Absolutely Awful Hip-Hop Love Songs from laze on 8tracks.

In the 1979 book Future Cities: Homes and Living into the 21st Century, these two pages outlined the “Living Room of the Future,” featuring a number of prescient technological predictions, including e-mail and flat-screen TVs. Among the less likely of the predictions was that there would be a “domestic robot [that] rolls in with drinks,” along with an interesting sidenote:

One robot, the Quasar, is already on sale in the USA. Reports indicate that it may be little more than a toy however, so it will be a few years before ‘Star Wars’ robots tramp through our homes.

Turns out, unsurprisingly, that this “robot” (actually named Klatu by its creator, Quasar Industries) was little more than a marketing gimmick that could “supposedly vacuum, dust, cook meals, walk the dog, and do the laundry,” despite the fact the technology to do any of these things wasn’t even close to existing:

After some research, I found that one of the division managers at Quasar had decided that they were going to sell a robot, dammit, and it didn’t matter that none of the technology they needed even existed at the time. That was a simple matter for the engineers to worry about. The robots that appeared in the media, in the meantime, were apparently radio-controlled by humans who just happened to be hanging around when the robot made an appearance. I even suspect that they might have had a guy in a suit for some of the things it did, although I’ve never seen that confirmed. After successfully scamming not only the public, but also his managers at Quasar, for many months, the guy apparently confessed that he pulled the whole idea out of his ass and then slunk off in humiliation, never to be heard from again.

A man named Tony Reichelt was the marketing push behind Klatu, described by an ex-Quasar Industries employee as “a lovable con-man – who really did love robots.” (This link also has a whole series of fascinating pictures of Klatu and other similar “promotional androids” of the time.)

I suspect Reichelt, wherever he wound up, probably looked at the Roomba when it debuted a decade ago and thought, “Klatu could do that.”

My curiosity remained, so I took to Twitter and asked Boots if he knew what was up with E-Roc these days:

Before long, he replied:

It’s cool to see two former music partners collaborating again years later in this way.

1. I don’t have to think about where I’m linking

When I was in my post-delicious-pre-Pinboard stage I was doing all sorts of crazy nonsense with my links. I was posting some things to twitter, some to Facebook, some to Delicious. The links were all directed at different audiences, so having different links on different services wasn’t the problem, but when I wanted to find something I’d linked to, I sometimes couldn’t remember where it was.

Using a combination of Pinboard’s built-in tools and ifttt, I now pull everything into Pinboard:

• I can post a link directly to Pinboard. Normal, regular joe stuff.
• If I post to twitter, Pinboard can monitor up to three accounts and automatically save links that I share or retweet. If there are hashtags, those become Pinboard tags.
• If I save something to Instapaper to read later, Pinboard will save it as well. (It can do the same with Readability and Read It Later.)
• If I share a link on Facebook, I have an ifttt task set to save it to Pinboard.
• If something somehow winds up in my old delicious stream, Pinboard will grab that as well.

The end result is something beautiful and simple: one place where anything I save to read or link to is archived and searchable (right now, I’m also paying the premium so that Pinboard saves the content of what I link to). Combine this with the unofficial Pindroid app and apps like Send to Instapaper, and whether I’m at my PC or on a mobile device, I can be ensured I’ll find what I need.

(Someday, I hope to be able to pull any links I “like” or “+1″  and save those as well. That’d be the topper.)

2. The Linkstream

Having all these links in one accessible place also has the benefit of having a nice stream of links that represent what I’m looking at and consuming at any given period in time. I have a “Linkstream” page on the site that gives a current view and, of course, there’s my Pinboard page for a deeper archive (which, incidentally, includes all my old links from delicious).

3. Random other niceties

Pinboard has a nice (and kind of random) feature: it can save your tweets separate from your bookmarks. Why is this a big deal? Because just try and find something you tweeted a year ago. Twitter search isn’t worth using for anything older than three seconds and I’ve never had luck with third-party tools like Snapbird. But Pinboard’s dead simple twitter search option? Beautiful and fast.

Pinboard also has read/unread and read later functionality, but I haven’t even messed with that. I suspect that could be pretty great, too.

4. Pinboard’s creator is in it for the long haul.

You can just tell. Follow Pinboard on twitter and what you’ll see is a single developer that’s taking his time, building a service that works well, serving his users with features they want while hiding ones they don’t need (prime example: his impressive support for fanfic writers without turning Pinboard into a fanfic service), and leaving the bullshit aside. It comes down to this: I trust the guy to make the right decisions about the service, something I can’t say for 95% of the apps and services I use, no matter how much I like them.

Go ahead and sign up. It’s still less than $10 (the price goes up by $0.001 with each user that signs up) and would be worth it if that were a yearly subscription fee and not a one-time charge.

2011 was another amazing year for music. I think I have more in my “best of” category this year (29) than any previous year. With so much music getting released (and, really, so much of it being so good), it can be easy for great albums to get overlooked. It’s impossible to be 100% complete, so here’s this year’s completely subjective rundown on my favorite music of the year.

(See also: 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007.)

Everything’s sorted in alphabetical order.

