Running The Numbers III: 2008 in Music

Albums released in 2008 that I listened to more than once and still have a non-trivial number of songs in my iTunes library as of today. Best way I can think of to describe what I liked last year without resorting to an arbitrary top ten/whatever list.

  1. Alastair Galbraith – Orb
  2. Antietam – Opus Mixtum
  3. Aterciopelados – Rio
  4. Au Revoir Borealis – Dark Enough For Stars
  5. Auburn Lull – Begin Civil Twilight
  6. Avrocar – Against The Dying Of The Light
  7. The B-52’s – Funplex
  8. Barbara Morgenstern – BM
  9. Bardo Pond – Batholith
  10. Barn Owl – From Our Mouths A Perpetual Light
  11. Beangrowers – Not In A Million Lovers
  12. Belong – Colorloss Record
  13. Belong – Same Places
  14. Benoît Pioulard – Temper
  15. Bitcrush – Epilogue In Waves
  16. The Black Angels – Directions To See A Ghost
  17. The Breeders – Mountain Battles
  18. The Brian Jonestown Massacre – My Bloody Underground
  19. Brightblack Morning Light – Motion To Rejoin
  20. The Broken West – Now Or Heaven
  21. Caesars – Strawberry Weed
  22. Calexico – Carried To Dust
  23. Camille – Music Hole
  24. Caramelitus – El Otro Habitat EP
  25. Cat Power – Jukebox
  26. Celer – Discourses Of The Withered
  27. Cloudland Canyon – Lie In Light
  28. Clue To Kalo – Lily Perdida
  29. Crystal Stilts – Alight Of Night
  30. David Byrne & Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
  31. David Gilmour – Live In Gdansk
  32. The Declining Winter – Goodbye Minnesota
  33. Duffy – Rockferry
  34. The Duke Spirit – Neptune
  35. Ed Kuepper – Ed Kuepper Live
  36. Ed Kuepper – Ed Kuepper Live Vol. 2
  37. Ed Kuepper – Ed Kuepper Live Vol. 3: The Euroboot Album
  38. The Fall – Imperial Wax Solvent
  39. Fennesz – Black Sea
  40. First Communion Afterparty – Sorry For All The Mondays And To Those Who Can’t Sing
  41. Fuck Buttons – Street Horrrsing
  42. Gas – Nah Und Fern
  43. Grails – Doomsdayer’s Holiday
  44. Grails – Take Refuge In Clean Living
  45. Grouper – Dragging A Dead Dear Up A Hill
  46. Headless Heroes – The Silence Of Love
  47. Helen Boulding – New Red Dress
  48. Hollow Ox – Hollow Ox
  49. Infadels – Universe In Reverse
  50. James Blackshaw – Litany Of Echoes
  51. Jane Birkin – Enfants D’hiver
  52. Jasper TX – Black Sleep
  53. Jasper TX – Closet Ghosts
  54. Jasper TX – This Quiet Season
  55. Je Suis Animal – Self-Taught Magic From A Book
  56. Juliana Hatfield – How To Walk Away
  57. Kontakte – Soundtracks To Lost Road Movies
  58. Ladytron – Velocifero
  59. Lakes Of Russia – Stars Decorate The Fire
  60. Lau Nau – Nukkuu
  61. Lawrence English – Kiri No Oto
  62. Lights Out Asia – Eyes Like Brontide
  63. Lola Dutronic – In Berlin
  64. The Long Blondes – Couples
  65. The Lovetones – Dimensions
  66. M83 – Saturdays = Youth
  67. Native Korean Rock & The Fishnets – Native Korean Rock & The Fishnets
  68. Nicole Atkins – Digs Other People’s Songs
  69. Our Sleepless Forest – Our Sleepless Forest
  70. Piano Magic – Dark Horses EP
  71. Portishead – Third
  72. The Postmarks – By The Numbers
  73. The Quarter After – Changes Near
  74. Quiet Village – Silent Movie
  75. R.E.M. – Accelerate
  76. The Raveonettes – Sometimes They Drop By
  77. The Raveonettes – Wishing You A Rave Christmas
  78. Red Sparowes – Aphorisms
  79. Sam Phillips – Don’t Do Anything
  80. School Of Seven Bells – Alpinisms
  81. Scott Tuma – Not For Nobody
  82. Secret Machines – Secret Machines
  83. The Shortwave Set – Replica Sun Machine
  84. Sophie Hunger – Monday’s Ghost
  85. Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis – Indian Giver
  86. Spiritualized – Songs In A&E
  87. Stereolab – Chemical Chords
  88. Steve Kilbey – Painkiller
  89. Suki Ewers – Kind Of Hazy
  90. Thee American Revolution – Buddha Electrostorm
  91. Ulaan Khol – Ulaan Khol I
  92. Ulaan Khol – Ulaan Khol II
  93. The Verve – Forth
  94. Vivian Girls – Vivian Girls
  95. The Walkmen – You & Me
  96. White Hinterland – Luniculaire EP
  97. Windy & Carl – Songs For The Broken Hearted
  98. Windy Weber – I Hate People
  99. Wire – Object 47
  100. Wooden Shjips – Wooden Shjips Vol. 1
  101. Wye Oak – If Children
  102. Yellow6 – When The Leaves Fall Like Snow
  103. Yo La Tengo – They Shoot, We Score

