Ridiculously busy day for me. Beerblogging will arrive as promised but it probably won’t be until later tonight. In the meantime use this thread to catalogue the many ways in which I am completely lame (#1: unreliable beerblogging), list the top ten songs in your iPod, compare the relative merits of brisket versus pot roast and argue about whether the Chandrasekar X-Ray observatory is in some ways more useful than Hubble.
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Pb
#2: everyone doesn’t have an iPod, asshole.
:)
Pb
#3: you can spell ‘Chandrasekar’. (!)
demimondian
Actually, it’s Chandrasekhar. Him no spel su gud
Pb
#4: you can’t spell ‘Chandrasekhar’! (but neither can I…. :))
Paddy O'Shea
We have a bar in our town that serves several different versions of Chimay. Good stuff, but it packs a bit of a kick for a wheat soda.
Paddy O'Shea
Interesting “Live Vote” on MSNBC.com.
Question: Which of the following best describes the president authorizing the leak of intelligence information?
09% – His right as president, to exercise when he sees fit.
13% – Hypocritical, but not illegal. 13%
78% – Wrong and cynical.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12209997/?displaymode=1006
demimondian
Paddy — why is “hypocritical but not illegal” inconsistent with “wrong and cynical”? Am I just stupid to think the answer is “legal, but hypocritical, wrong, and cynical”?
Caleb
I don’t have an Ipod.
Thanx for rubbing it in…..asshole.
Caleb
scratch that…..lame asshole.
Paul Wartenberg
Yahoo News posted a blurb about how Rumsfeld and his underlings had screwed up legal protocols in the Gitmo trials. Can we speel ‘incompetence’ boys and girls?
link to article
Paddy O'Shea
Demi – You’ve come to the wrong fellow for ethics parsing. My definition of the highest good is having all the bills paid and the credit card balances cleaned up.
I voted ‘wrong and cynical’ because it sounded worse. But if you’re saying that #3 should have said something using the word illegal, I’m with you on that.
Paddy O'Shea
I have a bit of a conflict on the iPod issue. I think it is absurd to pay .99c a pop for tracks you already own on at least one other format. And I believe that they do blow your ears out. The sound is great and very satisfying at loud volumes.
For that reason I am concerned about my kids using them.
But on the other hand, it does keep them quiet and out of each others’ hair. And such peace is precious to me.
tBone
The latest firmware for iPods allows you to set a volume cap if you’re concerned about your kids’ hearing.
I’d share my top ten songs but I hardly ever use my iPod for music anymore – I’m subscribed to too many podcasts, like the President’s Weekly Radio Address.
stickler
Now that I think about it, this was probably the reason my parents let me and my sister each have a “Walkman” (Radio Shack knockoff, naturally) for Christmas in 1984. The peace, not the blowing out the ears. Oh, the memories. Here I am! Rock you like a hurricane!
What? Sorry, I have trouble hearing people clearly. Everyone around me mumbles.
FNWA
Been Lurking here for a while and thought I would get my feet wet with something inane. (Thanks, Tim.) I do have an Ipod (bought it from a friend who just had to have the latest video Ipod and was letting his three 40 gig Ipods (one for home, one for the car, one for the country house) go at 25% of list.) My top 10 are:
1. Robert Schuman: Am Bodense
2. Robert Schuman: John Anderson
3. Ludwig Von Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
4. Bob Mould: Circles
5. Sugar: The Act We Act
6. Billy Bragg: Saturday Boy
7. Pet Shop Boys: One and One Make Two
8. Sonic Youth: Total Trash
9. Pogues: If I Should Fall From Grace with God
10. Husker Du: Turn On The News
Mr. O’Shea: Don’t pay $0.99 to buy songs. Load your cds onto Itunes. Still have records and cassettes? (I do.) Download software that allows you to load those onto your computer as well.
Krista
Paddy has offspring? Be afraid, be very afraid. :)
Don’t have an iPod – don’t they only accept iTunes? Screw that noise. I got a Sandisk at Staples for only $91 CAD (including our ridiculous 15% sales tax). It holds about 120 songs, which for me, is plenty, as I only use it when working out, and I would have to stay on the elliptical for 8 hours in order to run out of music. Not going to happen.