Best of 2011

• Andrzej Przybielski & Oles Brothers: De Profundis
  Polish trumpeter Andrzej Przybielski passed away earlier this year. While I haven’t heard much of his work, this final album of his is remarkably intricate, moving, and cerebral. See also: his 2009 album with Sing Sing Penelope.
• Archie Shepp & Joachim Kühn: Wo!man
  Though I haven’t enjoyed Shepp’s albums in recent years anywhere near the level of the fire music he was making in the 1960s, the releases have been good. This duet with German jazz pianist Joachim Kühn is by no means a return to Shepp’s 1960s form, but the interaction between the two is a thing of beauty. The elegant and lush arrangements have a quiet sophistication befitting elder jazz statesmen like Shepp and Kühn. There are five originals and three standards here (Ellington’s oft-covered–by Shepp especially–”Sophisticated Lady,” Coleman’s “Lonely Woman,” and Hagen/Rogers’ “Harlem Nocturne”).
• Atmosphere: The Family Sign
  You know you’re going to get something personal when Slug hits the mic, and this time is no different, with outstanding tracks like “The Last to Say,” “Just for Show,” and “She’s Enough” (which has the year’s most adorable video). Also: great packaging on the vinyl release.
• Beastie Boys: Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
  “We were free to get back to our bread and butter: fart jokes.” That’s what Mike D. said about the Beastie’s return to form on Hot Sauce… It truly is amazing at how a group of guys in their mid-to-late-40s can make a record that sounds as fresh and fun as the stuff they did almost 25 years ago.
• Blue Scholars: Cinemopolis
  A Kickstarter-funded ($62,000 of a requested $25,000) album that answers the question, “How does music influence cinema?” Song titles are all people’s names. “Anna Karina,” actress in many Godard movies, basketball player “Slick Watts” (with an excellent accompanying video featuring Slick himself), and oft-forgotten, the amazing civil rights activist “Yuri Kochiyama.” Sabzi’s production is outstanding and Geo’s lyrics are some of the best of his career. This is hip-hop.
• Brownbird Rudy Relic: I Am the Juke
  Another great collection of original “holler blues” from the dynamo known as Brownbird. He goes the old-school route once again, recording on a 1950′s Concertone one-track reel-to-reel with a 1940′s era RCA Victor Radio mic in an abandoned Brooklyn loft.
• Czeslaw Bartowski/Analog Burners: Drum Dream
  Inspired by Polish drummer Czeslaw Bartkowski, Analog Burners’ Mensa-El freaks Bartowski’s work into dope instrumentals.
• De La Soul & DJ TenDJiz: De La Soulviet
  Classic De La tracks remixed with Soviet jazz samples? Excellent. The beats are well constructed, the samples well chosen, and the overall vibe, very chill.
• Freestyle Fellowship: The Promise
  It’s been nine years since the last album from the highly lyrical collective. Considering the break, it’s amazing that the result was so a cohesive, funky, enjoyable. The album dips a bit in the second half, but the first half is outstanding. Production is handled by Eligh, Black Milk, Exile, & more.
• Greg Foat Group: Dark is the Sun
  I don’t even remember how I came across this particular album, but it’s a doozy. Funky UK jazz with harpsichord, organ, and synths that goes beyond just drums and bass. Dark is the Sun is a real gem that will appeal to fans of 70s spiritual-funk-jazz. Don’t overlook this one.
• Honey Ear Trio: Steampunk Serenade
  Phenomenal release with Erik Lawrence on sax and flute, the always awesome Allison Miller on percussion, and Rene Hart on bass and loops (which are so subtly integrated, I had no idea they even existed). Their take on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is one of the best ever.
• Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey: Race Riot Suite
  A concept album about the 1921 Tulsa race riot that’s intense, grooving, and wholly unique. This group’s 21st album in 18 years serves as a reminder that there’s amazing jazz coming from all around the country.
• Josh Rouse and the Long Vacations: Josh Rouse and the Long Vacations
  Fun, short indie pop songs that are impossible to dislike.
• KIRk: Msza Swieta w Braswaldzie
  Dark, blippy electronica-infused jazz reminiscent at times of both Pink Freud and Robotobibok.
• Matthew Shipp: Art of the Improviser
  Shipp gets open on his version of “Take the A Train.”
• Muzykoterapia: Piosenki Izy
  Very solid nu jazz (damn it, I hate that term, but there it is) from Poland. A nice accompaniment to Nostalgia 77′s album.
• The Natural Yogurt Band: Tuck In With
  Quirky, funk-library style tunes. Massive breaks abound.
• album of the year Nostalgia 77: The Sleepwalking Society
  This album got far more rotation from me than any other album this year. German vocalist Josa Peit joins Benedic Lamdin on his latest album as Nostalgia 77. Peit’s sultry voice is the perfect match for Lamdin’s nu jazz (there’s that damn term again), as heard on “Sleepwalkers,” song-of-the-year “Simmerdown,” and “Beautiful Lie.” This is one of the rare albums that I love, my wife likes, and even our 5-year-old daughter requests songs from. The Sleepwalking Society is near perfection.

  Here’s a 30-minute playlist of Nostalgia 77′s videos, acoustic versions, and interviews from this year:

• Onra: Chinoiseries Pt. 2
  Pitchfork pooped on it, but I loved it nearly as much as the first.
• Pharoahe Monch: W.A.R. (We Are Renegades)
  Sure, I’d love to see an Organized Konfusion reunion album, but I certainly can’t complain about Pharoahe’s solo albums. Favorite songs: “Assassins,” “Let My People Go,” and the title track.
• Prince Fatty Meets The Mutant HiFi: Return of Gringo!
  Spaghetti western ska dub, Ennio Morricone meets The Specials meets Augustus Pablo.
• Priscilla Ahn: When You Grow Up
  Alternating between light, poppy folk and subdued contemplative folk, Ahn delivers a super mellow and very enjoyable album. Favorite cuts: the title track, which is like a breezy spring day and the über-catchy “Oo La La.”
• The Roots: Undun
  A late-in-the-year contender, this short (for The Roots) concept album is deep and moving. A great addition to their discography. (See John Book’s in-depth review for a great look at the album.)
• Shabazz Palaces: Black Up
  I hadn’t kept up with the Digable Planets’ Butterfly since he and his crew denied me an interview for the college paper back in 1995 (not that I hold a grudge or anything), but my jaw dropped when I discovered his abstract work as part of Shabazz Palaces. His two EPs last year were very good and this year’s Black Up is even better. Unlike anything else out there and absolutely engaging. Loved (deep breath) “An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum,” “Endeavors For Never (The Last Time We Spoke You Said You Were Not Here. I Saw You Though.),” and “Swerve… The Reeping Of All That Is Worthwhile (Noir Not Withstanding).”
• Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings: Soul Time!
  Sharon Jones has a permanent spot on this list if she releases an album.
• Shona Foster: The Moon & You
  There’s a clear Tori Amos influence from this singer I found via This American Life (not how I usually find my music because, well, I already know about DJ Shadow), but there’s a little Erin McKeown-esque style thrown in the mix making Shona Foster more interesting to me than her strongest influence. Niceness on “No. 34,” “Queens,” “Bad Intentions,” and “Where We’ll Go.”
• SuperHeavy: SuperHeavy
  By all predictions, this album should have been somewhere between a confused mess and an acceptible “supergroup”-style album. Turns out it was an extremely enjoyable, “big” album with great performances all around from Jagger, Junior Gong, and the rest.
• Thao & Mirah: Thao & Mirah
  Quirky and varied instrumentation makes this effort from the somewhat-odd-couple pairing of indie-folk singer-songwriters Thao (of Thao with The Get Down Stay Down) and Mirah one of the most engaging of the year. Favorite tracks: “Likeable Man” and “Squareneck.”
• Various Artists: passionjunkies.it: Aa.VV. Dolphyn Surround
  Dope instrumental hip-hop from Italian beatmakers. Each track is based on Eric Dolphy samples.

