we definitely had a great time and got some great photos, San Diego ended up being a tad unmemorable. I hate to say it, but the city has a surprising lack of cultural identity, despite being so close to the Mexican border. In fact, we barely saw ANY signs of Mexican culture anywhere, including Mexicans themselves. Granted, we didn't have a car and therefore didn't get out to the cultural alcoves I'm sure the city has, but still...I know for a fact that were we to be in L.A. for three nights we would definitely see a stronger Mexican presence than we found in SD. Also, the city was surprisingly sterile, especially with its bevy of modern skyscrapers, clean streets, and tourist-friendly waterfront area.

All this said, I DID really enjoy our time there, so let me list a few highlights. The first thing that comes to mind was our night out to a delicious Indian dinner and barhopping in the Gaslamp District, which itself was a good bit less impressive than I had imagined but was still one of the cooler parts of town. I also thoroughly loved Balboa Park (which we saw before our regrettably brief visit to the world-famous San Diego Zoo), especially its Barcelona-like architecture and awesome cactus garden seen above. And while Old Town wasn't quite as striking (or Mexican!) as we had hoped, our accidental detour up to the nearby Presidio Park was priceless for me, as it reminded me more strongly of growing up in Orange County than anything else I've seen in California in the past four visits.

All told, the trip was really fun, despite being just another good trip instead of a game-changer. The weather was nice (at least during the day!), my time with Suzi was exceptional as always, and neither of us were sick on the trip (unlike last year), so it turned out to be a really nice way to say goodbye to 2011, welcoming in 2012 as soon as we got settled in back home. =)

Dental Health 2011

I just realized that I've never discussed my dental health or my feelings about going to the dentist on this blog, and since this year was mildly eventful (all things considered), I felt like now might be a good time to do so. Seeing as I didn't finally get health insurance until roughly a year ago, I've made a habit of avoiding the dentist as much as possible, often putting things off a little bit past even my minimal goal of one visit per year, much to the chagrin of my mom. ;) I just felt that if I took decent enough care of my teeth, I would be fine cutting the overall cost per year by half, and generally speaking, this has worked just fine. The unfortunate thing is that getting dental insurance doesn't really help much unless you're getting a ton of work done, so I didn't end up getting it, so though I'm now insured in general, my situation's no different than it was a couple years ago.

Now, onto my most recent visit, which I believe was actually about three months ago. While there, my dental hygienist was particularly concerned about what she assessed to be an early stage of gingivitis and gum recession, and my dentist was concerned about a couple spots in my lower front teeth that he thought might develop into cavities if I didn't watch my brushing/flossing a good bit more. This said, once I pointed out to the hygienist that my receding lower gumline has been like that for quite awhile due to the lip ring I wore for two years, she seemed significantly less concerned about gingivitis, but I figured I would take their advice on cleaning up my dental habits right away anyway...

This included a number of changes. In addition to being more diligent about brushing well and flossing daily, I've also kept a fresh stock of Listerine on hand (including a type that is designed to fight cavities), have been regularly chewing Orbit gum for its supposedly cavity-fighting ingredient xylitol, and tried to curb my recent Swedish Fish obsession when hanging out with Suzi. Also, even the toothpaste and dental floss I'm using now is supposedly better for my particular set of dental concerns, so if nothing else, I've definitely been putting more money into the dental hygiene industry...

All this said, though I AM pretty averse to going to the dentist more than once per year, I'm gonna break my rule and go in for my six month checkup, even if only to see how my new, healthier regimen has been treating my teeth. Hopefully there'll be some noticeable improvements after all this effort!

M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

Nearing the end of my CD listening for 2011, I was lucky to add yet another of the year's best albums to my list, French group M83's recent and very ambitious double album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, which takes quirky synth pop from giant synth-orchestral climaxes to lush, calmer moments and everything in-between, on easily one of the best concept albums I've heard in awhile. Though Hurry Up, We're Dreaming IS a double album, it does this more for artistic effect than for length, as the whole experience could have easily fit on one disc. Rather, each of the eleven tracks on one disc was designed to be a "mirror" of its complimentary track on the other, often maintaing style, texture, and tempo, as well as perhaps lyrical content (though I can't really be sure, as it's often quite hard to tell what is being sung...largely due to vocal timbre and the amount of reverb).

In fact, the vocals were probably the only thing holding me back from giving this magnificent album the five out of five that many critics seem to think it deserved...if it had been just a little more of a lyrically/melodically-memorable experience, I think it would have lodged more squarely in my subconscious, triggering the type of warm feelings all of my typical fives get. And this is just a personal qualm, as the album is superbly crafted from head to toe, and though there might not be a ton of stand-out singles amidst the 22 tracks, those that do are fantastic.

Overall, I think anyone that loves creative music of any sort definitely owes it to themselves to give this album a serious listen, even if the genre isn't necessarily up their alley. This is the kind of big-thinking artistry we still need so much more of in the pop/rock world, so hopefully the critical success of this album inspires other artists to return to making ALBUMs rather than a collections of songs. Can't wait to see M83 live later this year!

Highlights: "Midnight City"/"Splendor"/"Steve McQueen"
Rating: 4/5

Christmas Gifts Received 2011

As with the last post, for the gifts I received this year, I'll start with my family and Dave and end with Suzi's gifts. While I did intentionally make a smaller Amazon WishList this time around, my mom still managed to spoil me quite a bit, though naturally I'm not complaining too much. ;) In addition to the obligatory clothes that she insists on buying for me every year (and which she continues to get much better at...this year I kept almost everything!), my parents gave me SBTRKT's self-titled album, the bundled copy of the original Fantasia (which was responsible for getting me into music as a kid) and Fantasia 2000, the recently revamped HD version of the original Halo: Combat Evolved Xbox game, and the Rockefeller Center LEGO Architecture set (more on these later). From Jaclyn & Ryan, I received two DVDs (Thor and Stargate, one of my all-time favorite sci-fi action movies) and two CDs, Taking Back Sunday's Louder Now and Drake's recent release Take Care. And finally, from my extended family raffle, my cousin Jeffrey and his wife Mary Stoney gave me my first video game of the year, id Software's fantastic Fallout 3 knock-off (but not in a bad way at all!) first person shooter, Rage, which I'm getting close to finishing and am definitely loving.

Onto Dave's gifts, all of which I was very happy this Christmas in particular: The first was the Xbox game Fable III, which I had had on my WishList for quite some time (though I'm not sure he knew this, making it an even more fortunate gift!). I've popped it in briefly, and though I'm focusing on Rage right now, I definitely enjoyed my hour or so with the game and am eager to dive into it in a big way, hopefully sooner than later (which might be a little delayed though, as the long-awaited trilogy-closing entry in my favorite game franchise Mass Effect is on its way in just over a month...). The other gift was a copy of the last book of the trio of New X-Men trade paperbacks that I have been loving ever since Dave gave me the first one last year, but unfortunately I had already read it, so I returned it to Amazon, asking Dave for suggestions for other graphic novels he's liked, and I ended up picking up I Kill Giants and Black Hole, both of which arrived recently and look awesome, and considering they add up to a total of of 552 pages between them, I should have a lot of great graphic novel reading ahead of me!

Last up is the bevy of gifts Suzi gave me, some bigger, some smaller, but all thoughtful, as always. The biggest standard gift was probably last year's critical darling video game sequel, Batman: Arkham City, which I'm very eager to play (though I feel like I should revisit the first game again to get back up to speed). In addition to this, I got a few other things off my WishList, including the Burj Khalifa LEGO Architecture model, the Hesher DVD, and my long-desired V-Cube 2 Rubik's Cube. Then there were a handful of clothes from Urban Outfitters, including some socks, a pair of briefs, and a cool Jesus-riding-a-dinosaur shirt that I had said I wanted, all of which I've been enjoying a lot! Finally, there were the surprise gifts, including a cute bumblebee-themed Domo figurine, a Rubik's-like mind puzzle/meditation tool called the Ball of Whacks, and one other, VERY meaningful gift...

