Albums and Artists of the year -- 2010, preface

OK, so for the past couple years I’ve done my favorite artists and albums of the year. This year will be no different. I have to preface these lists by saying that these are just the albums that I enjoyed the most over the past 12 months. There were likely two week spans for each of them where I literally listened to them nonstop. That is one of the defining criteria for me for an album or artist of the year – I kept on coming back to them.

I love music and sports. I can’t get enough of them. Honestly, it’s all I can do to keep up with both of them. I’ve been told that I hyperfocus on these things. At this point, I just embrace it. I understand that it impacts other areas of my life, but the hedonistic side of me leads me to indulge in these pursuits. I swear, I can’t help it!

Over this past year, there were some interesting trends. Rap that didn’t sound like rap (see Diddy Dirty Money’s “Last Train to Paris” [which is not one of my albums of the year, but certainly provoking]), house music that didn’t sound like house music (specifically, “witch house” [see oOoOO’s self-titled album]), and dubstep that didn’t sound like dubstep (see Jack Sparrow’s “Circadian”). These past two albums ended up on my honorable mention list. I won’t go into detail about them here, but there’s definitely some good music there. I also liked “Down There” by Avey Tare (member of Animal Collective), as well as Four Tet’s “There is Love in You.” I had to mention these artists, but they did not make my final cut.

Also, this year I chose to submit three, not two lists for your review. This year I’m going to do a Top Ten Albums of the Year, a Top Five Hip-Hop Albums of the Year, and a Top Ten Artists of the Year. All of these lists are in no particular order.

The final artists of the year list may prove to be somewhat controversial. Some of these artists are polarizing, some of them did not even release albums, and some of them may have only released a few songs that were just such bangers that I had to mention them.

For me, there are a couple iconic songs of 2010. Gyptian’s “Hold Me” is one, Chris Brown’s “Deuces” is another, and Big Boi’s “Shutterbug” is the last. These are all excellent sings that I’ve probably listened to hundreds of times over the past 12 months.

Wow, I can’t stop blabbing about all this music. Well, I’m going to put the finishing touches on my list, and I will be submitting it here over the next week.

Talk to you soon, and thanks for listening, Dave

State of the State -- Christmas 2010

Can you tell that I got this photo off of google images? Yeah, I think it’s probably pretty easy to tell. Still, ice skating on ponds is pretty sweet. I can’t even remember the last time I did it, and I was probably scared of falling through, but it’s a nice thought. I remember a kids book from growing up that had like all these dutch kids skating down frozen rivers. That’s what I want to do – get on some big skates and just skate down some thin long river where the ice won’t break.

Well, it’s been a good 2010. I know that the year isn’t over yet, but it feels like it’s getting close. No need to give a full recap, it’s been a whirlwind, but certainly the most productive, busy, and rewarding year I’ve ever had. I can’t say enough how thankful I am for the support of my friends and family, as this life requires a lot of hard work and dedication. At times I have been awfully stressed, but mercifully there are always responsive friends who will pick up the phone when I call stressed out.

But enough about me, let’s talk about some of the artists of 2010…

Ongoing Maintenance, and Impressive Links

Ok, first, here are a couple of impressive links. I don’t know what to think about google tv. Honestly, I don’t put much weight into these new google labs technologies. What was the most recent one that came out? Oh yeah, Google Wave. Yeah, exactly. Nobody knows what google wave is and nobody uses it. I don’t think anybody uses google tv and nobody knows how to use it either.

Searching for the Future of Television - Technology Review

Second, wikileaks. I don’t know how familiar you are with cablegate, but I really think it’s one of the most interesting, bizarre, and revealing occurences of modern time. There were a couple weeks there where every day nytimes was writing a new article about something. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

The Blast Shack (a take on The Wikileaks Cablegate scandal

"im sure that i could fall in love with you"

Lyrics from Count and Sinden’s “Hold Me”


the moonlight and the heat
has got us on the street
my heart is thumping like the beat
as you walk up to me
the light reflecting on my skin
has got you wondering
how it would feel to hold me

open up your heart
i see the colour red
my cheeks are blushing too
from thoughts inside my head
open up your eyes
i see the colour blue
im sure that i could fall in love with you

Bump it Up

Ok, gotta get a post to bump down the creepy image below. I always get worried about posting creepy images, sorry about that. Ok lemme get a christmas post poppin here.

Merrrrrry christmas everyone! It’s a white christmas in this neck of the woods, some snow on the ground. Nice and cold outside. A little overcast, but I hear that the sound is coming out tmrw.