Almost Best of 2011

• Albert Kuvezin & Yat-Kha: Poets & Lighthouses & Live at the Stray Dog
  Two more strong releases from the Tuvan throat-singing powerhouses. Poets & Lighthouses was officially released in 2010, but not released in the US until 2011. Live at the Stray Dog was graciously released for free on Bandcamp.
• AWOL One & Factor: The Landmark
  I’ve always been a fan of AWOL One’s left-field brand of hip-hop and this release with producer Factor is a nice addition to his discography. Favorite tracks: “Coming to Town,” “Frenemies,” “Rewind Yourself,” and the excellent duet with Moka Only, “The Wasp.”
• Bubble Geese: #foamparty
  Offensive, party-friendly hip-hop with enough pop culture references to make Entertainment Weekly blush. Love the way they freaked Ramsey Lewis’ “The In Crowd” on their first single. (Do I have to disclose that my cousin is one of the MCs? There, I just did.)
• Common: The Dreamer, The Believer
  Common’s late-year contender is his best album in years. Favorite cuts: Ghetto Dreams (feat. Nas), Lovin’ I Lost, Sweet.
• Elzhi: Elmatic
  I dig Elzhi and think he’s talented, but have never placed him in the top tier. This excellent mixtape had started to change my mind. Very well done with a lot of attention to detail.
• Evidence: Cats & Dogs
  The self-name-checking weatherman is back with a solid solo release on Rhymesayers. Really dug “Late for the Sky (feat. Slug & Aesop Rock)” and the DJ Premier-produced “You,” which also had an incredibly dope video.
• Moka Only: Barbecued Horse Contest Instrumental
  Moka is as prolific as they come in 2011. This year alone he’s released at least five original, full-length albums. Do you even realize how insane that is? I didn’t even have a chance to check all of them out, but I really enjoyed this collection of beats quite a bit.
• Oddisee: Rock Creek Park
  If you still haven’t grasped what Oddisee is capable of as a producer, this album will do it for you.
• Paul White: Rapping With Paul White
  Very solid album of aggressive tunes, but not absurdly so. Does that make sense?
• Tech N9ne: All 6′s and 7′s
  Outstanding effort from N9ne. “Worldwide Choppers” is absolutely epic.
• Tori Amos: Night of the Hunters
  This album is a weird one for me. I’m not a big fan of Tori Amos and I don’t think I’ll listen to this album very frequently, yet it’s a really, really good release. Funny how that happens sometimes.

Best of 2010 I missed until 2011

• Levity: Chopin Shuffle
• Jason Adasiewicz: Sun Rooms
• Arszyn/Duda: ŚĘ (my review)
• Allison Miller: Boom Tic Boom
• Shabazz Palaces: Shabazz Palaces / Of Light

My Daughter’s Favorite Tracks This Year

My daughter, now five, has developed an interesting taste in music. Here are her favorite tracks this year (not limited to songs from this year), loaded up in a MOG playlist that we often spin when we’re on the road.

• Beastie Boys: “Intergalactic”
• The Upsetters: “Black Panta”
• Nostalgia 77: “Simmerdown”
• Dilated Peoples: “Live on Stage”
• Dilated Peoples: “Worst Comes to Worst”
• Rakaa: “Observatory (feat. Mad Lion)”
• Rakaa: “Delilah”
• Lee Perry & The Upsetters: “Kojak”
• Beastie Boys: “Sure Shot”
• Half Pint: “Have a Little Faith”
• Tech N9ne: “Worldwide Choppers (feat. a ton of people)”
• Go Diego Go: “Morning in the Rainforest/Diego Theme” (had to get one kids song in there)
• Scientist: “Steppers”
• The Upsetters: “Dub Organizer”
• Nostalgia 77: “Beautiful Lie”
• Dennis Brown: “Sitting and Watching”
• Kathy Young: “A Thousand Stars”

Best Tracks of 2011

Here are two mixes I put together at 8tracks.com covering my favorite tracks of the year. I tried to stick to one track per artist and per album. The first mix was put together midway through the year and the second mix I just finished up. Total listening time: 2 hours, 18 minutes, 37 seconds.

I actually don’t have much in the way of commentary to share, so let’s just get into the series of lists that do a surprisingly good job of capturing the year at a glance.

2012 will be the year I finally get done most of the stuff I vowed to do in 2009.

The Year, By Month

January

• The year starts.

February

• F you, Mozy. Hi there, Crashplan!
• Found a five-year-old item in the fridge that read “use within 30 days of opening.”
• Returned a library item I’d renewed 23 times and had checked out for ten months.
• Huyen found a dog, had to have her scanned (collar, not tagged, but microchipped). She lived about six houses down.

March

• My parents’ cat stayed with us for a month.
• Trip to NY for Pint show, visit to 5 Pointz, hang with bro-in-law, etc..
• Rasine’s unsuccessful soccer camp.
• Reading Sesame Street with Rasine sparked a conversation about punk music.
• New dishwasher gaskets!

April

• Italian zombies night at Dave’s.
• Rasine cut her hair.
• Wrote my first full-length album review in years.
• Won the ex.fm contest.
• Bought my first smartphone. Entered 2007.

May

• Goats walked on car.
• Rasine finishes preschool (& recital).
• Started a new blog.
• Relaunched laze.net with a new look for the first time in eight years.
• Woke up with a tick in my back, plucked it, left the head in, had to take a trip to the doc.
• Another pair of dogs found and returned home. The owners never said thanks.
• The world didn’t end.

June

• NYC with fam & Huyen’s fam.
• Saw the Miss New York contestants on the Staten Island Ferry.