For the better part of Suzi and my relationship thus far, I had been begging her to do some art for my place, and though it looked like it was never gonna happen, she surprised me with an AWESOME piece of red and black abstract art that goes perfectly with my design scheme and which I'm totally in love with! Though I technically found out about the art about a week before Christmas itself, it is easily my favorite thing she gave me, as it's the most meaningful, the coolest, and honestly the most financially valuable, as I would have had to pay a TON to get some awesome art like this for my place, especially if it wasn't a print (this is on canvas and was entirely hand done). Suzi really outdid herself this year, and when you combine this with the mc chris news and all the great gifts I received from everyone else, it really was a fantastic Christmas of gifts and surprises. Thanks to everyone for spoiling me so hard! ;)

Christmas Gifts Given 2011

And here we go...time for the long Christmas gift posts. I'll start with my family and Dave, followed by Suzi's presents. Shopping for Jaclyn & Ryan was particularly easy this year, as Jaclyn gave me a list to choose from: as such, I bought Jaclyn three CDs and Ryan a book by Warren Buffett. For my annual extended family gift exchange, I drew my cousin Jeffrey this year, and he too was easy to shop for, asking for a $50 gift certificate to the Buckhead Life restaurant group. The difficult presents were those for my mom and dad, both of whom seemed to not really care too much about what they got due to being especially caught up with Dad's declining health. But, Mom came up with a few requests by the end (a Trans-Siberian Orchestra CD, and a Jane Fonda workout DVD, plus a $30 pass to the local movie theatre that I threw in as a surprise), and Dad said he would like some movies to watch at home, so I bought him a handful of movies (including one of those budget four-packs, this one featuring George Clooney). Like I did for Mom, I also bought Dad a $30 movie pass, but seeing as he really can't get out much anymore, I'm worried he might not be able to use it. Here's hoping he has a turnaround sometime! =)

I don't really buy my friends Christmas presents that much anymore, but the one friend I do regularly exchange both Christmas and birthday gifts with is my buddy Dave. For awhile I've been wanting to get him various music games (like Guitar Hero and Rock Band), but up until recently, the exact games I wanted to get him were too expensive for a gift. That was, until I saw that Amazon had finally marked down the DJ Hero games (my absolute favorites in the genre), so much so that I was just able to get him both DJ Hero (w/the turntable controller) and DJ Hero 2 (as a stand-alone game), making this one of the presents I was most excited to give him over the past few years. Too bad we don't have the same gaming console, 'cause if we did, I would definitely be trying to go head-to-head with him on the turntables all the time!

And now, Suzi's presents. Like her recent birthday, I once again overspent this time, but I just couldn't help myself, as it's really fun buying gifts for the girl you're in love with. I was always planning on the core gifts being clothes, and though Zara no longer had the jackets I was planning on buying her when I first dropped by a month or so before Christmas, I did end up finding a great gold jacket (it's better than it sounds!) and a pair of green jeans that I really liked there, tossing in a white-with-blue-stripes blazer from H&M and some thigh-high socks from Urban Outfitters. I also picked up a new red and white wallet from Urban, a silly little Angry Birds card game from the grocery store, and a CD she requested by CocoRosie. But, my favorite gift for her was this stuffed animal cat I just happened to bump into one day at Whole Foods (of all places) that was part of a themed line called Kimochi Emotion Dolls. The idea is that each of the available dolls has a certain personality associated with them and comes with three Kimochi Feeling Toys, plush round balls with emotions listed on them, designed to be used by young kids to help better express their emotions. This was particularly funny/appropriate because we had just seen something very similar to this in the movie Young Adult, but the real reason I picked this gift up was that Kimochi Cat is easily the cutest stuffed animal I've given anyone, so though it certainly wasn't the most expensive gift of the group, it was easily the most fun.

Overall, giving gifts was once again really fun this year, and though my family and friends have probably always considered me to be spoiled and therefore more interested in getting, it should be said that as I've gotten older, I've gotten increasingly fonder of giving, to the point that this really is my favorite part of the holiday. =)

Large Monitors = Longer Posts?

I often write about blogging itself, and one of my recurring issues (this will be my fourth post to-date on the subject) concerns my near-constant worries that my posts are too long to keep your interest and readership. As I did roughly this time last year, I just averaged out the word counts from the previous ten posts, and I'm just slightly distressed to report that my current average has risen a whopping 40% since the last time I was worried enough about this issue to blog about it! While my longest post of the group has only risen by 22%, my shortest post rose by a ridiculous 420% (yes, over four times as long!), which means that my increased average is due more to my current inability to write short posts rather than my penchant for writing really long ones.

Granted, I've been handling a lot of lengthy subjects recently (most notably my iMac, Remix Wars, and Christmas stuff), but part of me is starting to wonder if the problem isn't stemming from something even bigger, especially since I started noticing this trend well before I began these topics. My theory is that my new, much larger computer monitor with its higher resolution has dulled my sense of how large these posts actually are when I'm writing them and later perusing my current blog page. I mean, in the past, I've generally started cutting myself off as my typing started to reach the bottom edge of my screen, but since that screen space is now much larger, I don't think I'm catching the lengthiness of my posts in time. Not sure, but this definitely seems plausible.

So, I ask you, the reader: is my average post too long, or at least, does it seem to have gotten way longer? Would you like to see it shorter? I know you probably don't read every post, but does the length of the posts you do check out bother you? If so, my apologies (!), and hopefully I'll be able to pull it back a few notches once I've finished some of these bigger topics. Then of course their'll be the inevitable year-end and Top 5 posts, but I guess I mean after those... =)

(For the record, this post DID manage to weigh-in at less than my current average, but not by much...).

I Can't Believe It's Not Lasagna

I don't talk about my cooking much here, and that shouldn't be surprising to those of you who know me well, as I'm probably one of the least-experienced "cooks" out there...hell, I literally didn't know how to cook anything until I moved to The Netherlands in the Summer of 2006! To this day, there are only a handful of dishes I've prepared, and none of them are particularly difficult...BUT, the most involved of them is the dubiously-named hodge-podge I call "I Can't Believe It's Not Lasagna" (ICBINL for the sake of brevity?). The dish came about during my first few months in Europe while I was "experimenting" with cooking, essentially throwing everything my roommate Uri and I had in our kitchen into a single dish, starting with the basic ingredients of my infamous "Ryan Special"/"Cheesy Beefins" dish (ground beef, tomatoes, and cheese) and adding in potatoes, scrambled eggs, spinach, and pasta sauce, not to mention a spice here or there. To my surprise, the net effect of this odd pairing was a dish that had an oddly lasagna-like quality, hence the stupid name.

To my knowledge I've only prepared ICBINL three or four times in my whole life (including a notable time for Dave & Carla on my first visit back to Bloomington since leaving), so clearly it hasn't been a mainstay of my cooking repertoire, but despite having nearly forgotten how to make the dish, I decided I was going to reattempt it for Suzi's surprise Christmas Day meal I referenced earlier. Fortunately, Dave & Carla keep a neat food blog online that tracks all the different dishes they've prepared over the years, and seeing as it was kinda special (in both a good and bad way!) that ole' RB was going to be cooking for them, my dish got included on the site, so after digging around their LiveJournal, I ended up finding all the original ingredients and went on a Whole Foods run to pick it all up. Unlike my visit with Dave & Carla, I returned to my initial recipe of ground beef as opposed to their requested chicken substitute, I bought a combo pack of both spinach and arugula, and I used red potatoes (which I'm pretty sure I didn't use with them).