I’m wearing this old navy techno hoodie right now. It’s got headphones built into the drawstrings. So I just plug in my ipod in an interior pocket and put the earbuds in my ears. It looks a little goofy, but I’m feelin it right now. Having said that, my mom and bro are in the room, but whatevs. We’ve opened presents and getting ready for an early dinner.

Ok I gotta post again hold on.

No Hands

DJ turn me up…

Good morning everyone. It’s very dark and rainy here. I’m looking at the radar and it looks like it’s gonna be wet for a while. I’ve texted several people so far this morning to see if anyone wants to get breakfast, but nobody’s gotten back to me. Ben, Luke, Monica – wtf? I know that we’re all challenged, but come on, we need eggs bad. We’ll see if anyone gets back to me, but it’s not looking good.

I would cook, but the kitchen is still kind of a mess from the last time I cooked, so I prob shouldn’t do that. Maybe a better idea to do dishes and go grocery shopping. Genius…

Big day sports wise. Gotta watch the BC Maryland bball game and the Pats Bears foosball game. Should be a couple good ones. Let’s hope that the good guys go 2 for 2!

Jeff thinks I should be playing basketball with him on Sunday mornings. I didn’t really realize that I was invited. Why am I hesitant? Cause I’m rusty, or cause I’m out of shape, or both? Unclear. Maybe I’ll get in shape this week and play next week.

Hmmm ok I gotta eat something. Rain rain go away!

Super

Ok ok. I got a giant christmas tree today. It is a fir.

But what kind of fir is it? And is it a good kind of christmas tree? Hmmmm. Well, it’s funny that you asked. Because I have the answer.

Let’s consider the possibilities. It could be a Balsam Fir. Or maybe a Noble Fir. Or even a Grand Fir.

Douglas Fir? Nope, guess again. Canaan Fir? Uhuh, getting cold.

Concolor (White) Fir? No. That’s not right either.

It’s a Fraser Fir. Is the Fraser Fir the top choice for a christmas tree? May be.

It’s a good tree. I’ve got four strings of lights on it, but I might get another one or two for it, it’s got some width to it. I watered it, and dude said that it would smell strong, which is what I wanted. Last year’s tree from Mahoney’s disappointed me scent wise. I’m happy with it so far except it doesn’t have any ornaments on it yet. I’ll solve that soon.

I’m doing the BC Interruption college bowl pick em this year. I’m a fan, but be warned: they’re doing the confidence point style, which complicates things a bit. Definitely join the fun if you want tho.

Join BC Interruption's College Bowl Pick'Em - BC Interruption

Yo has anyone seen Storage Wars yet? That show rules. Good show. Check it out. Oh, and The Vice Guide to Everything. That one’s insane, looks like it just got picked up by MTV. Recommended.

Night, and happy holidays.

Post Up

Ahhhh Blogger's now uploading images correctly again, how nice. Let's commemorate the occasion.

So what’s up everybody. So I admit it, I’m crushing NFL RedZone right now. More importantly, I went to the Boston Tip-Off Classic last night at the Boston Garden. It was pretty awesome. I went with Kane and we got there for the end of the Drexel Northeastern game. The Huskies lost which was a bummer. The BC Umass game was a good game. The funniest part was that it was technically a Umass home game. So there were a ton of Umass students and a ton of Umass fans who were really fired up and the announcer was totally pro-Umass. BC won, and there were some good dunks and good plays. A great time, and I was happy because I haven’t been to the Garden in a while.

So I’m super busy with stuff, but so long as I don’t make too many excuses I’ll be ok. Hmm I’ve seen some good movies recently. I finally watched The Town which I enjoyed. Some other good ones too. I need to start keeping a list I guess. Hold on lemme set that up.

Ok cool. Tonight I wanna go to Wonder Bar to see Sub Swara but I dono if that’s gonna happen. Looks like a fun show. I’ve been dropping the ball not going to dubby and dubstep shows. Gotta rally sometimes.

I’m listening to a bunch of music. Right now I’m listening to Phaeleh’s new album, “Fallen Light.” Pretty good.

Omg I finally have a couple good links.

This article is secretly about witch house (a good new weird niche-y electronic music genre that I’m into):



DJ Screw’s Legacy - Seeping Out of Houston, Slowly - NYTimes.com

Kanye West's 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' chopped and screwed: The full album, slowed down to a crawl

We're Over Here

We’re over here, we’re over here

Ok how’s it going everyone. First of all, happy thanksgiving everyone! It’s been a happy thanksgiving. I slept in, said what’s up to baba (he crashed on the couch), watched bc beat texas a&m in a thriller, watched the pats beat up on detroit in a blowout, then ate way too much good home cookin, then watched the whole freakin awful cowboys game.