July

• Returned to the abandoned snack shack and Dixontown Road house.
• Guy I know is on Hoarders.

August

• 13 years.
• The Great Hard Drive Drop of 2011.
• One Sentence turns five.
• Matt’s wedding.
• Earthquake in VA.

September

• Tenth anniversary.
• Another non-event jury duty.
• Rasine turns five. B-day party at the Tally Ho movie theatre days before their 80th anniversary.
• We find out that baby #2 is on the way.

October

• Tenth anniversary trip to Woodstock.
• Pulled over for a dead headlight (I got away without a ticket).
• I turn 36.
• The Fly/Dawn of the Dead.
• Rasine as Tin Woodman for Halloween.
• Snow!
• Hurt my knee running.
• New projects.
• MOMs in Herndon opens.
• The world still doesn’t end.

November

• Sold a DVD on Amazon for $25.
• Nene’s wedding.
• Rasine snuck Halloween candy. As a result, so did Shepp.
• Election Day 2011.

December

• Visit from the in-laws.
• The best holiday in recent memory.

Favorite Teas of the Year

This year I had the opportunity to try a lot of new teas, like some Hawaii-Grown White Tea that I bought directly from the farmer. Or some Royal Purple Tea from Kenya (their “Moonlight White” was also a very nice surprise). I also tried the best Japanese Gyokuro that I’ve ever had this year. Plus, I rediscovered some old classics, like Bi Luo Chun, Wenshan Baozhong Formosa oolong, and a good Da Hong Pao Wuyi oolong.

TV Shows from the Past That I Discovered This year and Liked

• 10 Items or Less
• Party Down
• Shaun the Sheep
• The Bill Cosby Show

RIP

Based solely on the folks I RIP’ed on Twitter. People I knew personally in bold. Dates are when I tweeted, not the actual death date.

• 1/24: Jack LaLane
• 2/27: Lana Cokos
• 3/4: Steve Glaspey
• 3/7: Mike DeStefano
• 5/28: Gil Scott Heron
• 6/2: Geronimo Pratt
• 7/12: Sherwood Schwartz
• 7/25: Amy Winehouse
• 10/5: Steve Jobs
• 11/9: Heavy D
• 11/9: David Hess
• 12/16: Christopher Hitchens
• 12/17: Cesaria Evoria
• 12/26: Sam Rivers

Books I Finished Reading

In order finished.

• The Myth of Multitasking: How “Doing It All” Gets Nothing Done by Dave Crenshaw
• Zombie Spaceship Wasteland: A Book by Patton Oswalt by Patton Oswalt (audiobook version)
• Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen by Shunryu Suzuki
• The Mindful Child: How to Help Your Kid Manage Stress and Become Happier, Kinder, and More Compassionate by Susan K Greenland
• The Vegan Revolution… with Zombies by David Agranoff
• A Confession by Leo Tolstoy
• Edible Secrets: A Food Tour of Classified US History by Michael Hoerger
• Where the Hell Am I?: Trips I Have Survived by Ken Levine
• A Widow’s Story: A Memoir by Joyce Carol Oates
• 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth (And Other Useful Guides) by Matthew Inman
• Fuzzy Logic Get Fuzzy 2 by Darby Conley
• 1975 and the Changes to Come by Arnold Barach
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (with Rasine)
• I Found This Funny: My Favorite Pieces of Humor and Some That May Not Be Funny At All by Judd Apatow
• Beware Dangerism! (Kindle Single) by Gever Tulley
• Land of the Lost Souls: My Life on the Streets by Cadillac Man
• Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty: Poems by Tony Hoagland
• Free-Range Chickens by Simon Rich
• Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide by Sayward Rebhal
• Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris
• The Five by Robert McCammon
• Nothing Is Hidden: Essays on Zen Master Dogen’s Instructions for the Cook by Shohaku Okumura
• The Issue At Hand: Essays On Buddhist Mindfulness Practice by Gil Fronsdal
• Mile 81 (Kindle Single) by Stephen King

Total number of books finished: 24 (one more than 2010)

Long/challenging books: 8

Books in progress at the end of the year: 3 (plus the second book of Oz with Rasine)

Movies I Watched and Re-watched

In order watched.

• Last House on the Left (2009), The (2009)
• I Think We’re Alone Now (2008)
• High and Low (11/26/1963 (USA))
• Dave Chapelle’s Block Party (2005)
• Still Bill (2009)
• Coca-Cola Kid, The (1985)
• Coraline (2009)
• In the Footsteps of M. Hulot (1989)
• Idiocracy (2006)
• Bed & Board (1970)
• Horrible (1981)
• Autism: The Musical (2007)
• Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
• Happy Feet (2006)
• Parking Lot Movie, The (2010)
• Toy Story 3 (2010)
• Piranha (2010)
• Hell of the Living Dead (1980)
• Stripes (1981)
• Zombie (8/25/1979)
• Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
• Toy Story 3 (2010)
• True Story of WrestleMania: Vol. 1, The (2010)
• Scream 4 (2011)
• C.H.O.M.P.S. (1979)
• Into the Pit (2009)
• Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo (2010)
• Babies (2010)
• Bridesmaids (2011)
• How to Die in Oregon (2011)
• Season of the Witch (1972)
• Darwin’s Nightmare (2004)
• Martian Chronicles, The (1980)
• Dreams (1990)
• Madagascar (2005)
• Menace II Soceity (1993)
• Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)
• Illusionist, The (2010)
• Jerk, The (1979)
• Disturbia (2007)
• 127 Hours (2010)
• Made in U.S.A (1966)
• April Fool’s Day (1986)
• Winnie the Pooh (2011)
• Synecdoche, New York (2008)
• Wizard of Oz, The (1939)
• Femme Mariée, Une (1964)
• Critters (1986)
• L’Ann&´e dernière à Marienbad (1961)
• Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (7/15/2011)
• I Saw the Devil (2010)
• Protagonist (2007)
• Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
• Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
• 13 Assassins (2010)
• The House of the Devil (2009)
• Bad Sleep Well, The (1960)
• Across 110th Street (1972)
• If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (2011)
• Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)
• Fox and the Hound, The (1981)
• Conquest (1983)
• Ossuary and Other Tales, The (1964)
• TrollHunter (2010)
• Beat Street (1984)
• Back to the Future Part II (1989)
• Tony Takitani (2004)
• Dawn of the Dead (1978)
• Fly, The (1986)
• Boogeyman, The (1980)
• Mutants (2009)
• Twelve and Holding (2005)
• Halloween H20 (1998)
• Funhouse, The (1981)
• Big (1988)
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (12/1/1989)
• Trick ‘r Treat (2008)
• I Am Comic (2010)
• Comedians of Comedy, The (2005)
• Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010)
• Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, The (2011)
• Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (1977)
• Muppet Family Christmas (uncut), A (1987)
• Super 8 (2011)