Running The Numbers II: 2008 in Movies

What I watched in 2008. Only counting things I saw for the first time.

  1. 28 Weeks Later (2007)
  2. American Gangster (2007)
  3. Arabesque (1966)
  4. Atonement (2007)
  5. Australia (2008)
  6. The Bank Job (2008)
  7. Battle Beneath The Earth (1967)
  8. Beautiful Losers (2008)
  9. Brass Target (1978)
  10. Breach (2007)
  11. Burn After Reading (2008)
  12. Charley Varrick (1973)
  13. Cloverfield (2008)
  14. Control (2007)
  15. Crazy Love (2007)
  16. The Dark Knight (2008)
  17. Disturbia (2007)
  18. Enchanted (2007)
  19. Encounters At The End Of The World (2007)
  20. The Enemy Below (1957)
  21. The Fast And The Furious (1955)
  22. The Fastest Guitar Alive (1967)
  23. Flawless (2007)
  24. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
  25. The Good German (2006)
  26. Gran Torino (2008)
  27. I’m Not There (2007)
  28. In Bruges (2008)
  29. Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008)
  30. Into The Wild (2007)
  31. Iron Man (2008)
  32. Jandek On Corwood (2003)
  33. Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007)
  34. The Last Woman On Earth (1960)
  35. The Laughing Policeman (1973)
  36. Leatherheads (2008)
  37. Man On Wire (2008)
  38. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (2008)
  39. Pacific Rendezvous (1942)
  40. Paris, je t’aime (2006)
  41. Persepolis (2007)
  42. Phenomena (1985)
  43. Pineapple Express (2008)
  44. Quantum Of Solace (2008)
  45. The Rat Race (1960)
  46. Recount (2008)
  47. Revolutionary Road (2008)
  48. Serenity (2005)
  49. The Sniper (1952)
  50. Someone’s Watching Me (1978)
  51. Speed Racer (2008)
  52. Sweet And Lowdown (1999)
  53. The Ten (2007)
  54. There Will Be Blood (2007)
  55. Tropic Thunder (2008)
  56. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
  57. Viva Las Vegas (1964)
  58. WALL-E (2008)
  59. What We Do Is Secret (2007)
  60. Word Wars (2004)
  61. The X Files: I Want To Believe (2008)
  62. You Kill Me (2007)

Running The Numbers I: 2008 in Books

What I read in 2008:

  1. 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs — The Election that Changed the Country by James Chace
  2. An Eye at the Top of the World by Pete Takeda
  3. Flicker by Theodore Roszak
  4. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon by Crystal Zevon
  5. Japrocksampler: How the Post-War Japanese Blew Their Minds on Rock ‘n’ Roll by Julian Cope
  6. Led Zeppelin’s “Led Zeppelin IV” (33 1/3 series) by Erik Davis
  7. Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
  8. R.E.M.’s Murmur (33 1/3) by J. Niimi
  9. Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes by Sylvie Simmons
  10. The First World War by John Keegan
  11. The Formula by Steve Shagan
  12. The Other End by John Shirley
  13. The Prankster and the Conspiracy: The Story of Kerry Thornley and How He Met Oswald and Inspired the Counterculture by Adam Gorightly
  14. The Road to Ubar: Finding the Atlantis of the Sands by Nicholas Clapp
  15. Three Days to Never by Tim Powers
  16. Throbbing Gristle’s Twenty Jazz Funk Greats (33 1/3) by Drew Daniel
  17. Tommy Dorsey: Livin’ in a Great Big Way by Peter J. Levinson
  18. Washington Station: My Life as a KGB Spy in America by Yuri Shvets