Anyway, though there are some pretty questionable photos of Suzi supposedly "enjoying" the dish ;), I think this stab at ICBINL came out really well! I thought it was easily the tastiest thing I've made in a long time (which isn't necessarily saying that much!), and if it weren't for how long it took to make it (and the fact that I had to wash one of my frying pans mid-cook since I only have two), I would probably make it more regularly. Like my visit with Dave & Carla, we ended up pairing the dish with a Belgian beer, this time a bottle of framboise lambic that Suzi gave me for my birthday and that I had been saving for a special occasion. All-in-all, it was an extremely special Christmas for me, so I'm glad I've got this silly dish to add to the distinct memory of it all. Thanks to Dave & Carla for including me on their food blog and to Suzi for being my brave ICBINL guinea pig this time around!

Remix Wars (Part 4)

Finally, the end of the saga, for real! Following my quasi-truncated Christmas Day visit with the family, I ended up heading home, and though I had been using my mom's laptop to routinely check up on the winners announcement that was set to come out anytime that day, I didn't end up getting the news until just after I got home. And the result? I ended up WINNING the whole thing in a three way tie! Though I have no idea if this was how mc chris was initially planning on deciding the contest, he split it up into three somewhat hard-to-distinguish categories (Best Mixing, Best Sample, and Best Mash-Up...of which I clearly won the mash-up category), and all of us get to make beats for mc chris' upcoming Batman-themed eighth LP!

As you can imagine, the whole thing was surreal to say the least, and after all my worrying that chris didn't like the mixes I gave him at his October show (none of which were the one I competed with, obviously), it turns out that I'm going to be collaborating with him and will hopefully have some of my music on an album that will actually make money (not that I'm expecting to get paid, but it's still a big honor and could certainly help my career!). What a crazy turnaround!

Though I was really pumped, the funny thing was that I didn't have my main supporter to share it with, as Suzi wasn't even picking up her phone for like an hour or something after I saw that I won! Naturally, she was ecstatic when she heard the news, and we celebrated properly later that night: in between Christmas stuff, we ended up spending the evening jamming out to the music of the other finalists (which again, was all really solid) in the wake of what has to be one of the most amazing Christmas gifts/events I could have possibly received (and perhaps ever will?). After all, it was literally one year to the day before this that I had given Suzi my very first mc chris mash-up, all intended just for her, and here I was winning Remix Wars and getting an opportunity to actually work with the guy! How crazy is that?!?

Anyway, I know you're probably wanting to check out the SoundCloud file by now, so though I do want to write a full post about my profile a little later on, I'll go ahead and share it below. Currently, I've uploaded an additional pair of tracks (the two most recent tracks off mc chris is alive), and I'm hoping to get the original one up soon, though it was blocked by SoundCloud due to detecting copyright infringement(ugh!), so be sure to check these out here too. Lastly, before signing off here, I want to thank everyone that's been supportive of what I've been doing lately with this mash-up project, especially Suzi and mc chris, without whom I would have never been inspired to get started. Here's hoping this grows into a much bigger thing, but even if it doesn't, the ride's been totally worth it already!

Christmas Activities 2011

Onto yet another series of themed posts, this time covering Christmas in all its time-consuming and stress-inducing glory, so to start things off, I figured I would take a few minutes to lay out the somewhat adjusted Christmas stuff my family (and Suzi) had going on this year. The other two posts, as in previous years, will cover Christmas gifts given and received, respectively.

Typically, my family does Christmas Eve with my maternal aunt's side of the family (which I'll talk about in a minute) and then Christmas Day with just the nuclear family (now including my sister, her husband, and their pomeranian Louis) for presents, often with me either spending the night there the night before or (as in the past two years), driving from downtown first thing in the morning. Though Christmas Day did play out this way again this year, the whole experience was cut a bit short due to Jaclyn & Ryan having to hit the road to go celebrate with Ryan's mom as well (which I'm pretty sure hasn't always been the case, especially on the same day). So, we did presents, ate, and said our goodbyes to J&R, followed by me spending some quality time with Mom, especially since Dad's health wasn't so hot that day (making for a somewhat sobering Christmas Day, but I'll talk more about that at some other point I guess).

As was the case last year, Suzi and I spent the daytime apart for our separate family activities but got together that night to celebrate our portion of the holiday with dinner (which I cooked!) and presents. That said, Suzi did get to hang out with my family for our Christmas Eve gathering at my aunt Claudia's house, which was actually moved to December 23rd due to difficulties in trying to put everyone's schedules together on Christmas Eve itself. Rather, Suzi and I spent a good bit of Christmas Eve day relaxing and doing a little last minute shopping, which was a nice change of pace for the otherwise busy holidays.

In the end, Christmas this year was both really great with regards to family stuff, Suzi time, and of course, all the Remix Wars excitement, and kinda difficult, with Dad's declining health being a big focal point. That said, he made it through Christmas and is still keeping it together, so though seeing him so weak (again, more on this some other time) did make for a bittersweet Christmas, it sure beats not having him around, and as such, I feel very grateful to have had yet another fun Christmas with my father in my life. =)

Gotye - Making Mirrors

Sometimes when checking out music on iTunes, I discover something that might be interesting, decide it's not interesting enough, and then change my mind again, ending up loving the album after all. Granted, this is a rare occurrence, as it's usually more common that my initial impressions were correct, but this managed to be the case with Australian songwriter Gotye's (which is supposed to be derived from the French "Gaultier") recent release Making Mirrors, and it's become one of my favorite albums of the year. My shift in opinion is really quite easy to pinpoint this time, as it occurred while watching a video about the making of the album (linked off the Ableton website), a video that was both beautifully presented and insightful into the artist's compositional process, which itself was just what I needed to get what he was doing.

See, on the surface, much of Making Mirrors sounds like an indie take on progressive easy-listening (think Sting, not Neil Diamond), which is interesting to some degree but initially came off as a little too unadventurous for my tastes. But, when I understood that a large portion of the music on the record was actually subtly sampled off vinyl recordings from yesteryear (in addition to lots of homemade multisampling), a game-changing fact that would have been easy to miss had I just assumed all the music was original-original, I was hooked. Maybe that's superficial of me to write something off simply because of how I perceived it to be composed, and then change my tune once I learned it was otherwise, but this happened with the Tune-Yards LP this year as well, so if keeping my "integrity" regarding my perceptions means not getting to appreciate some great music, then I'll just forget about it!

Anyway, Making Mirrors offers up a handful of different soundworlds from track-to-track, from the aforementioned Sting-esque easy-listening and the type of throwback retro sounds we've recently heard from Cee Lo Green, to more ambient electronic material and the quirkily lovable vocoder ode to old technology that is "State Of The Art". All-in-all, I highly recommend this album, and if it strikes you as though it's playing it a bit too safe, I encourage you to check out the video linked above to illuminate some of the depth used in its production.

Highlights: "Somebody That I Used To Know"/"I Feel Better"/"State Of The Art"
Rating: 5/5

My iMac (Software)

Okay, this should be my final post about my new Mac desktop, especially if you don't count my eventual post about Ableton 8, a piece a software that is too big and important to me to be lumped into this category (plus, I'll need some more time to experiment with it enough to have something to say)...

As I've already mentioned, one of the biggest changes about my computer setup this time around is the obligatory upgrade I made from my old operating system (OS X 4, or "Tiger") to the current one (OS X 7, "Lion"), which is a pretty sizable change considering each stage in-between (Leopard and Snow Leopard respectively) each had a host of big changes themselves. To be fair though, because of this, I'm not entirely sure which new features for me are actually new features in Lion itself, and though I could do a little research into it, it wouldn't really help all that much, as I had no experience with the intervening iterations.

Overall, with regards to software, my new approach is to try to avoid using any third-party programs that aren't absolutely necessary, including some presumed things like Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Word, and Norton Antivirus, all of which I had running on my computer last time. The reason for the change is twofold: first, Apple is known for making all of their products work extremely well together, so I figured I would put this to the test; and second, too many external programs on a computer can cause stability issues, so I'm trying to keep this machine as pure as possible, even if it's a bit unnecessary to do so.