Average year: 1994

Average rating: 3.39
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There’s a lot of talk right now about Spotify’s new radio functionality that not only greatly improves on their previously lame attempt at “radio,” but also reportedly gives Pandora a run for its money. Though I’m not a frequent Pandora listener, I have found their careful classification to result in pretty darn fine listening.

I decided to run my own comparison using my favorite song of the year, Nostalgia 77′s “Simmerdown” as the base. The song has a very distinct groove and vocal tone, so I was curious to see which radio provided the best listening. (I would have included other streaming services in the test, but none offer radio based on elements of a single track.) Here’s what I heard:

Spotify

• Nostalgia 77 – Beautiful Lie
• Kinny – Water for Chocolate featuring Souldrop
• Lizzy Parks – All That (Natural Self Remix)
• Sola Rosa – Ready Now
• Quantic and his Combo Bárbaro – Undelivered Letter
• Ebo Taylor – Heaven
• Skeletons – Marathon Man
• Flevans – Loose Gardener
• Quantic presenta Flowering Inferno – Cuidad Del Swing
• Unforscene – Don’t You Worry Feat Alice Russell
• Quantic and his Combo Bárbaro – Canção Do Deserto
• Belleruche – The Itch (Acoustic Version)
• Bonobo – Terrapin
• Lizzy Parks – Raise The Roof

A number of Tru Thoughts tracks came up (appropriately, as that’s Nostalgia 77′s label) including Belleruche, but there were also some other wonderful songs I’d never heard before, like Kinny’s “Water for Chocolate.”

Pandora

• Baby Charles – Life’s Begun
• Bobby Rush – I Am Good As Gone
• Dave Matthews Band – Grey Street (Live 2007)
• The RH Factor – Forget Regret (feat. Stephanie McKay)
• Mindi Abair – Get Right
• Con Brio – Not At All
• D-Influence – Shake It
• JackSoul – As We
• Ben Sidran – Ballad of a Thin Man

Of this batch, there were two terrible choices that I thumbed-down (thumbs-downed?) after about 30 seconds (Dave Matthews Band and D-Influence) and two that I thought were really good matches in terms of vibe, tempo, and vocals (The RH Factor and Con Brio).

The Verdict

Spotify served up a really solid collection of tracks that were very much in line with the vibe of the original track. I was quite impressed by Spotify’s list, enjoying the entire hour-plus of music. I’m not sure what they’re using to generate the list of suggestions, but their algorithm is pretty darn good.

I was surprised at how underwhelmed I was by Pandora’s line-up, especially when Dave Matthews hit (shudder). I ended up cutting my listening short because Pandora just wasn’t holding my attention. It wasn’t a complete failure, though, giving me two excellent tracks I’d never heard before.

One other difference between the two offerings: Spotify allows unlimited “thumbs down”s while Pandora cuts off at 12 per day for free users (and 6 per hour for all users).

Pandora’s the go-to for smart radio, but Spotify’s starting to make things interesting. (MOG: you should come along for the ride!)

The White Panther Party (WPP) of Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan was a radical counterculture group which became a major target for the FBI’s counter-intelligence (or “COINTELPRO”) program between 1968 and 1971. In October of 1970, the FBI referred to the White Panthers as “potentially the largest and most dangerous of revolutionary organizations in the United States.” However, just three years earlier, the group’s leaders hosted a “Love-In” on Detroit’s Belle Isle, presided over by John Sinclair, whom the Detroit News proclaimed “High Priest of the Detroit hippies.”

The formation and name of the group came from an interview given by Black Panther leader at the time, Huey Newton. Newton was asked what white people could do to support the Black Panther Party; he replied that they could start a White Panther Party.

In a later interview, Newton clarified:

MOVEMENT: Your comments about the white prisoners seemed encouraging. Do you see the possibility of organizing a white Panther Party in opposition to the establishment possibly among poor and working whites?

HUEY: Well as I put it before Black Power is people’s power and as far as organizing white people we give white people the privilege of having a mind and we want them to get a body. They can organize themselves. We can tell them what they should do, what their responsibility is if they’re going to claim to be white revolutionaries or white mother country radicals, and that is to arm themselves and support the colonies around the world in their just struggle against imperialism. But anything more than that they will have to do on their own.

The group existed from 1968 through 1975 and spawned rock band MC5. The Panthers lived at 1510 and 1520 Hill St. in Ann Arbor. Their biggest moment came 40 years ago, on December 10th, when they staged a concert/rally that drew 15,000 attendees in support of their jailed leader. Speakers included Allen Ginsberg and Bobby Seale and performers included John and Yoko Ono, Archie Shepp and Roswell Rudd, Stevie Wonder, protest singer Phil Ochs, and of course, MC5. YouTube has 70+ minutes of video from the concert, available in two parts.

This weekend, there’s a reunion.

Further reading on the White Panthers and their role in the movement:

• The John and Leni Sinclair Papers, 1957-1999
• A Panther is a Blank Cat: Differences between The Black & White Panthers in Theory and Practice
• The White Panthers’ “Total Assault on the Culture”
• obligatory Wikipedia entry

Seen

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, directed by Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman

While this documentary won’t change the mind of someone whose views are set about “radical” activism, it will no doubt show that there is a big difference between groups like Al-Qaeda and organizations like the ELF/ALF. And it does make one wonder about the “#1 domestic terrorist threat” being an organization that has never physically harmed a person. (That said, their tactics are certainly not ones that I would ever choose to use, but I can understand the thought process behind them.)

