Snowzin

Happy New Year!

Happy new year everyone! I played basketball tonight and still haven’t eaten dinner, but right now I feel like blogging is the right thing to do. I apologize if my writing is bad – if I have a low blood sugar I’m not gonna be good at anything. Oh well.

Well, let’s all hope for a good 2011. I think I was still telling people happy new year today. Why is it such a happy new year? Well, 2010 was pretty intense. Maybe we want a little mellower 2011. Hmmmm I’m not making any sense. I probably shouldn’t blog on no dinner, nothing’s gonna come out right.

Ok, I’ll turn this into an honorable mention post. Doing that top ten list was a huge pain in the butt. I’m looking forward to it next year, but now it’s become something I kind of obsess about. Here are some albums that I listened to a lot that didn’t make the list.

Actress – Splazsh
Good weird album. Not really techno, more like experimental. If I had put it on the list it probably would have been the least accessible album. Lots of weird noises and such. But it’s still pretty awesome. My fave song is “Maze.”

Matt + Kim – Sidwalks
Incredible album. 9 songs, and it’s all really good. Good rock and roll. “Cameras” is my favorite.

Sleigh Bells – Treats
I saw these guys live. They were awesome. I really think that they’ve made their own sound. They opened for M.I.A. and are on her label. It’s not often that you hear a band that really kind of defies genres and doesn’t fit into any neat space. This is one of those bands. “Rill Rill” is my favorite and hard to not listen to on repeat.

Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday
I’m not crazy about a couple of the songs including the song with Eminem (Eminem always just sounds like he’s yelling at me), and so I can’t really say that it’s that incredible. But some of the songs are really beautiful, really beautiful beats and rhythms. “Save Me” is my fave song.

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
All of these songs individually are really good, but some are too long, and some get too weird. This album would be one of the best, but Yeezy kind of messed with his own art a little. It’s totally got a far out/out there/piece of artwork/concept album kind of thing going on, but I just want to skip some of the songs. Granted, I’ve heard a bunch of these songs on the radio or whatever a bunch of times, so I may just be sick of them. The first five minutes of “Runaway” are my favorite, before the awful guitar solos kick in.

Drake – Thank Me Later
If I put on the list “top ten albums that I listened to the most”, then this might be on there. I certainly listened to an absurd amount of Drake last year (I’ve mostly moved on now). Still though, love this guy and his work. Fave song is easily “Miss Me.”

Lil Wayne – I Am Not A Human Being
Great album with great jams. Fave song is “Right Above It”

Top Ten Albums of the Year (revised)

Revised top ten albums of the year list. I combined my top ten albums and top five hip hop albums and came up with the below. WOW did I put a lot of time and thinking into this. Enjoy, individual posts to come about each and every one, as well as my more comments on my line of thinking.

In no particular order, the best ten albums of 2010, without a doubt, are:

1. Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Lovers
2. Kid Cudi – Man On The Moon II: The Legend Of Mr. Rager
3. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty
4. Balam Acab – See Birds
5. Salem – King Night
6. M.I.A. – /\/\/\Y/\
7. Die Antwoord – $O$
8. Phaeleh – Fallen Light
9. Ital Tek – Midnight Colour
10. Aardarck – Choice

Hope you like it. I know this won't please everyone, but I back each and every one of these albums.

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.