Cowboys are so bad. Remind me to never be a cowboys fan. What a mess of a game:

a. I don’t like dez bryant. For a number of reasons, I swear, it’s not entirely baseless. It’s the kinda thing where I can’t put my finger on it. Also, in this very close game guess what? He was an enormous distraction on the sidelines which carried over onto the field, you can't deny it.

b. Why didn’t you kick that field goal there at the end? It was a 51 yarder and your kicker had already made a 53 yarder.

c. The shots of the owners box are easily the best in a cowboys game? Why? Because inevitably the cowboys have some great plays where it looks like they’re going ahead or coming back and jerry jones is always so pumped and the oil tycoons in the box with him are fired up but then they end up losing anyway

Ok that’s it. That’s my cowboys rant for the day. I’m all done.
Jets are on now. Cmon bengals, beat the jets!

Ok, sports free post needed, hold on…

good album name, v2

i like this one:

"You Thought You Saw a Shooting Star But Yr Eyes Were Blurred With Tears and That Lighthouse Can Be Pretty Deceiving With the Sky So Clear and Sea So Calm"

good news

is better than bad news. so, mostly good news, thankfully

Lost in the city

Hi everyone. How are things. I’ve been keeping busy. Just had a pretty good weekend of being productive and watching sports and such. Went over to Chris’s last night – he made jambalaya in the slow cooker and i watched the first half of the pats steelers game. Good stuff. Chris unfortunately still has a milk crate as a tv stand, but he has assured me that he is working on it.

Oh yeah, I watched most of that movie “Enter the Void”. It was pretty intense. Reminded me of a david lynch movie. It’s directed by gaspar noe, who I guess must be a little bit of a nut. I talked with robbie about it. He had seen the trailer, which is definitely seizure inducing. There were multiple times during the movie that I had to look away from the screen, just like when you’re at IMAX and you think you’re gonna be queasy and you have to look away. Yup.

I didn’t even finish the movie. I got so weirded out and freaked out that I stopped with like 20 minutes or so to go (it’s a long movie). Anyway, good times. Weather’s been crappy here. Looking forward to thanksgiving. Later.

it's bedtime

it's bedtime, but had to put this quote up. i think it's my favorite of all time, other than the one i can't remember from when i was really young.



"If there is magic on this earth, then surely it is contained in water."
- Loren Eiseley

recovering from a cold

been fighting a cold all weekend, still under the weather today.

speaking of weather, it's been nasty. cold wind and rian (like the grateful dead song).

talk to you soon

Numerator

Hey. What’s up. Super busy. Being very productive.

Considering not participating in halloween activities for this wknd due to other priorities. Don’t have a costume. Don’t really feel like doing anything this weekend other than good responsible productive things. I’ll watch the celtics-knicks game tmrw night, then I’m going to the BC-Clemson game on Saturday, then gonna watch the Pats game on Sunday. Don’t really see how I can fit much partying in there if I’m gonna try to get stuff done.

It’s gonna be like this until Christmas probably. Gotta reach for the stars. Shoot for the moon. Call it what you want. I’m goin for it.

Celtics season has started. First game was good, second game was bad. I’m having fun watching with Jeff.

It started getting cold but now it’s warm again. 74 degrees and sunny today. I wore shorts and a tshirt. This morning in the car I heard a set of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. I then listened to him on my iPod and thought of chilling with him on a rooftop in Central Square. And then I listened to his cover of “Hot Boyz”, which rocks.

The ol’ “Golden Tunnel” by the Belmont Country Club is back. It’s fun driving through. A canopy of yellow and orange leaves overhead.

Ok everyone I gotta go I miss you, bye.

hanging in there

please give me time

It's Head of the Charles, are you ready?

I am. Let's go.

It's cool, I checked

Howdy. Gotta pass on some updates. Not sure how impressive it all is, but there’s some decent behind-the-scenes action. Um, so yeah, everything’s good. It’s getting cold outside. My apt is old and has old windows and gets cold pretty easy. the giant largely uninsulated attic doesn’t help either. I feel like I need to blow on my fingers now!

Gotta get some of that window rope caulk and put plastic over some windows. Soon enough.