There is a bias to the documentary, but even so, it does give a legitimate voice to the victims of the activists’ actions such that the film doesn’t feel like a propaganda piece. Worth watching.

Heard

France Gall: Baby Pop

A while back, I asked on Quora, “What are some amazing upbeat ye-ye albums?,” looking for music similar Chantal Goya’s amazing songs from Godard’s Masculin/Féminin soundtrack. It took a while, but I finally got a bunch of great suggestions from Brie Larson.

I dug in this week and checked out France Gall’s 1966 album Baby Pop. It seems to have been the trend for the most successful ye-ye singers to be pretty young women that didn’t necessarily have the most amazing vocal range, but could carry a tune and look innocent and naive while doing it. Gall fits this role: you can hear some inconsistencies in her vocals, but the songs are catchy as all get-out and downright fun.

Read

Land of the Lost Souls: My Life on the Streets by Cadillac Man

I recently finished this book I received through LibraryThing‘s Early Reviewers program. It’s pretty much what you’d expect from a tale of homelessness as told by one that lived through it: stories of violence, spiraling depression, and a healthy dose of quirky characters. Land of Lost Souls gives us a glance into the everyday lives of the people we pass on the street, often without a second thought.

Though the book’s chronology jumps all over the place, making it hard to get your bearings on your place within Cadillac Man’s life, the structure turns out not to be all that important. What is important are the individual stories, like the touching story of Penny, a 19-year-old runaway who Cadillac Man develops both a fatherly and sexual relationship with before helping to reconnect her with her family. That sounds creepy, but it’s more that it’s just how things go in that environment.

Recommended.

(Cadillac Man reads a selection from his book in this CSPAN video from a couple of years ago.)

They all agreed with Rokeach that there could only be one Jesus Christ. Joseph was the first to take up the contradiction. ‘He says he’s the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. I can’t get it. I know who I am. I’m God, Christ, the Holy Ghost, and if I wasn’t, by gosh, I wouldn’t lay claim to anything of the sort … I know this is an insane house and you have to be very careful.’ Very quickly he decided that the other two were insane, the proof being that they were in a mental hospital, weren’t they? Therefore Clyde and Leon were merely to be ‘laughed off’. Clyde concluded that the other two were ‘rerises’, lower beings, and anyway dead. He took, perhaps, the most godlike tone: ‘I am him. See? Now understand that!’ Leon, who became adept at ducking and diving in order to maintain his position without causing the social disruption they all found threatening, explained that the other two were ‘hollowed-out instrumental gods’. When Rokeach pushed Leon to say that Joseph wasn’t God, he replied, “‘He’s an instrumental god, now please don’t try to antagonise him.”

This is an interesting look at how shaky the ethics of psychological studies can be, particularly during this time period. It was kind of shocking to see the justification for this type of experiment:

In the book Rokeach acknowledges that his experiment with his children had to stop where the trial of the three Christs started, with signs of distress: ‘Because it is not feasible to study such phenomena with normal people, it seemed reasonable to focus on delusional systems of belief in the hope that, in subjecting them to strain, there would be little to lose and, hopefully, a great deal to gain.’ This is a very magisterial ‘non-deluded’ view of who in the world has or has not little to lose. Evidently, the mad, having no lives worth speaking of, might benefit from interference, but if they didn’t, if indeed their lives were made worse, it hardly mattered, since such lives were already worthless non-lives. It also incorporated the bang-up-to-the-moment idea that if you want to know about normality you could do worse than watch and manipulate the mad.

Despite having gained some insight into delusion, in a later edition of his book book The Three Christs of Ypsilanti, Rokeach expresses regret at having conducted the study:

There were, he says, four people with delusional beliefs, not three. He failed to take himself into account, and the three Christs, not cured themselves, had cured him of his ‘God-like delusion that I could change them by omnipotently and omnisciently arranging and rearranging their daily lives’. He came to realise that he had no right to play God and interfere, and was increasingly uncomfortable about the ethics of his experiment. ‘I was cured when I was able to leave them in peace, and it was mainly Leon who somehow persuaded me that I should leave them in peace.’

(I’d be remiss if I didn’t admit amusement with the name changes the participants made during the course of the study. Two worth considering for your next child: Dr. Domino Dominorum et Rex Rexarum, Simplis Christianus Pueris Mentalis Doktor and Dr. Righteous Idealed Dung.)

Soviet computer manufacture had a promising beginning with devices such as the MESM, which when it was produced in 1950 was the first universally programmable computer in continental Europe. By today’s standards, you’d have to fill the Empire State Building full of MESMs to have the same processing power as an iPhone. Later Soviet block computers were invariably based on Western counterparts with a myriad of Sinclair Spectrum clones, an Apple II based machine, PC compatibles and later on, Vax based systems from Robotron in East Germany.

My favorite is the AGAT from 1983, a machine commissioned by the USSR Ministry of Radio that was “only partially compatible with Apple.” That monitor is something else! (And so is that color choice.)

Apparently, because of the lack of a source for a 6502 processor, they initially used a “partitioned 588 series” CPU that simulated 6502 instructions. Additionally, the ROM (presumably when they shifted to an actual 6502) still had Steve Wozniak’s name in memory. The unit was primarily used in school settings and had an available “Schkol’nitza” (“schoolgirl”) package to help teachers make use of it.

Curious about the AGAT computing experience? Of course there’s an emulator available.

The Center will resemble a mid-sized American city, including urban canyons, suburban neighborhoods, rural communities and distant localities. It will offer the only of its kind opportunity to replicate the real-world challenges of upgrading existing city infrastructure to that of a 21st Century smart city, operating within a green economy.

“The idea for The Center was born out of our own company’s challenges in trying to test new and emerging technologies beyond the confines of a sterile lab environment,” Robert H. Brumley, Pegasus Global’s CEO said. “As entrepreneurs, we saw a global need and stepped up to address it. The Center will allow private companies, not for profits, educational institutions and government agencies to test in a unique facility with real world infrastructure, allowing them to better understand the cost and potential limitations of new technologies prior to introduction.”

…

Construction of The Center’s test facilities and supporting infrastructure may require as much as 20 square miles of open, unimproved land. It will be designed to represent the current mix of old and new infrastructure found in most modern U.S. cities.