So, to replace Firefox, I've got Safari; to replace Word I've got Pages; and to replace Norton, well...I've got the built-in countermeasures that come with a Mac, and I'm crossing my fingers. See, I did a little research, and most of the experts agree that Macs probably don't need antivirus software these days, as programmers just aren't making them for the system. I know it's a bit risky, but I always hated Norton running in the background on my computer, it never worked entirely correctly by the last two years or so of owning it, and I would have to pay for yearly subscriptions, none of which I want to deal with this time around, so I'm hoping for the best and trying to be extra careful about downloading stuff.

Which brings me to Safari vs. Firefox. Though I've always thought Safari was kinda dumb, I thought I'd give it a shot this time, and I have to admit that I'm loving it, if only for one big reason over Firefox: it has swipe-able page back/page forward support for the Magic Mouse, meaning I can just swipe my mouse and move through my recently-visited pages! This is an awesome feature, and I can't believe Firefox hasn't implemented it yet (though I tried, so technically I did download that software but am not using it). The other reason I briefly tried Firefox again was that it supposedly had better antivirus measures built in, but whatever. Finally, one big thing I'm missing in Safari is the ability to customize my search toolbar up top to allow me to search not only in Google, but also Wikipedia...while not essential, this was a great feature, and I don't understand why Apple doesn't upgrade Safari to this effect.

And onto Pages vs. Word. I never really was a huge Word fan for the sake of Word itself, as it always was just kinda the default word processor, so I figured I would give Apple's version a try, especially since I couldn't buy Word for less than $120, coming bundled with all the other Microsoft Office stuff I don't need (whereas I could buy Pages for $20 as a stand-alone product). Honestly, I barely notice the difference between the two and couldn't be happier. And since Pages can save all my files as both Pages and Doc files, I can still send out the occasional Word Document when needed. Definitely saved a bunch of money here!

There are some other things that have changed a bit that I use relatively often, things like Mission Control, the Dashboard, iTunes, iCal, and even file browsing in Finder, but most of these are small changes that either don't affect me very much or are wonderful but not worth talking about. Overall, though there have been some adjustments made with regards to my new software, it's all been pretty seamless and not overwhelming, and once again, I'm proud to call my self a Mac owner. Thanks for making such a great, user-friendly product, Apple!

Remix Wars (Part 3)

I originally wrote one VERY long post here, so I'm going to break it down into two blogs separated by a few posts, but at least I'll be wrapping up my Remix Wars saga! ;) Thanks for bearing with me!

Picking up where I left off regarding my mc chris mash-up for his annual remixing contest... After I had barely made the submission deadline for my track, I had roughly a week or so of uneventful (and somewhat nerve-racking) waiting for news, keeping a diligent eye on both chris' Twitter and his public Facebook profile. That said, sometime late Christmas Eve, chris posted that the finalists would be announced soon, and after about an hour or two, he finally posted that I was one of the twelve finalists! Naturally, I was floored, and from that point on I was absolutely glued to my computer screen (my SoundCloud profile's hits were going through the roof, and I was getting a lot of loving Facebook attention from my friends after posting the news), though I was supposed to be wrapping presents and stuff. I literally was almost reeling from the excitement...I mean, this was a REMIX competition, so I wasn't even sure a mash-up would qualify as a legitimate entry, and though I did think my track was pretty unique and one of the better mash-ups competing, I wasn't about to assume that I would end up a finalist!

After this, I spent a good bit of my evening listening to the other eleven finalists, mostly to see what kind of competition I was up against, and I have to admit that there were some pretty amazing tracks in there, with none of the entries being truly subpar. In fact, I really was kinda surprised about this, as the handful of remixes I had checked out prior to the announcement were far inferior to the ones that ended up making it, so it was good to see that my spot in the competition actually meant something. But, Christmas stuff had to eventually take priority, and though I certainly spent some time talking to Suzi about all of it over the phone, I wouldn't get to see her until later the next day (Christmas).

[To Be Continued...]

Walton HS Orchestra Holiday Party 2011?

After four years in a row of putting-together/hosting my high school orchestra holiday party, first at my apartment with Evan, then out to the bars in the suburbs, I have failed to execute a party this time around, largely due to not really caring all that much about it any more. While every year's party had been different, and some were better than others, the bottom line was that I just didn't have the energy this time around relative to how much I actually wanted it to happen, and though I did get a couple comments from friends asking if we were doing it again this year, even they didn't seem all that determined to make it a reality, as I never really heard back from anyone.

And you know what? I'm totally fine with not having the orch reunion this year. In fact, I'd probably be fine not having it ever again considering its somewhat downward trend over the past few years. Plus, Evan, Andy, and presumably Aman were out of town around Christmas this year, and not having them there is asking for it to be poorly attended, as they've often been the backbone (along with a couple others) in the past.

All this said, I WOULD like to resume having parties at my condo sometime sooner than later, as I've been very antisocial lately, it's been a very long time since my last one (going on a year and a half!), and I've even got some brand new art from Suzi to hang! (But more on that later). Thus, I wouldn't mind hosting a party similar to the orch reunion next Christmas where I just invited my closer friends instead of trying to round up all the old orch dorks with whom I barely keep in touch year-to-year. Anyway, regardless of how things turn out, thanks to everyone for making the past few holiday parties fun, and I hope to see you again soon, even if not via an official orch reunion party. =)

Young Adult

As both the last new movie I saw in 2011, either in the theatre or at home, I had high hopes for Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt's new indie-ish dramedy Young Adult, which tells the story of a young adult fiction writer (think Twilight) who is stuck in her adolescence and therefore floundering in her adulthood, eventually trying to remedy the situation by traveling back to her small hometown and win "back" her high school flame, despite the fact that he's happily married with a baby. And no, homely (though wonderful) Patton Oswalt is not the beau she's after (though that would make for a very different and much funnier film!)...rather, it's Watchmen and Little Children's Patrick Wilson, who plays a smallish role as his typical nice guy. So instead we have Patton playing an old classmate (though not friend) who was a loser back in the day (and therefore not in Charlize's social circle at all), who ends up reconnecting with her randomly at a bar, learning of her plot to break up Patrick Wilson's marriage, and simultaneously trying to talk her down whilst becoming decent friends with her.

So that's the story in a nutshell, but did it work? Like a lot of these indie-ish dramedies I've checked out in the past couple years, I got my hopes up pretty big for Young Adult, and it didn't end up panning out quite as I had hoped. Still, it was a fun experience without any serious flaws, so I would have to say that out of the list of somewhat disappointing films in this genre, it probably placed towards the top (in a good way, not "most disappointing"!). Easily the best part of the film for both Suzi and me was Patton Oswalt's role...as you might know, we're big fans of his, but even apart from this, he really did steal the show, offering a great performance in line with that of his starring role in 2009's Big Fan. Just for the record, Charlize was pretty solid too, though definitely not the highlight.

In the end, while I wouldn't whole-heartedly recommend Young Adult, I do think it's worth checking out if it interests you, especially for Patton's part.

Remix Wars (Part 2)

Onto the second part of my lengthy retelling of the Remix Wars story... After coming up with a suitable name/concept for the project, I decided to begin an entirely new Ableton file from the ground up, basing it off my previous big project for the mc chris is alive mash-ups but starting over, partly to keep them separate, partly to start from a truly blank page (so to speak), and largely because I had just gotten Ableton 8 up-and-running on my new iMac a mere ten days or so before the deadline. And of course, herein lied much of the problem, as I was basically tasked with making a four-part song cycle (if you will) in less time than it took me to do even the quickest of my first three tracks, all on a new version of my preferred software...

The process was simple enough though: analyze the keys of all 28 songs from Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (including their tempi), figure out which ones could possibly be paired with each of the four Marshmellow Playground tracks, import them into my Ableton project, and then warp all the files so they would be usable for beat-matching, all before I could begin any of the real creative work. This part of the process is actually fun for me, as my procrastinatory tendencies tend to have less effect on me when the task at hand is somewhat mechanical and thoughtless (more on this in another post, perhaps?). Rather, it's the act of arranging all the pieces in time, including the essential segues necessary to make each sample feel like it belongs with the others, that always overwhelms me, and considering I had my full schedule of teaching (plus Christmas shopping and HiFi reviews all due in the same week), I was quickly running out of time to make anything happen.