Oh yeah I’m not gonna row in head of the charles this year. But it’s cool. Next year I’m hopefully gonna row in an alumni eight, which would be awesome. I look at it as kind of an every other year thing. What it means is that I get to be committed to cheering on three dartmouth alumni/masters eights on Saturday, including one that has my old coach, Scott Armstrong. That’s gonna be awesome. So, the good with the bad.

My injury is a trunk/rib injury. I haven’t seen a doctor yet, but I’ll have to if it doesn’t completely go away. From what I can remember about rowing injuries (I should probably do some more googling), it has to do with the interstital muscles. We used to do core strength exercises every week, and I just hadn’t done them for five years. Hence, the injury. Or at least I’m pretty sure that that’s what happened. I was just doing a lot of training and it caught up with me. Not exactly overtraining, just not adequately compensating for stress/strength differences. Gah! Hopefully I’ll fully recover soon.

Aright I gotta get goin soon, gotta take my car to the shop for a little bit. Ooh I should get a carwash first. aright folks, I’m ultra busy with stuff but will be in touch. Bye

-D

blogger repositioning

i need a little break, hold on

oh, yup, you guessed right -- that's 20,000 north korean soldiers

i've also quasi-injured my back from rowing too much and not doing enough core strength exercises. currently my head of the charles quest is in doubt. i did a lot of exercises tonight and i'm going to take the next two days off and continue to work on core strength. i'm hoping that i'm recovered by this wknd. i'll keep you updated

blogger sore

Wow I’m tired. I rowed in the textile river regatta today. Aka head of the textile, or just “lowell.” “lowell” has made me very sore. I rowed the 3.7 mile course in a masters double with my dad. It was a lot of fun. I talked to some guys from my high school on the water, and reconnected with an old dartmouth alum from the 92 boat. Good stuff.

We had a good row. It was a long way to the finish line, and there were about 8 million junior girls eights on the water too. Lowell is actually a huge regatta, 3300 participants or something. There was chop for the last mile or so, which was tough, but we slogged through it. Beautiful day for rowing, and I’m glad I trained for it and did it.

But now I am very tired. I can’t even recount what I’ve been up to over the last couple weeks. I know that at one point this past week I went to see mount kimbie at wonder bar. The speakers weren’t great, but mount kimbie is awesome. The best part is that I didn’t even know about the show until about 4 hours beforehand. I randomly went on dubstepforum.com and voila! There it was. If I had missed that show I would have been devastated. Thankfully, the internet saved the day.

Incidentally, I met a guy who had found out about the show in the exact same way! So bizarre. A guy who grew up around the corner from me said hi too. I also bumped into a couple acquaintances.

I met the two guys in mount kimbie afterwards. Or at least I went up to them and shook their hands and thanked them for their music and for coming to boston. It was their first time in the states, and we gave them a proper welcome. Gotta appreciate that. The crowd was amped, and they said it was good to see that they had so many fans. Rep yo citi Boston!

But I am just so, so busy. I’m trying to deal with a lot right now, and I'm doing a decent job of not getting too stressed out, but I’m taking on a lot of challenges right now. It’s ok, and this blog is a good way to feel more grounded. I’m not being insanely aggressive, and I’m keeping myself in order by selectively blowing off certain things (didn’t go to a couple parties this weekend). This week is crammed – pats game tmrw night, M.I.A. show Tuesday night (free tickets thanks to jefe), then I think there’s a young alum thing Thursday night that I should go to.

So yeah, time’s flyin by. It’s getting cold too. I almost turned on the heat here, then I manned up and just put on some more warm clothes.

Ok yall I’m glad I got to do some writing I’ll talk to you soon and post some impressive things.

Peace

blogger busy

lemme update you in a bit, too busy

The greatest Boston Globe article of all time?

Ladies and gentlemen – seems like my recent style is to blog up a storm on Wednesdays. As my brother would say, no shame in that. Oh yeah, today is technically the last day of summer. And it’s like 80 degrees outside, can you believe it? this summer rocked. Best summer ever(?). possibly. It was very fun, plenty of hanging out and partying. I’d do it all over again.

I had a massive scare last night when my brand-new tv wouldn’t turn on. Panic! Or, as the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy reminds us, “DON’T PANIC.” So I didn’t. but I wasn’t happy about it. we got on the horn with customer service. Eventually the tv actually did turn back on, but we’re still gonna have a guy come over and reset it or something (apparently the problem's not isolated to us). Fingers crossed over here…

Well, what’s been going on? Hmm let’s see. In eight days it will be illegal to text while driving in Massachusetts. You ready for the change? Don’t sleep on that one. Detint your windows and stuff your phone in the trunk from now on would be my advice.