Tim, sweetie, you’re lame.
And about the pot roast – I have to brag. I make awesome pot roast. Gotta sear the living hell out of it. That’s the key.
tBone
If you’re talking about music formats, nope – common misconception. iPods will play standard mp3s along with the proprietary Apple format. About 99% of the music on my iPod consists of mp3s ripped from my CDs.
Krista
Good to know. Oh well. I still like mine. Plus, I know this is totally dorky, but it makes me feel all badass and athletic when I run with it strapped to my arm with the armband.
tBone
Now you just need “Eye of the Tiger” on perpetual loop and you’re set. (My wife rocks the armband too when she goes out running; I think she spent more time picking out the armband than she did the player.)
DougJ
As long as we’re talking about corned beef and pot roast, before you get an Ipod, get a slow cooker. You won’t believe how good something as simple as pork chops come out if you just brown them and stick them in the slow cooker with a braising sauce (chicken stock, vinegar, a little mustard) and some cabbage for three hours.
Paddy O'Shea
Krista: Ever heard of Irish Twins? I have Irish quadruplets.
tBone
Word.
demimondian
I find Eye of the Tiger a great song to code to. That, and Warren Zevon played way too loud (all the way up to THREE!), and I’m in geek heaven.
All right, you in back — stop laughing!
demimondian
FDDD and I just spent $170 (real money, not CDN) getting our two-year-old oven fixed. Mrphh. Grumble.
demimondian
It’s bad enough that there are three demi-offspring, but *four* scions o’ O’Shea? [shudder]
The Other Steve
I don’t have an iPod. I did buy a sandisk E130 for like $50 from buy.com. Lasted about two months and then died.
Piece of shit.
I mainly got it for the FM radio so I can listen to the Presidents Weekly Radio Address. It’s helps me lose my appetite.
tBone
Dude, Nigel Tufnel could so kick your ass.
Other Steve, you’re listening to the wrong Presidential Weekly Radio Address. Try this one instead.
ppGaz
NO iPod here, just satellite radio. Car, house, and office. I have no time for building and maintaining playlists. When I want to listen to my own stuff I go into the office and close the door and get out a stack of CD’s and just wing it.
Pot roast? ppGaz is very proud of his pot roast, it is a 19th century Iowa farm pot roast recipe handed down through the family.
All you need is a roast, and a pot, and a few other things, and some fire. Krista is right, you sear the hell out of the thing to get that carmelized flavor going. Then you slow cook it in liquid until the meat falls apart. You help it out with some onion and carrot and sage and bay leaf and salt and pepper. You do some potatoes and some eating carrots toward the end, and you get everybody around the dining table and have at it. I left out some secret ingredients which you can find out about when you come over for dinner.
The next day, you slice the meat thin and put a little horseradish on it and make a sandwich that is from heaven.
Digital Amish
Was completely ambivalent toward the whole Ipod thing until my kids unexpectantly gave me one for Christmas(I tried to instigate an insurgency but was soundly defeated on the battlefield). It’s great. Your whole music collection in your shirt pocket. All my cds ripped to mp3s. A healthy selection from the collection of quasi-son-in-law-#2. (Screw the RIAA). Use headphones, it’s the earbuds that will kill your hearing. (Mine is pretty much toast from 30 years of industrial abuse)
Je Suis Desole Mark Knopfler
Only You Know and I Know Dave Mason
Before The Deluge Jackson Browne
Souther Cross CSN
Baba O’Riley The Who
Jessica Allman Brothers
Centerfield John Fogerty
Hearts and Bones Paul Simon
Sultans of Swing Dire Straits
Marie’s Wedding Van Morrison & the Cheiftains
maybe not all that sophisticated but I can tap my foot to most of ’em.