Somewhat to my surprise, the turning point revolved around Suzi, but not as before where I was trying to meet a deadline to give it to her as a surprise. Rather, this time around, since the project was more for the contest itself than for Suzi, I allowed her to be aware of my ongoing creative process, and as such, though she wouldn't know how all the pieces would fall for the final track, I DID let her hear some examples of pairings between the mc chris and Smashing Pumpkins material... Thus, it was her reaction to these short mashes that was enough to keep me going, though I had almost completely thrown in the towel by that point. This all happened literally the night before the deadline, and though I had to teach the next day, her positive feedback was enough to push me through the last few hours, ending in me BARELY submitting my one track (still out of a planned set of four) on time, with the rest being a waiting game.

Seeing as this post is once again getting long, I'll save the aftermath and the details of the track (and my new SoundCloud page!) for other posts. Again, thanks for sticking with my overindulgent storytelling about something that's probably only important to me and one or two other people!

Hot Chip - The Warning

I have an odd relationship with Hot Chip's music: on one hand, I generally like their aesthetic and overall vibe, but on the other, I have a very hard time actually loving their music. Even 2008's Made In The Dark, which was the first of their albums I gave a shot, took some time to really warm up to me, and the album at hand here, 2006's The Warning had been on and off my WishList for literally a couple years before I actually ended up committing to it, a reticence I perhaps should have listened to, as I ended up feeling similarly lukewarm about the album at length. Skipping ahead below though to see the rating it received, you might be tempted to argue that a one-out-of-five doesn't really match up with the word "lukewarm", but let me see if I can explain:

The reason I DIDN'T like the album was because it's filled with tracks that either annoy me or which I couldn't really care less about, amounting to a listening experience that I never looked forward to and that I was always kinda hoping would end soon. But...at the same time, I can definitely tell that the group is really talented production-wise, and they've got some great sonic ideas, but somehow the whole experience just doesn't add up to the sum of the pieces. So while I certainly didn't hate The Warning, it also didn't do anything for me really, as even the greater tracks listed below, although solid, didn't really leave a lasting impression. In the end, though I certainly understand why people like Hot Chip, I think I'm going to have to be even more cautious when I add my next (and somehow fourth) of their releases to my Hot Chip collection...

Highlights: "And I Was A Boy From School"/"The Warning"/"Arrest Yourself"
Rating: 1/5

Remix Wars (Part 1)

I'm about to launch into a big subject here (much like my current set of iMac posts), so I'm going to go ahead and plan for it to be a multi-parter, as this is best not only in terms of post length, but also narratively, which will make more sense when the set is complete. That said, I'll have to get most of these posts taken care of pretty soon if I want to have them fit into the otherwise chronological order of my Christmas posts, but I think it should be doable without hitting you too hard over the head with it. So, let's go ahead and dive in...

As you are probably aware, over the past year I have been doing a series of mc chris mash-ups (in the style of famous mash-up DJ Girl Talk), initially as just a sort of musical gift for Suzi last Christmas (2010) and then as both a gift AND a labor of love for myself, resulting in a total of three mash-ups from mc chris' 2008 album mc chris is dead, the last of which I finished just in time for his show at the Drunken Unicorn in October. Well, after this, I became aware of his upcoming remix contest for his seventh album Race Wars and his children's album Marshmellow Playground, so I started entertaining the idea of submitting something. Though I DID eventually download chris' acappellas for the contest and was trying to think of clever tracks to mash them with, I ended up dragging my feet quite a bit leading up to the December 18th deadline, at least, until I had a strong idea, one that began with a stupid mashing of album names...

Being a huge fan of the Smashing Pumpkins' stellar double album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness and finding chris' tracks from the children's album Marshmellow Playground to be some of the easier to mash tracks due to their frequent use of actual melodies when compared with the material from the regular album Race Wars, I tried mashing-up their names and ended up with Marshmellon Collie And The Infinite Playground, and thus was born the concept for my upcoming mash-up project, which I was planning to be a four-song EP featuring a sizable handful of tracks from Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness with all four of the vocal tracks from Marshmellow Playground. That said, I ended up overestimating how much time I actually had to make this a reality, and I quickly found myself very stressed to get the whole thing done by the deadline, but I'll continue that story in my next post since I can already tell this is going to be very, very long... My apologies if this is all a bit overindulgent!

My New iMac (Hardware)

Now that I've written at length about the whole decision-making process behind buying my new iMac desktop computer, I figured I ought to write about the new computer itself, including general specs, the included peripherals, how I feel about the new operating system (OS), and my adjustment period to all my frequently-used software. That said, if I were to talk about all of this in one post, it would probably be really, really long, so I'm going to talk about the hardware first and save the software for another post.

So first up, the specs... Seeing as I wanted a computer that would really last me awhile with regards to tech spec obsolescence, I made sure to get the most spec'ed out version of the smaller 21.5" iMac that I could, including the special-ordered processor upgrade to a 2.8GHz quad-core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM (upgradable to a total of 16GB for future needs, though Ableton currently has a cap of 4GB!), a 1TB serial ATA hard drive, and the upgraded AMD Radeon HD 6770M graphics card, which is second only to the spec-ed out 27" iMac's, which is ultimately way more than I need, as I don't do any video work. So, compare this with what I had running on my old CoreDuo Macbook, which had 2GB of RAM, a much slower processor, and only like 100GB of hard drive space, and it's obvious that this is a HUGE upgrade for me, especially since I also inherently upgraded to OS X Lion (10.7), which is not one, not two, but THREE generations later than the OS X Tiger I was running on my Macbook, having never upgraded it in the whole four and a half years I had it, but I'll talk about this in the software post later on.

Onto the peripherals. Though I probably could have added in a few items at an additional charge like a new printer, some Thunderbolt (Apple's new proprietary USB/Firewire competitor)-equipped hard drives, a remote control, and an Apple TV hub, I ended up just going with the free options, which included either the new Magic Mouse or the Magic Trackpad, and either a wireless keyboard or the wired version with num-pad extension. I ended up going with the Magic Mouse (as I can't stand Trackpads, even on laptops) and the num-pad keyboard, as the extension was important to me, as was saving the battery power/money I'd be wasting with a wireless unit. The keyboard's great and feels just as good (if not better) than the laptop keyboard I had on the Macbook (i.e. I had little-to-no transition period here), but the real story is the new Magic Mouse, which is in most regards simply incredible. In case you haven't tried one yet, the Magic Mouse is a wireless mouse with a touch sensitive and (more importantly) SWIPE-ABLE surface, meaning I can do vertical page scrolling and horizontal webpage back/forward commands simply with a swipe of my fingers. Though this might sound trivial, it saves SO much time, and it's absolutely addicting...I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go back to a regular mouse again. Seriously, it's that cool.

Oh, and I suppose I should say something about the monitor (which is built into the computer, or is it the other way around?)... Though I'm not a big graphics guy, the 21.5", backlit HD LED monitor definitely looks fantastic, and the greatly increased resolution and screen size relative to my old Macbook allows me to view SO MUCH MORE of nearly everything at a time, from photos and webpages to Ableton projects and word documents, which is great for workflow. Again, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go back to a laptop-sized screen again, as I'm getting really spoiled with this monitor, which itself is the smaller of the two iMacs (that said, I didn't really want the giant 27" monitor, as it would have been way too big for my available desk space and would probably be even worse for my eyes sitting so close to it).

Overall, the hardware for my new computer is flat-out AMAZING, and I'm really glad I souped it up a good bit. At the moment though, I haven't even really gotten to see everything it can do, as the current version of Ableton doesn't support all of the new features, though I'm sure the next version (which is due any time now) will. So, it's only a matter of time before I really get to see what this beast can do. So happy I went with the more powerful iMac over the way more expensive Macbook Pro!