Saturday I went to the union sq farmers market (only a handful of them left, sad). I then went into Boston with a friend where we stumbled upon a gathering (ask me if you want details). We then went to “Serb Fest” aka the Serbian Festival in Cambridge. My friend from the former Yugoslavia invited us. Turns out that her mom was the lead singer of the band. We showed up a little early and ordered up some lamb on a spit, delicious. Ate some adjvar too (not pronounced the way we thought of course). There was a ton of music and dancing, it was really cool! The people sitting at the table with us threw a plastic knife at me to get my attention so that I would take a photo of them. It took four tries, but I think I got a good one, I hope they like it!

Ok, well now on to the real reason for this post. Folks – I think the Boston Globe peaked today in terms of breakthrough journalism and excellent writing. That’s right – I have uncovered the single greatest news article in New England journalism history. Don’t believe me because it sounds too good to be true? I wouldn’t joke about this kind of thing.

Best quote – “I never get anything more than a numinous tickle from the Cheez-Its display. It’s not magical, but rather obliquely legendary.”

Where shopping becomes a roller derby - Somerville - Your Town - Boston.com

I lived in Somerville til I was four years old or so, so of course I can relate.

Cheers everyone, and happy end of summer (that just does not sound right for some reason).

The TV, or Borderline

I finally got my own HDTV. The past year I was lucky to have a roommate who had a nice LCD. But he peaced, and el Jefe no tiene a nice TV. So I managed to avoid driving outside of state or shopping at the evil store by shopping online. I ended up going with an LG. The one I got I didn’t even think was gonna be that big, but it’s huge! It’s borderline too big for my room. I nearly had to rearrange everything.

But it’s up, and lookin good. I’m feelin it. 1080 LCD. Initially I thought that I would just go with 720 plasma, but got convinced otherwise.

Q: What recent TV episode has Dave recently watched three times, including twice showing other friends?

A: “Beyond Survival with Les Stroud”, episde – “Sea Gypsies of Malaysia”.

I might have to devote a whole post to the sea gypsies. I'm still blown away by the episode and the people. More on that soon.

-Dave

I don’t think so, do you?

I thought that you had heard, that’s why I asked. Do I still need to look elsewhere? The connection from eye contact overwhelms the wary. Glance averted, crisis diverted.

Instructions for not getting ahead of yourself, as scrawled on a pillowcase – realize that you cannot predict the future. If that doesn’t work, think about the incredible things that have happened to you and ask yourself if you predicted those events.

Ride It

Hey folks. What’s up, it’s been too long. Hmmm one post a week isn’t that good. But whatever, I’ve been busy, and better late than never.

Well, it was a good weekend. Birthday party Friday night (hit up bluefin and tavern in porter), then Saturday I went to the bc weber st football game. Great game! What a beautiful day. I forgot to bring my crazy creek chairs to sit on during the game (the metal benches aren’t very comfortable), but it was still a blast. We stayed for the whole game, and even got there on time. Success.

Then I went to buddy’s backyard pong fest for a bit. I won a game, then was about to win another game when it started raining. Then I went to another get-together in the burbs, hung out on the porch outside and joked around in the kitchen. Sunday I got good mexican food with some amigos, played some hacky-sack, and hung out. Monday I was pretty worthless, should have been doing stuff outdoors, but was instead worthless indoors for most of the day. Weak play outta me.

I’m really bad at starcraft. I can’t seem to win a game, even the practice games. I’m probably getting beat by 7 year olds. It’s so frustrating! Oh well.

Ooooh I got a link for ya. Not sure if you saw or not, but yesterday google had an interesting little gimmicky HTML 5 thing on their homepage. It was pretty cool. What they’re showing is that html 5 can do a bunch of cool stuff. At first you’re like “oh wait that’s just flash”, then you realize that it isn’t flash. Dope! Anyway here’s a page with a bunch of cool examples, drawing programs and games and such. Check it out!
www.phpguru.org: HTML5 examples

also, here’s an article about one of my favorite restaurants around Boston. This is possibly because I am friends with the sous chef. But it’s also in one of my fav neighborhoods, the interior is lovely, and the food is fantastic. Nytimes called it “solidly excellent” I think. Haha. Well, the owner got written up, and they talk about the restaurant too. Side note – I don’t think I could live on a houseboat. Maybe for a night or two!
A Cambridge, Mass., Chef in His Getaway Galley - NYTimes.com

college football started this past weekend. I watched a bunch of it. nfl starts this wknd, I’ll watch a bunch of that too. Team usa is dominating in the world basketball championships, I hope they win the whole thing.