Birthdays

I’m not surprised at all to discover that Godzilla and Steve Ditko share the same birthday today. The only way this could be even more appropriate was if it was election day. Oh wait…

Speaking of birthdays, mine was last week. Anyone reading this blog knows that I don’t really comprehend any of the clichéd “middle-aged male life crisis” crap that’s peddled to guys my age so if I had to choose some kind of measurement unit standard here, I’ll go with pop-culture based ones. Therefore, I am no longer:

hitchhikersguide_cover.jpg

I am now:

43petty57olds.jpg

This year’s birthday wasn’t quite last years’ where Kristin and I went to Portland for an extravaganza of cheap beer, video games, and tax-free shopping, but a Secret Machines show and the Divey Steak Bar That Time Forgot were worthy substitutes – especially with yummy Gumbo Pot beignets substituting for birthday cake.

I do have to throw in one “yay me!” here. A couple times during my twenty-fifth high school reunion last month I was asked the dreaded “so what are you doing” question. After my usual stream of “blahcomputersblahblahmusicblah” several people replied with “wow, that’s exactly what I thought you would be doing.” Ummm… yay me!

24 or so Flickrs per second

Going against the tide of Flickr curmedgeons, here’s some Flickr video from the QC archives:

Alkali flies on the ground at Mono Lake. They don’t bite at all, but it’s unnerving walking around them and seeing them flee and reorient as you walk around.

Some Mono Lake shoreline to go along with the flies.

A flyby of the last remaining Northrop Flying Wing prototype.

Pulling the iPhone trigger

CKB iPhoneSeven days after my 16GB iPhone arrived, my gut reaction from last July still stands. To me the iPhone feels more like a piece of high-end test equipment or something from the glory days of HP’s calculator design studio than the flimsy plastic phones I’ve had over the years. Sure there will be a 3G model in a few months, but that final “push me over the edge” purchasing moment wasn’t solely the release of the SDK, but a aggregation of things: the SDK, the big iPhone seminar track at WWDC, all the excitement among developers I respect. I’m certainly not enough of a developer to be on the 2.0 beta fast track, but I did conclude that’s it’s kinda important for me to get up to speed on it. Not because it’s a phone or an iPod Touch or whatever the hell Apple comes up with, but mainly because it’s the first new Apple OS since OS X and I believe that most of the interesting new development stuff is going to happen on it rather than on OS X. At least until Lion or whatever cat 10.6 ends up being.

Some notes so far:

  • The only way I could get AT&T to transfer my mobile number from T-Mobile was if I contracted under AT&T’s pre-paid GoPhone plan. AT&T couldn’t give me a satisfactory answer and suggested that I switch to a regular plan later.
  • I’ve barely used my iPod since getting the phone. Using it now feels like going back to OS 7 on a Mac Plus. My observation last year about “eventually all small devices like this are going to work this way” is apparently still holding.
  • Sound quality is substantially better on the iPhone than on my 5G iPod, even when holding earphone variables constant.
  • Mobile Safari is pretty handy, but I appreciate mobile-browser optimized web sites much more. If anything, they’re less cluttered and rarely have advertisements.

Voting

There’s a ton of hysteria about the extra box you have to check if you’re a non-partisian voter in L.A. County who wants to vote on the Demoocratic ballot, and unlike Kos, et. al who are fanning the flames, the directions were pretty explicit from the sample ballot I received in the mail (page two says to check the box!) to the instructions you read on the ballot itself.

Bureaucracy doesn’t have to make sense.

Anyway I suppose I should have joined in with the folks who were taking pictures of their polling place, but everything was running smoothly this morning (I voted at the Oasis Christian Center on Wilshire). Took all of ten minutes.

There was a video crew from Time.com down the street and they ended up interviewing me for the site (note to self: when thinking, make sure your eyes are open). Techincally though, I’m not part of “a group of California Democrats,” – I’m non-partisian and just happened to vote on a Democratic ballot.