DougJ
We need to have a post/open thread on the dumbest scandals every to be fabricated by the right-wing. I used to think Socksgate took the cake, but I think ellipsegate might give it a run for its money. The War on Christmas should rank up there as well of course. But there are probably even dumber ones that I don’t know about, since I only started visiting Protein Wisdom and Free Republic recently.
demimondian
Since I don’t patronize competitors’ products (yes, I even use MSN Search. It’s really much better than it used to be…), I don’t have an iPod. However, today on my media player, I’ve heard…
_I’ll need a volunteer_ Warren Zevon
_Badlands_ Bruce Springsteen
_El Salvador_ Peter, Paul, and Mary
_Go to the mirror, boy_ The Who
_I ain’t marching any more_ Phil Ochs
_Better off as we are_ Blue Rodeo
DougJ
I’m actually putting together a CD for my CD club and need suggestions. I want something by someone I’ve never heard of that totally rocks — and not in an indie, college-rock white guy kind of way. Suggestions?
canuckistani
Two Little Hitlers – Elvis Costello
More than Rain – Tom Waits
Don’t Worry Baby – The Beach Boys
Night Boat to Cairo – Madness
Walk On By – The Stranglers
Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out – Bessie Smith
Brand New Cadillac – The Clash
Blood of Eden – Peter Gabriel
Less Than Zero – Elvis Costello
Since I’ve Been Loving You – Led Zeppelin
The important thing about the Chandra Observatory is that it sees in wavelengths that cannot reach the surface of the earth. In theory, a sufficiently large telescope with adaptive optics and image processing could match the Hubble from the ground, but no earthbound observatory will ever manage the X-ray spectrum.
(If you call it the Chandra Observatory, you’ll sound real-astronomer-like, and avoid potential spelling problems)
demimondian
If you really want to sound like an X-Ray astronomer, you’ll refer to Chandra by its project name, DXS, allegedly for “Diffuse X-Ray Spectrometer”, but actually meant to be spelled out as an acronym.
Mac Buckets
Hadn’t looked at the Play Count on the ‘Pod for awhile, and I was surprised at what I’ve been listening to since I reset the count last summer.
1 Apply Some Pressure– Maximo Park
2 Formed A Band– Art Brut
3 Spanish Bombs — The Clash
4 Itsuko Got Married– Bearsuit
5 100°– Shout Out Louds
6 I Predict A Riot– Kaiser Chiefs
7 Pidgin English– Elvis Costello
8 Are You That Somebody remix– Aaliyah feat Danja Mowf, Mad Skillz, & Lonnie B.
9 Mystery– The Apples in Stereo
10 Nothin But A G Thang — Dr Dre feat. Snoop Dogg
11 Got It Twisted (Explicit)– Mobb Deep
12 Miracle Drug –A.C. Newman
13 The State I Am In– Belle & Sebastian
14 Club Foot– Kasabian
15 Going Missing– Maximo Park
16 Evil– Interpol
17 The More You Ignore Me– Morrissey
18 Letter From An Occupant — The New Pornographers
19 It Ended On An Oily Stage– British Sea Power
20 A Lover Sings — Billy Bragg
demimondian
DougJ — it’s cliched, but _Drive all Night_ by Dion absolutely rocks out. (Don’t confuse it with _I Drove all Night_, performed by Celine Dion. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that, if that’s your thing, but…)
DougJ
I live Two Little Hitlers. Also Brand New Cadillac. Solid list.
DougJ
Itunes doesn’t have that Dion song, Drive all Night.
How about a discussion of best song title ever? My choice is Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell by the Stooges.
Mac Buckets
So you want something that’s new, that rocks, but that’s more old-school (maybe 70’s-influenced more than 80s-infuenced) rock than indie. The indie stuff is my specialty (I might recommend The National if you dug that scene), but try:
Kings of Leon’s Youth and Young Manhood from 2003 (“Red Morning Light,” “Molly’s Chambers”). It rocks (not in a Dokken kind of way, but in a classic Southern-rock way) and not too indie-ish. It’s better than their newer one.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club totally rock (again, first record is better, but both are good).
Also, try Kasabian (“Club Foot”) and The Walkmen (“The Rat,” “Little House of Savages” from 2004’s Bows and Arrows). I was in London last month and Hard-Fi’s “Cash Machine” was the big rock song there. Ministry and Helmet still bang heads, but their best stuff is 10 years old now.