Ok folks, I’ll talk to you soon. Peace.

Jokers Wild

RA: Clubbing in Boston

Resident Advisor article presumably about the dance music scene in Boston. I’ve been to a bunch of the places and a bunch of the nights. There’s always a bunch of stuff going on, which is really cool, and certainly a good variety.

I was actually at enormous room (see above) last night for the monthly installment of SSLLOOOWW. Or whatever it’s called. We had to leave a little earlier than I would have liked, but the slowed down music was awesome. They were totally playing all of my jams! Good times. I went home with a free bottle of “DRANK” too. Sweeeet.

I’m still watching the world basketball championships, which are a lot of fun. Oy I’m definitely horribly busy, with nary a moment to breathe. I guess I like it this way, but I wish that I had less things to do, and that someone would do stupid little things for me. I need a clone, or I gotta stop complaining and do it myself.

It has been so, so, so hot. mid 90s for multiple days in a row. Tomorrow’s gonna be the same. We’re supposed to get touched by the hurricane on Friday. Going to the football game on Saturday should be sunny and beautiful, just might be windy.

Oh yeah the revs lost their super liga game. I have not been on the revs bandwagon this year, thankfully. Oh yeah, and sox aren’t gonna make the playoffs. Remind anyone of the matt cassel-led patriots not making the playoffs a couple years ago? Exactly.

Oh yeah I upgraded to snow leopard. Snow leopard rules! Recommended, three thumbs up. It saves your computer like 10 gigs and makes it faster and fixes stuff. It doesn’t get any better! Sheesh I should have upgraded earlier.

Wow I just read an article about pirates in somalia. When you become an avid nytimes reader you become a reader of the subjects that the nytimes writes about a lot. Some things that I feel like I have read a lot about on nytimes – iraq, afghanistan, somalia, pakistan, facebook, autism, internet privacy, and health. I mean, I guess these are covered in most newspapers, but the kind of international coverage that the nytimes gets usually seems unparalleled to me. Level of 1-10 – how biased am I?

One last thing – if you need to buy an hdmi cable, save yourself a lot of money and buy it on firefold.com -- HDMI to HDMI Cables

Ok, peace.

cutting it short, and inspiration

recent massively depressing and heart-breaking book that i've read -- "A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery". oh man. this one was tough. haiti, miami, sudan, romania, india were some of the places i read about. this is not an issue that's discussed in the media much, although an aspect of it has been highlighted in recent years. i'll leave it at that. may modern-day slavery be abolished immediately.

well, it's a bummer to say it, but i cut my vacation short. i had 5 blissful days not thinking about important things, but then all of a sudden everything came crashing down and i realized that i wanted to be productive. there are a lot of things i've been putting off for a long time, and i thought it'd be a good idea to at least get the ball rolling on some of these things, and cross them off my list.

i'm not making this up. i was on the cape for 4 full days, and it rained every day. yeah, it's pretty weak. last year it was the best weather of the summer all week, but not so this year. so, part of me wanted to stay and hit the beach today, but i decided to pack it in and just deal with my life.

but hey that's not such a bad thing. i've already crossed 6 things off my list, and it's not even 1pm. nice Job dave, keep up the good work.

so yeah, i wanna keep my momentum, and just deal. of course on top of all this is cleaning my room, cleaning my apt, rearranging things, and looking to maybe do some new decorations. i figure i've been here a year, my brother Jeff is moving in and my old much-loved roommate is moving out, so it's time for some change. i'm not doin a bad job of it.

there's a preseason pats game tonight and a new episode of jersey shore (the only mtv show i watch, i couldn't even name any other mtv shows to you, i guess the real world never stopped playing right?). not sure what else i'll get up to today, i really wanna exercise, but that takes major motivation.

oh yeah, the best part of the news? we took out the recycling. in my town they only pick it up every two weeks, and two weeks ago they showed up earlier than normal and we weren't prepared and missed it. what a relief!

also, thanks for the kind words Rebecca. you got me fired up.

later

in the rain

heyyyy yall whats up. well, it's day 5 here on the cape, and it's day 5 of lousy weather. which i guess isn't that big a deal, but it's not great.

so far i've been reading and watching movies. i've seen "the kids are all right", which i liked, and "inception", which i didn't really like. but i'm glad i got to see some movies.