SoHo Christmas Party 2011

As Suzi and I approach our two year anniversary (which is roughly four months away), we're starting to accumulate a sizable list of annual events we've now done for our second time, including birthdays, holidays, and the like. Well, one of these yearly traditions we've recently added to our list is Suzi's annual holiday/Christmas work party, which takes place at her actual work place (which supplies art for hotels and restaurants), which is generally decked out beyond its already attractive art-laden layout with Christmas lights and a Christmas tree, in addition to a dance floor for quasi-drunken revelry. While last year's big special feature was a homemade photo booth complete with costume props, this year's was a live four-piece funk band, which was greatly appreciated, both for simply adding more live energy to the party and for being a big step up from the random iPod playlist from last year (which was hard to get excited enough about to actually stir up some dance moves).

Apart from this, the two years' parties were pretty similar, but I'd have to say I enjoyed this year's more. Maybe it's because I had gotten the chance to know some of Suzi's coworkers a bit more since last time, maybe it's due to the band, or maybe it was simply the Jäger shot that was more-or-less forced on us (though I wasn't complaining) to get everyone livened up a bit, but I definitely felt more relaxed at the party this year and was better able to just sit back and enjoy it, if you will. The only potential downer to the evening was a scare that one of Suzi's ex-boyfriends might end up quasi-crashing the party, but this didn't happen, so the anxiety for both of us leading up to the party was largely unnecessary.

Anyway, all told, I had a really great time again this year, and though I'm not really sure if this is what other people's holiday work parties are like, I'm definitely excited to do it all again next year. =)

Franklyn

Occasionally I'll put on a random movie I've added to my Netflix queue on a whim, not knowing anything about it, and a lot of times the film will end up sucking so bad that I have to turn it off. This has been true of a handful of movies thus far, so maybe I should do a post about these aborted attempts later, but one film I won't have to be doing this about is the 2008 debut film by British director Gerald McMorrow, entitled Franklyn and starring Ryan Phillippe. From the look of the box art and the trailer above, one would probably assume this was another Watchmen-esque, vigilante in a mask action film, but you'd only be partly true. Instead, there are four separate stories going on apparently simultaneously, and only one of these takes place in a sci-fi futuristic dystopia with the masked avenger...the rest simply take place in modern day London.

Now, I don't want to give away how this all works together, but the film was certainly unique if nothing else, and the cinematography, production quality, script, plot, and acting were all good enough to keep me interested through to the end, which I was pleased about in-and-of-itself given that this was one of my movie gambles. Even beyond this, I still enjoyed the film, and though I'm not running off to tell people they need to check it out, it's certainly worthy if you're a fan of these sorts of fantasy movies (think The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus dialed down a few fantastical notches, and you'd be roughly there).

Amazing Piano Student

I've had a handful of really motivated and talented students over the past few years of teaching, but there's one I've got right now that I'm particularly impressed by (and have been since I started teaching her three and a half years ago).

She's currently in the fourth grade (putting her in only first grade when she started with me!), and she's already played three Bach Inventions, knows all her seventh chords and triads, and knocked out one of my toughest rhythmic exercises in a couple weeks (which usually takes some older students at least twice as long). And just a couple weeks ago, I started her on the Philip Glass Metamorphosis suite and Mad Rush, and though neither are particularly hard, she's more-or-less knocked them out not only quickly, but beautifully too, which (as you can imagine), is almost surreal to me hearing my favorite composer's music played artfully from a 4th grade student of mine. And the amazing thing about all this is that she's one of my only advanced students who has studied piano entirely with me (not having a teacher before I came along), so though her progress is admittedly mostly due to her regular practice and natural talent, I'd like to think my teaching methods helped at least a little.

Anyway, while some students' lessons are harder to get excited about than others, this student's brief 30 minute lessons are one of the highlights of my week, as it's generally a pleasure to listen to her play and to pass along my knowledge to her, being as receptive and diligent as she is. That said, I don't currently have any particularly frustrating clients, but it would be a wonderful thing if everyone practiced even half as much as this one talented 4th grader. Can't wait to see where her time, dedication, and natural ability ends up taking her musically, even if she doesn't make it a professional thing...

The Rock-afire Explosion

Over the past year, Suzi has had me watch some pretty interesting, out-there movies (especially documentaries), and one of the most unique is the documentary ode to the Showbiz Pizza animatronic band, The Rock-afire Explosion. Growing up, I was definitely aware of Showbiz Pizza, but I have a hard time remembering exactly when that experience transferred over to Chuck E. Cheese's, as the two experiences were very similar and the latter eventually replaced the former. Regardless, both chains featured animatronic bands (although supposedly Showbiz Pizza's Rock-afire Explosion was much better), so this movie definitely brought back a few memories for me.

Here's the idea: rather than just giving the viewer a rundown of the history of Showbiz Pizza, The Rock-afire Explosion focuses on a handful of key people trying to keep the animatronic band alive today, all of whom have their own copy of an authentic band from one of the chain's numerous restaurants, complete with the music programs necessary to run specific shows. Yes, this group of fans is a small group indeed, but that's what makes the film so special: they're all a little weird (especially the main fan, Chris Thrash), and their devotion to these musical machines is almost a bit creepy. The other main character in the movie is the original inventor behind the Rock-afire Explosion, Aaron Fechter, who (though a bit weird himself) is also the most normal of the group (especially considering he somehow landed a pretty attractive girlfriend, seen in the trailer).

I don't want to say too much more about the film, as it really is great discovering it for yourself with these characters, but suffice it to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and it left a lasting impression I doubt I'll soon forget. Go check out The Rock-afire Explosion if you like quirky documentaries (and especially if you remember/loved Showbiz Pizza!).

Childish Gambino - Camp

2011 was a rough year for my weekly listening, and though there were relatively few all-out duds in the group, there were also virtually no really AMAZING albums either, so by the waning days of Q4, I was pretty much expecting to have to choose a top choice amongst the decent but not mind-blowing fives of the year thus far. That is, until I discovered Childish Gambino's debut album Camp... Technically, this story started back at 805 in Bloomington, when (I believe) Andrew showed us our first Derrick Comedy video, which was also my first exposure to comedian Donald Glover. Years later, Suzi showed me the TV series Community, and I was surprised to see that Donald had made it big off the success of the Derrick Comedy skits (which were more-or-less amateur). Fast forward a few months later, and people are talking about the new rap debut by Childish Gambino, who just happened to be, you guessed it, Donald Glover. Now, on paper, it does seem a bit unlikely that a rap album coming from a TV star/comedian would be any good, but once I had listened to a few clips, I was ABSOLUTELY blown away. As such, I picked up the album first thing, and it ended up becoming the soundtrack album to Suzi and my trip to Nashville, which is remarkable because no other album this year was able to engrain itself into my memories, which itself is a hallmark of my favorite albums from the past three years.

Anyway, I could go on forever about this album, and I haven't even started talking about the music itself yet(!), so I'll try to keep it short. Basically, Camp is that increasingly-rare album with which I can find no serious faults: the beats are amazing, the lyrics are clever and a joy to figure out, and Glover's delivery is both fluid and expressive, which might possibly have something to do with his acting skills. Sure, Glover is a typical "oreo" (white in the middle) nerdy black guy, which he raps about often, and hearing him come hard on these tracks might seem a little disingenuous, but when you take the nerdy hipsterness of his lyrics into account, it all fits just fine. Also, he CLEARLY has taken some inspiration from the likes of Drake and (most-notably) Kanye, but the bottom line is that Camp has hit me harder than any rap album since 808s & Heartbreak, and that's saying something. Anyway, I'm gonna go ahead and give it away: Childish Gambino is going to walk away with this year's top album for me without any doubt, so I obviously couldn't recommend it enough. Just don't let the whole Community/TV star thing get in the way, and hopefully you'll be able to find something to love as much as I do about this notable album. Can't wait for more!