The Center will provide the opportunity for “end-to-end” testing, evaluation and demonstration of new intelligent and green technologies and innovations emerging from the world’s public laboratories, universities, and the private sector with the goal of determining the direct and indirect benefits and costs the innovations tested would have on our existing infrastructure.

For example, this controlled environment would permit evaluation of the positive and negative impacts of smart grid applications and integration of renewable energies for residential, commercial and industrial sectors of the economy. Additional testing opportunities would include technologies emerging in intelligent traffic systems, next-generation wireless networks, smart grid cyber security and terrorism vulnerability.

Is it weird that I’d like to take a vacation there?

(via Engadget)

When I think of those East End lights, muggy nights,
The curtains drawn in the little room downstairs.
Prima Donna, lord, you really should have been there,
Sitting like a princess perched in her electric chair.
And it’s one more beer and I don’t hear you anymore.
We’ve all gone crazy lately,
My friends out there rolling round the basement floor.

And someone saved my life tonight sugar bear.
You almost had your hooks in me didn’t you, dear…
You nearly had me roped and tied,
Altar-bound, hypnotized,
Sweet freedom whispered in my ear.
You’re a butterfly…
And butterflies are free to fly,
Fly away, high away, bye bye.

I’ve long been a fan of this song, but never really knew the story behind it. The “Prima Donna” referred to is Linda Woodrow (now, Linda Hannon), who John was engaged to in 1969. According to Hannon, in 1970, John came home drunk one night and broke off the marriage, saying he had to put his career first. Though Hannon disputes that she was “dominating” or “had [her] hooks in [him],” John credits fellow singer Long John Baldry with talking him out of the marriage, making Baldry the “someone” in the song’s title.

Baldry and John were in a band together in the mid-60s called Bluesology, along with future Soft Machine member Elton Dean. John developed his stage name by combining Elton Dean and John Baldry’s first names. Baldry himself was gay and came out as such in the early 1960s. John didn’t come out until the late 1980s after a failed marriage.

Whether or not both John and Hannon felt the relationship was as one-sided as John paints it in his lyrics, it’s clear that he was conflicted at the time not only about how a marriage would affect his burgeoning career, but also his own sexuality, making “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” such a deeply personal song that is still extremely evocative, even 36 years later.

I never realised the passing hours of evening showers,
A slip noose hanging in my darkest dreams,
I’m strangled by your haunted social scene,
Just a pawn out-played by a dominating queen.
It’s four o’clock in the morning,
Damn it, listen to me good,
I’m sleeping with myself tonight,
Saved in time, thank God my music’s still alive.

And I would have walked head on into the deep end of the river
Clinging to your stocks and bonds,
Paying your H.P. demands forever.
They’re coming in the morning with a truck to take me home
Someone saved my life tonight, someone saved my life tonight.
Someone saved my life tonight, someone saved my life tonight.
Someone saved my life tonight.
So save your strength and run the field you play alone.

I had to laugh.

(Random Maury-blog-post-related story: A few years back at WebVisions in Portland, Paul and I were standing around with a few people, one of whom was Matt Haughey. Since Matt was the one who helped make the Maury post a sensation, I thought I’d be funny and introduce myself to him as Maury. He looked at me like I was an idiot and moved on.)

1. Rootd Tea’s history of and brewing suggestions for Tie Guan Yin

2. Chan Teas’ overview of the processing of Tie Guan Yin

3. An amazing 38-minute CNTV video about Tie Guan Yin

(via the previously mentioned Chan Teas post)

There are a few tracks I wasn’t able to get on here (stuff by the Beastie Boys and Honey Ear Trio), but otherwise it’s a nice little mix of hip-hop, reggae, dubstep, and folk. Admittedly, it’s a bit heavy on the hip-hop and beat side of things, but hey. That’s what you get.

Comments appreciated.

Anyway, they’ve posted a picture I sent along and I posted a short video showing what I won:

(If you’re on ex.fm, here’s my profile page.)

Rainbow Records

With records, CDs, and tapes stacked from ceiling to roof making 95% of them inaccessible, this store is “organized” in a hoarder-esque fashion. There’s only a small pathway and in the few minutes I was there, the owner of the store knocked stacks of CDs over three times and had a heck of a time getting a stool back in its place. As messy and crazy as it is, though, you can tell there’s a lot of love there. I felt bad for not buying anything here because stores with such eccentricities are worth supporting, but I couldn’t find anything of interest and what I did see was pretty overpriced (99-cent bin-worthy albums selling for $9). I suspect that among the stacks, there are some gems hiding.

To quote one Yelp reviewer: “One day, someone will read an obituary in the New York Times about finding the owner of this shop buried alive and rotting under a mammoth stack of used CDs.”

Kim’s Video and Music

As we walked by this storefront, Huyen pointed out that the TV out front was showing one of the best movies I’ve seen in recent years, Czech director Jan Švankmajer’s 1988 Alice, a mindbending live action/stop-motion version of Alice in Wonderland. When I inquired about it inside, I found out that it’s now available as an import Blu-Ray. Consider my mind blown. Sadly, they were out of stock, but I did get a chance to browse their amazing collection of import movies and indie music. I walked out with only a $3 bargain DVD (the documentary Friends Forever), showing a lot of restraint.

Tropicalia In Furs

My favorite of the three shops, we stumbled on this one by accident, drawn in by a store window that made it look like a vintage electronics shop. The selection here is very carefully curated, with a super high quality selection of original pressing jazz and funk records (if only they were alphabetized!) and a breathtaking selection of 1960s and 70s 7″s from France, Africa, and India. They didn’t have any Chantal Goya, but I did pick up one ye-ye record, one calypso record, and an hip-hop EP from ’98. Neat, neat shop.

On the front page is my timely take on the Super Bowl that year. In the piece titled, “Super Bowl Disgrace,” I eloquently and impartially declare “This game was the WORST Super Bowl disgrace, except for the 1979 Super Bowl XIII when Pittsburgh beat Dallas.” Also provided is a handy sidebar of the most significant Super Bowl blowouts (nice touch, 12-year-old me!).

In “Scoops About Our Staff,” the paragraph about me helpfully shares, “He likes hoagies.” Indeed!