i'm thinking about cancelling my netflix account. i don't really rent movies from them anymore, and the only person that was using the instant account was my roommate, watching instant movies on the ps3 with the included disk. should i do this? i've had netflix since 2006. as a movie fanatic, it would be a massive decision, but i think i might just cancel it.

oh yeah and the wireless here is lousy. i'm hard wired right now, with an ethernet cable that i think i may have actually brought down here last year.

been eating some good local food. local pears, peaches, tomatoes, parsley, lettuce, fish. all very yum.

ok well i'm gonna get goin. i'm reading this book called "Sailing Alone Around the World" by Joshua Slocum. it's a 100+ year old account of this crazy guy who really enjoyed leaving his family on martha's vineyard and going on epic solo expeditions in a rickety boat. good stuff.

ok be well, Dave

these are images from a recent boston.com big shots gallery of some rowing race that involves carrying the boat on land. hah! good photos.

wellfleet for the week

i'm on wellfleet. it rained a little today. weather isn't as good as last year.

i watched solitary man with michael douglas. good movie. better actor. get well Michael!

cape cod is cool. i went on an adventure today to orleans to get an audio cable so that we can plug in ipod/computer to the speakers. saw a bad accident on rt 6 on the way home.

the traffic out here is crazy during the summer. tons of ct and ny license plates. gets dangerous on the roads too. gotta be careful.

ok time to sleep, peace

Thinking before sharing

"In the meantime, as all of us stumble over the challenges of living in a world without forgetting, we need to learn new forms of empathy, new ways of defining ourselves without reference to what others say about us and new ways of forgiving one another for the digital trails that will follow us forever."

-Professor Jeffrey Rosen

The Web Means the End of Forgetting - NYTimes.com

Jeff's thesis is better, but Rosen drops MANY genius bombs in this essay. A good read. I hadn't even heard of some of the websites he listed. I won't ruin it for you.

Scary stuff though! Enjoy.

the sky might fall

but i'm not worried at all, at all, at alllllll

hi out there in blog world. what's the word? everything's good over here. sorry for the lack of caps right now, but oh well.

ummmm it's getting toward the end of august. blast! time's goin too fast.

uhhh not sure what to talk about. i could give you the recap of my wknd, but...eh.

oooh how about this?! -- i'm planning on rowing in head of the charles with my dad in the father/son doubles race. it's technically the "parent/child" race. what this means is that i've gotta train for the next two months and get myself in shape. i'm in ok shape now, but i gotta erg more.

so yeah, that's exciting. head of the charles is awesome. i've only raced in 8s before. the father/son race is pretty mellow, but i still wanna have a good piece.

Whether that’s right or not, I won’t ever know -- Drake lyrics. Too many Drake mixtapes. Nattymari is my new favorite chopped and screwed producer. Name of his latest mixtape? – “Orange Mocha Frappucino.” Sheer genius.

peace

World record!

The Virgin GB Row 2010 team celebrates completing their rowing challenge around Great Britain - becoming the first female crew to complete the feat - on the River Thames in London July 23. (AP Photo/Gareth Fuller-pa)

BBC News - All-female crew first women to row round Britain

"During their journey, the women have been swamped by huge waves, survived storms, almost sunk and navigated some of the most treacherous tides on the planet.

At one point, Ms Madsen broke her finger when she was setting off a flare to warn off a ship that was on a collision course with Go Commando.

She carried on rowing by strapping her hand to her oar."

Hit the road Shaq

Song that I’m currently obsessed with – “You Neva Know” by Husalah

Good stuff. So whatup yall. Summer’s winding down. Omg did I just say that? What a horrible thought.

But whatever it’s been a great summer. Great weather, plenty of cookouts, plenty of parties. A lot of hanging out, a lot of productivity. Many fruits and vegetables, many sports games. All good things.

So yeah. Shaquille O’Neal is going to be a Celtic next year! Ridiculous! Should be fun. Green Diesel, biofuel style.

Hmmmm. So what other stuff is going on. Did I tell you about the new glasses that I’m looking at? I wanna get the drill-mounted kind that don’t have any rims. Then it’ll look less like I’m wearing glasses, which is what I’m going for. I like the ones by Silhouette. Anyway, new glasses are a big deal cause I wear them everyday (albeit very begrudgingly).

In two weeks I think I’m gonna be on cape cod, lovin life. Wellfleet=joy. So many nice beaches and the water on the bay side is so warm.