Highlights: "Bonfire"/"Heartbeat"/"Sunrise"
Rating: 5/5

Louie

Although I was a little disappointed by his live stand-up show Suzi and I caught last year, I generally consider myself to be a big Louis CK fan, so when I saw his recent quasi-self-titled TV show was available on Netflix, I made sure to watch all thirteen half-hour episodes, which didn't take too long, even though I was a bit lukewarm about the show while watching it.

The premise is that Louis CK's alternate version of himself (renamed "Louie") is a recently-divorced stand-up comedian with two daughters (which is true in real life as well) who goes through some exaggerated versions of the things that've happened in his real life (or, at least in his comedy bits onstage). Speaking of which, the format has "Louie" alternating between live stand-up bits and a couple vignettes embellishing on those themes, and as such, no two episodes feel all that connected. My biggest criticism with this approach is that no one ended up at least arranging the individual episodes in an order that made sense (for example, some back-to-back episodes feature some of the same jokes and scenarios). Also, though the season did end with a sort of quasi-closer, it wasn't really needed and only further added to the sense of sequential incoherence.

Still, I ended up enjoying Louie, especially in retrospect. From what I understand, Season 2 is a good bit better, so I'll need to check that out when it comes out on Netflix. Regardless, if nothing else, the show got me re-interested in one of my favorite stand-up comedians, leading to me checking out some of his stand-up shows as well, which has been fun. Anyway, check out Louie if you're into kinda atypical and crude comedy, but you might prefer to skip to Season 2 (assuming it is in fact better)...

Buying My New iMac

Following the hard drive issues I've already written about extensively, I started putting lots of time into researching the possibility of eventually buying a new Macbook, the biggest thing holding me back from actually doing so being the ridiculous price tag on a souped-up Macbook Pro. But what actually got the ball rolling was discovering how much more affordable (and yet just as powerful) the iMac desktop line was, an option I had never taken seriously, as I had always thought the computer-inside-a-monitor approach was gimmicky and only viable for layman computer needs (i.e. not those of someone working with higher end music software). Maybe this is how the iMacs began, but regardless, they're now more powerful than their Macbook Pro counterparts, especially per dollar. For one reason or the other, I was always under the impression that the Mac Pro's (the traditionally-looking desktop tower systems) were the only viable desktop option Apple made, but now they're evidently just reserved for professional users like music studios and graphic design firms.

So basically, with an iMac, for $2300 I got a more powerful computer than what I would have gotten for $3300 (or more) in a laptop, essentially just giving up the portability. That said, this WAS a huge deciding factor, but the way I see it, there are only two reasons for me to have a laptop: a.) to use for internet access while traveling, and b.) to take with me gigging:

Regarding the internet, four and half years ago when I bought my Macbook, a laptop was the only way of getting any serious internet access while traveling, as smartphones were nowhere near as useful as they are now (and even now don't offer the easy browsing of a full-size monitor) and there really weren't any tablets to speak of, but now that you can buy a Wi-Fi enabled Amazon Kindle Fire tablet for as little as $200, laptops are becoming increasingly unnecessary for mobile internet access. Sure, some people like to move their laptop around their house or take it to the coffee shop, but considering I don't do either, I really only needed it for trips. So, in lieu of my main computer traveling with me, I've decided to continue using my old Macbook until it dies, and then either fix it up or just buy a Kindle Fire for traveling (which is the option I'm kinda pulling for, as they're really cool!). I can't really justify buying an iPad just for traveling, so the Kindle Fire is really an amazing cheaper option.

That left me with only the gigging issue to figure out. Yes, having a laptop for DJ'ing or what have you is by far the preferred means of performing live, but I had to ask myself how often I actually think I'll be needing to do so. I mean, I'd love to start doing Girl Talk-esque mash-up performances from time to time, but in addition to not really steering my mash-up production workspace for this type of improvised, real-time performance, I'm also probably not going to actually end up doing it anytime soon, especially considering my preference for meticulous studio production these days instead. That said, if I were to really need to take my computer out with me, I have two cheaper options than buying a new Macbook: a.) I could get my old Macbook refurbished with an updated OS and a current version of Ableton (albeit running on a slower computer), or b.) I could buy a travel case for my 21.5" desktop (remember, it's all contained in the monitor) and take that with me. Sure, it's a little risky, but it's only twenty pounds (way lighter than most keyboard/guitar rigs!) and it's the smaller of the two available iMac sizes, so it's not ridiculously huge. All this said, I probably won't need it anyway, but thinking it through like this was enough for me to finally commit to buying a more powerful desktop for cheaper, and I have no regrets!

So, onto how I paid for the computer, as I didn't have $2300 lying around that I wanted to drop on a new computer (especially before my old one had croaked). I looked into Apple's financing options and decided to take them up on a new credit account (via BarclayCard) which had 0% interest the first year, meaning, if I can afford the $185 monthly installments for all of 2012, I'll have the whole thing paid off by the end of the year with absolutely no additional charges. Basically, it's as if I were just starting up vocal lessons again, as they were only $10 less per month (for four 30 minute lessons). Honestly, I wasn't expecting buying a new high-end Mac to be so reasonable on my wallet, and I'm really happy how the whole thing turned out.

Well, this post is getting way too long already, and I haven't actually talked about my computer itself at all, so expect another post sometime in the next few weeks to cover that in detail. Just know that I'm really happy with my computer purchase, especially regarding how timely it was with recent mc chris developments... =)

Suzi's Bday 2011

For our second year celebrating Suzi's birthday, I knew I had my work cut out for me, as last year's Hindu temple and ethnic grocery shopping journey (plus lots and lots of clothes presents) was certainly a high standard to try to match. Well, though I had her big gift all figured out for quite some time leading up to her birthday, the all-day event we'd be engaging in didn't come to me until Suzi mentioned it sort of off-the-cuff while we were on our Nashville trip: taking inspiration from our current Storage Wars obsession and actually going out to a storage unit auction. Fortunately, she mentioned it in the kind of way that didn't seem like she was actually considering it as even a remote possibility for her birthday, so I wasn't afraid that the surprise would be ruined if this was what we ended up doing.

That said, FINDING storage unit auctions was kinda hard, as the only free sites I could find had only a very small listing of auctions, none of which were actually happening on her birthday weekend at all. So, I bought into a one-month membership to a storage unit auction website, and they had quite a few options to choose from, the only issue being how to squeeze as many as possible into one day, as they were all out of town and none of them were particularly close to one another. The auctions I ended up choosing were one in Franklin, GA 80 minutes out of town, and two back-to-back auctions in Villa Rica, GA, which was on the way home from Franklin. The first auction was at 10am that Saturday morning, which might not seem like a big deal, but considering we needed to leave no later than 8:30, it really was kinda an early morning, especially for a Saturday and a birthday celebration. Fortunately, Suzi went along with the whole thing without knowing what we were doing, and though she got particularly anxious right before we arrived (thinking I was gonna take her skydiving or something), she was both relieved and ecstatic when she saw the storage units we would be checking out.

Though the first location was pretty hickish, making us stand out as awkwardly out-of-town, we had a good time there, and some people at the auction even called us the "Jarrod and Brandi" or the auction, a reference to the young couple on Storage Wars, which was fun. There was a little bit of an awkward photo request moment at the end, but this post is getting so long already that I'll just skip it. By contrast, the Villa Rica auctions were a lot more urban, if you can call them that, as the bidders were much less hickish and the units were a lot nicer. Still, on some level, I would say I enjoyed the experience a tad more in Franklin, but both were fun. In the end, we ended up seeing a total of ten units up for auction, five in each town, and we wrapped the experience up with some lunch at Zaxby's, which Suzi had been excited to finally check out. That night, we got dressed up and I took her out to Rathbun's for a fancy dinner, followed by presents at my place: while I gave her some smaller presents, the big surprise was one of the recently-released Amazon Kindle Touches, which she had no idea was coming and which I preloaded with three books she had requested in hard copy. Needless to say, Suzi was ecstatic about this, and to-date has read something like four or five books on her Kindle.