On the same page is an uncredited contribution that’s clearly mine: a capsule review of L.L. Cool J’s Bigger and Deffer. What exactly the difference was between a check plus and five checks, I’m not sure. And I clearly understood that James Todd Smith was trying to target the lucrative “12-23″ age bracket with his release. This may have been my first published music review.

On the last page, I took out an ad (is that ethical?) to sell my homebrew software for the Apple II. Football (surely Tackle Smash Kill!!) is mentioned, as is wrestling, which I’d completely forgotten about. (Note to self: create a Youtube series of run-throughs for games I wrote as a kid.) I even offered readers quite the deal: “A free random number generator to give variety to your programs.”

When I bought this shirt, I wondered how long it would take wearing it before someone would “get” it. I’m happy to report that only four hours into day one, I got my first response to it.

I was sitting out by the lake reading at lunchtime when a guy walked by and says, “Awesome shirt! I love it!” I reacted with surprise that he actually understood it and he explained that he’s the VP of Marketing for a well-known tech firm located in the next building over.

“I’m helping put together a big 6,000 square foot Art of Video Games exhibit at the Smithsonian,” he told me.

“That’s amazing,” I replied and then we went back and forth in a game of Odyssey^2 game tennis.

“Remember the Lord of the Rings knock-off? And Wall Street?”

“Pick Axe Pete?”

“Hell yeah! KC Munchkin!”

Which reminds me. I totally need to create a Pick Axe Pete t-shirt.

Ali notes that when he was nine years old and had mostly black friends, he was fully accepted by them and felt that he was one of them. By this, I presume he means he felt entitled to use the n-word amongst them. But as he grew older, he realized why being down didn’t give him the right, as a white person, to use that word.

I remember struggling with this a bit growing up, too. While I wasn’t in a situation where my friends were mostly black (c’mon – my high school of 2000 people had 10 black students), I do remember feeling that because I was so deeply into hip-hop that I somehow had a pass to use that word in my lyrics. You know, artistically. I only used it once or twice, but looking back, I still feel guilt for ever even letting such a loaded word escape my lips.

A key point in this interview comes where Ali says, “We have to own our relationship to our injustice in the world.” We all are the culmination of the history that proceeded us and as a white person, it’s undeniable that I’m still reaping the benefits of the systemic discrimination of minorities in the years before I was born (and, indeed, in the years since). I can’t help what happened, but accepting it, realizing it, and “own[ing] our relationship” to it is an important step in addressing race honestly.

Somehow–and honestly, I don’t remember how–I was given the opportunity to write for Reggae Report magazine, one of the most widely (if not the most widely) circulated print reggae magazine. It was quite a privilege to write for them and I was in some truly good company, especially considering how green I was. I can remember editor Sara Gurgen’s surprise when she had to explain to me what “ital” food was (and look at me now, one of the top five Google search results for the phrase!).

During my college stint, I wrote lots of reviews and the occasional feature article, including interviews with Mad Professor and Half Pint. I’ve always been thankful to the magazine’s founder M. Peggy Quattro and editor Sara Gurgen for giving me that shot. Because of that gig, I was introduced to amazing music and amazing people.

Today, Peggy celebrates her 30th year in the reggae business. If you know your music history, you may also know that today marks 30 years since Bob Marley died. It was quite a first day on the job for Peggy, who describes the day on Reggae Report‘s Facebook page:

10 a.m., May 11, 1981, I walk into DTAM with a heightened sense that something big was about to happen. I was imagining getting to meet Bob Marley, although I knew he was very ill and passing through Miami on his journey back home to Jamaica. I was nervous and excited at the same time. Don wasn’t there yet so I took it upon myself to organize my new office. There were pictures of Bob and Jimmy, posters, gold records, and boxes of papers and receipts everywhere. Herman, Don’s go-to guy/driver had reported in to help. By 11 a.m. I had my space semi-worked out and Herman and I chatted about Bob and he let me know just how serious Bob’s illness was. I was devastated. No, not Bob, not now. There was so much more for him to do, concerts to give, songs to record, lives to touch.

Don came bursting in looking very grave and serious. He barked a few instructions to get ready for Jimmy Cliff coming into town in a couple days. Oh my, I thought, Jimmy Cliff! You can get it if you really want it, harder they come…I was going to meet my idol, the man drawing 80,000-100,000 fans in Europe and Brazil. This was great!

At 11:45 a.m. the phone rang. Rita Marley asking for Don. My stomach sank. Don grabbed the call and raced out the door. Not before stopping to look me in the eye and say, “If anyone calls, you know nothing.” In fact, I knew nothing, but the sinking feeling grew and Herman and I looked at each other with a knowing glance that this was possibly it. The moment everyone dreaded, the moment we prayed not to happen, we knew. Bob was gone.

30 years later, she’s launching a new project, raising funds through Kickstarter for the Reggae Report Archive. She’s making available the entire magazine archive as well as exclusive audio interviews (I’ll have to dig up some of my old tapes!) and video. It’s a great project and if reggae music has made a mark on your life, I encourage you to drop a few coins in the bucket:

Congrats to MPQ and best of luck with this great endeavor.

This post details how the graph was created: the sources, the decision to show only male parentage, and the applications used to delve into the complex data set. Creator Robert Rouse describes his filtering decisions:

I made this using a tool called Gephi which is great for deep analysis of complex networks, especially social connections. Instead of a social network, I mapped blood relationships. But, not all of them ended up in the final view. The first filter I applied was to show only the male parentage, for two reasons: 1) the Bible generally lists longer genealogies by fathers only, and 2) interconnections with spouses and mothers create an intricate web which makes it far too difficult to follow on a large scale (as shown above). The second filter I applied was to remove any person whose ancestry could not be traced all the way back to Adam and Eve. These people and connections appear as distracting “floaters”…

None of this is to say that spouses, mothers, and “floater” families are unimportant. If they were, I doubt they’d be listed in the Bible at all. Rather, the intent here is to make long, complex chains that link from God the Father to God the Son easier to follow and understand. For many people, visual displays are easier to comprehend than a list of names spread across multiple books of the Bible. But, not every kind of visual display does the job. Besides the filters I’ve mentioned above, I experimented with different layouts.

Fascinating stuff from a data visualization perspective alone.

(via My Heritage Blog)