Don Wyper is running a marathon and raising money to beat cancer. It’s a Wype Out Cancer campaign! He’s gonna try to do it under 3 hours. Keep in mind that Don is 6’ 4” and 200 pounds and is a natural rower and swimmer, so going out and trying to do something like this is very impressive. Read about his journey and donate at his blog -- "Wype" Out Cancer

The first patriots preseason game is tomorrow night, very exciting.

Last night I went to a friends place in Lincoln and we made homemade pesto with basil from their garden. Yummm. Side note – I got peaches and blueberries from the farmers market this weekend that were outrageously good.

Ok, take it easy, Dave

jolly green

just had my second dartmouth reunion of the summer. incredibly fun. this summer is flying by! i cant believe it.

have i not mentioned that august is my favorite month? is it because eight is my favorite number? unclear.

naw i like august cause it's summer (my favorite month), and it's nice and lazy. it's before school starts, before football starts, so it feels like there's not a whole lot going on. it's just a time to relax and take things easy.

the only problem is that i'm pretty bad at taking anything easy. i do everything way too fast sometimes. last night i wrote a letter and i actually had to rewrite it because i realized that my handwriting is so horrible because i write so fast. of course i'm typing really fast right now too, but i can't really control that.

t y p i n g s l o w i s n o t f e a s i b l e i n t h i s d a y a n d a g e

also, regardless of how fast i type, my handwriting online is always impeccable :) though my capitalizing and punctuation leaves something to be desired

happy august everyone, i'll be in touch

peace, Dave

freestyle blogging

folks, what's happenin. i'm feelin the bloggin in my fingertips. i want to feel prolific and boundless. looking upward i see the top of the hill and there is likely another hill beyond.

recently i've been guiding cupcake franchises into new growth spurts. i tell them -- look, if you charge 3 dollars for a cupcake and it's not that big, well then it better be really, really good. do they listen to me? whether they do not, they'll soon find out if it was worth it.

listening to rinse 11 by oneman right now.

i focus a lot on sports and music. but do it too much? is there an answer? is there a right and wrong answer?

ps i really need new glasses. i've been driving around with a new prescription in my car for months. DAVE GO TO THE GLASSES STORE TMRW AT LUNCH.

hit up two farmers markets this weekend. yesterday i went to the winchester farmers market. i bought cilanto and pok choi (i didnt realize it could be spelled with a p) from the dude at the hmong farmstand. their farm is in lancaster. i've gotten pok choi from them before in union sq and i asked the guy why they were always so clean and he said that he didnt know but his mom cleaned him

i made guacamole with local cilantro and local tomato and it was delicious. everyone loved it at the bbq that i spent the day at. success. i ate garlic cilantro scrambled eggs today which were good, got the recipe from allrecipes.com

today i went to the charles sq farmers market in harvard sq. got green peppers, hot peppers, potatoes, onions, apples, peaches, heirloom tomatoes. now i just gotta eat em all! i think i should just chop up the potatoes and onions and peppers real small and just try to cook em with some oil in a skillet. i dono tho we'll see i'll make some consultations.

football at fenway and die antwoord

i went to see football at fenway wednesday night, sporting vs celtic. unreal. once in a lifetime experience.

last night i saw die antwoord (and sleigh bells, who also rocked) at the royale. also unreal. also once in a lifetime experience.

i'll try to rally and write up some more detailed recaps

summer is my favorite season, and i'm just trying to enjoy myself, but i miss blogging

peace

-Dave

i am still here

i promise

considering coming back from sabbatical

twas a good world cup, viva espana

a title that does not have a negative word in it

i can't stand negativity, even a blog post that has a negative word in it

it's summer, let's celebrate with keggy the keg

sending you positive vibrations...

-splatman

disgraceful

that goal that england scored not being a goal. _____ you fifa. get it together. i feel bad for english fans. give germany credit.

scary stuff. i might have to give up fancy sushi tuna permanently:

Tuna’s End - NYTimes.com

"On the high seas, the bluefin is being hunted into extinction. Will we ever be able to think about seafood the same way?"

blogger on quasi sabbatical

until further notice. usa won today tho.

blogger at reunion

i'm at reunion for the weekend. let's go celtics, let's go usa

check this out, nuts! -- Sailor artist Reid Stowe completes record 1,152-day voyage | Sport | The Guardian

usa tied england

on to the next one

blogger paused

tbd, watching soccer

congratulations

congratulations on being 8th in the country 2010 dartmouth mens heavyweight crew! a great accomplishment