Overall, I would say this birthday was at least as good as last year's, if not a lot better (I know I myself had an even better time!), and we got some great photos out of the whole experience. Of course, now the bar's set even higher, so I'll have to start thinking pretty hard about what to do next year! Fingers crossed I can pull it off! =)

Letter To A Christian Nation

I don't speak too much about it on this site, all things considered, but I'm one of the typical non-believers out there who was once pretty religious, and as such, I've enjoyed reading books by leading atheist writers over the past few years, partly to bolster my understanding of my non-belief and partly simply because I find it an interesting topic. That said, after having read two of the more recent must-reads in the genre, Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion and Christopher Hitchens' God Is Not Great, I was kinda wary of whether I really needed to keeping reading more books on the same subject, but considering my recent resurgence of interest in reading actual book-books (not just graphic novels) and that Sam Harris' Letter To A Christian Nation was a mere 144 pages, I figured I might as well have another go at it. Unlike Harris' first big book The End Of Faith, which was generally similar in purpose and perspective to the two books mentioned above, Letter To A Christian Nation is much more single-minded in its aspirations, essentially being a direct-yet-diplomatic letter to the average American Christian who might be open-minded enough to at least give an atheist a chance of explaining their gripes with faith-based lifestyles. As such, the whole book is written in the second and first person, as if Harris were having a direct conversation with a believer, an approach which I found to be both refreshing and effective.

All this said, the book did tread a lot of familiar ground, but nevertheless, I still found it stimulating and ended up breezing through it quickly anyway. Unlike Dawkins and Hitchens, Harris' writing is much more polite and considerate, so it really was appropriate for him to take the responsibility of acting as a diplomat from atheist America to our faith-based neighbors, but though it WOULD be great if a bunch of Christians would actually check out the book, the reality is that they're usually not that openminded to actually give something like this a chance, so I have a feeling it'll probably be read primarily by other agnostics and atheists. At least he tried, right? Check it out if it interests you, especially if the length of the other key books on the subject seemed too long, as Letter To A Christian Nation is a great jumping off point.

Third GPS Unit 2.0

As I alluded to in my previous post about my car battery, I'm technically onto my fourth separate Magellan GPS unit (which I mainly use for work, driving between clients' houses), though it's actually just a warrantied replacement of my third GPS model. As such, it doesn't really feel like too much of an upgrade, except for the following smaller details:

1.) It's brand-spanking new, which means it's cleaner, having not had my fingerprints all over it and my spit on the suction cup thingy.

2.) While I've had to reprogram my saved locations due to Best Buy not offering a data recovery option, this is actually a mixed blessing in the sense that the old unit didn't let me delete unwanted categories I created, so I'm getting to start fresh this time, which is much appreciated.

3.) For some reason, my old version of this unit's stand thingy wouldn't swivel like it was supposed to, but my new one does, and I can't tell you how much nicer this feature is.

Apart from this, virtually everything else is the same, including the unit's inability to sync with Mac computers (which is annoying) and the faulty traffic reports that seem to always plague these units in December (this happened last year, and like clockwork, occurred again this year, though it's now cleared up with the arrival of the new year). Technically, my old unit wasn't exactly dead, but the car's electricity's stuttering had fried it enough to make it reset every fifteen seconds or so, effectively making it useless.

In the end, while this whole battery mess was annoying, the fallout was easy enough to manage with my warranty, as I got my GPS instantly from Best Buy's Geek Squad people (they literally gave me a unit off the floor). Yeah, I technically had to buy a new warranty for this new unit, but it was fairly cheap and will most-likely be needed someday in the not-so-distant future, especially given my record for having GPS units die on me. And, despite all my little gripes, I love my GPS to death and have a hard time imagining getting around nearly as efficiently without it.

New Car Battery

Well, after over four years of faithful service, my 2007 Toyota Matrix's original battery started going on me about a month ago, so instead of waiting for it to die entirely and leave me in a tough situation, I went ahead and replaced it while it was in its death throes. I first became aware of the problem when getting an oil change at Jiffy Lube around Thanksgiving, where one of the mechanics asked me if I'd like to pay a little more for them to clean the acid junk that the battery had recently spewed on its casing...the guy said this wasn't necessarily a big emergency, but I definitely took note.

Not too long after this, on one of the first cold(er) days of Winter, my car had a VERY hard time starting, stuttering a whole lot, causing all the electronics in the car to flicker, and scaring me a good bit. Fortunately, the problem went away, but it reared its head a few more times over the next couple days, though admittedly pretty inconsistently. The real clincher was when this stuttering ended up taking out my GPS unit (more on that in the next post), which was enough for me to go ahead and change out the battery late one night right before Pep Boys closed. The guy there clocked the output of the battery as being way too high, so they put a new one in for me for a total of roughly $150 including service. My dad thinks I overpaid, but whatever...I didn't want to go much longer having the battery burn out all my other electronics in the car, which would have been A LOT more expensive to replace than the battery was overpriced.

Anyway, everything's been fine since then, and I ultimately feel like I got off pretty easy on this one, not having my car get stuck in a parking lot somewhere and having to have AAA come jump it for me.

The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

Though this album is easily considered one of the best from the 2000's, it took me until this year to finally really get turned onto it, entirely as a result of Rock Band 3's inclusion of the title track in its playlist. Now, while I'm certainly no fan of stonery trippy music, upon listening to the clips from the album, I was impressed with The Flaming Lips' solid songwriting, especially their uncommon-for-the-genre sense of direction and purpose (as opposed to music that sounds like a glorified drug-induced jam session). So I picked up the album and gave it a good college try, but honestly, apart from a few standout tracks, the album ended up being a little grating for me...

Sometimes an album can deceive you of its quality by putting all of its absolute best tracks right up front, leaving the rest of the album a good bit less inspired, and this is certainly the problem with Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots: in fact, my three highlighted tracks below are actually just the first three songs off the album, and though there ARE a couple other decent tracks close by, the back half is DEFINITELY weaker than the first. Yes, for those of you that know and love this album, this includes the breakout single "Do You Realize??"...I'm just not a huge fan. Sure, it worked well in movies/commercials, but I just don't get much out of it on its own...sorry.

All this said, I don't hate the album, I just got tired of listening to it. I still think it's probably better than most of the other albums from this genre, and I definitely see why people liked it, but I doubt I'll be rushing to check out any other Flaming Lips releases anytime soon.

Highlights: "Fight Text"/"One More Robot"/"Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt.1"
Rating: 2/5

Copyright Criminals

Alright, back to blogging...got caught up with a busy make-up schedule this week plus a bunch of holiday decompression of playing new video games (primarily Rage), Facebook album-making, and some searching for new albums to listen to for the year. Hopefully I'll be good from this point out!

Anyway, onto another documentary. For years, copyright law has been a passing interest of mine, mainly regarding my earlier experimental DJ work at IU and my current mash-up work with mc chris stuff, so it's no surprise that a film entitled Copyright Criminals that had famous scratch DJ QBert on the cover caught my attention when browsing through streaming Netflix options, so I eventually got around to checking it out. While the documentary was shot decently enough and the calibre of individuals interviewed was certainly respectable, I feel that, in the end, their pro-sampling message ended up being weakly supported, as most of the interviewed "experts" either weren't very eloquent or weren't really legal experts at all, most of them being musicians. Also, though copyright issues affect all sorts of subgenres of popular music, they mainly focused on hip-hop, which left the documentary feeling a bit too much like a doting ode to the genre's history, not the legal issues holding it back.

All this said, I still enjoyed watching it, I just think it could have been a lot better. Hell, it didn't take me long to seek out and find a MUCH better argument for changes to copyright law in the form of a TED Talks session from expert Larry Lessig. Anyway, check out Copyright Criminals if you're a big hip-hop fan and/or are really interesting in copyright law, but it probably won't change your mind one way or the other.