Mac Buckets
I’m also thoroughly behind canuckistanis list. Looks kinda like my own, just without my British Indie and hip-hop.
demimondian
Mac — somehow, I can’t imagine you listening to Phil Ochs…left-wing political folk singer-songwriters don’t strike me as likely to be to your taste.
Mac Buckets
Good one. Also:
The Milkman of Human Kindness — Billy Bragg
The KKK Took My Baby Away — The Ramones
Every Time I Eat Vegetable It Makes Me Think Of You –The Ramones
A Bit of Arson Never Hurt Anyone — Matson Jones
The Land of Rape and Honey — Ministry
Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone — The Walkmen
Beers, Steers, and Queers (No Place But Texas) — The Revolting Cocks
Honorable mention to almost every Sufjan Stevens song, like “A Short Reprise For Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But For Very Good Reasons” and “To The Workers Of The Rockford River Valley Region, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament, And It Involves Shoe String, A Lavender Garland, And Twelve Strong Women.”
Oh, and one for the Bush-haters:
“Dear Mr. Bush, There Are Over 100 Words For Shit And Only 1 For Music. Fuck You, Out Hud” — Out Hud
Mac Buckets
Front row for every Billy Bragg show! Never listened to any straight-up folk, though, so I’m only aware of Ochs academically.
I think we’ve had this discussion before.
Paddy O'Shea
I have never figured out how to cut a song list off at ten. Here’s a track each off of some of the stuff I’ve been listening to lately.
– Jimmy Reed “High And lonesome”
– Lee Morgan “The Sidwinder”
– Michael Bruce “Second Coming” (Proof that Alice Cooper could have been a great band if they’d only gotten rid of Alice. But then again, King Crimson would have been a great band if they’d gotten rid of Robert Fripp.)
– Amadou & Miriam “M’Bife Balafon”
– Dwight Yoakam “Streets Of Bakersfield” (Buck Owens RIP)
– Moondog “Why Spend The Dark Night With You”
– Neil Young “Albuquerque”
– Grace Jones “Private Life”
– Angry Samoans “”Haizman’s Brain Is Calling”
– James Brown “Funky President (People It’s Bad)”
– Son Volt “I’ve Got To Know”
– Fairport Convention “Sloth”
– Patty Smith “My Blakean Year”
– Rolling Stones “Salt Of The Earth”
– George Jones “He Stopped Loving Her Today”
– Gillian Welch “Tear My Stillhouse Down”
– Glenn Kotche “Monkey Chant”
– Sly & The Family Stone “I Get High On You”
– The White Stripes “You’re Pretty Good Looking (For A Girl)”
– Los Lobos “La Pistola Y El Corazon”
– Pearls Before Swine “Morning Song”
– Randy Newman “It’s Lonely At The Top”
– American Music Club “Room Above The Club”
– We Are Acid Mothers Afrirampo “The Exorcist Of Love”
– Fela Kuti “Water No Get Enemy”
– Dave Alvin “California Snow”
– Steve Earle “The Other Side Of Town”
– Hank III “Straight To Hell”
– Henry Rollins & Mother Superior “L.A. Money Train”
– Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band “Quelle Etoile”
– David Thomas & Two Pale Boys “Numbers Man”
– Youssou N’Dour “Mahdiyu Laye”
– Hank Williams “The Complete” (Can’t pick a track, 9 CD box set that is a trip to Hell and back.)
– Johnny Cash (Anything)
tBone
Sheesh, Paddy – you’re in a rut. Branch out a little, be more electic in your music choices. [/snark]
Whether you love or hate his politics, Steve Earle had an amazing run of albums after he got out of prison in the mid-90s. I can play through “Train a’Comin'”,”I Feel Alright,” “El Corazon” and “The Mountain” without skipping a single track.
Paddy O'Shea
Music is me life, tBoner. Paddy do love a nice tune now and again. And please, use the shuffle play.
You know, I’m a little upset that I forgot to mention The Fall. “Green Eyed Loco Man,” off of the incredible BBC Sessions 6 CD boxset. Oh, and anything by Lisa Gerrard/Dead Can Dance. And Ween fer gawd’s sake. Who could forget them?
Anyone here familiar with Songs:Ohia? Picked up a couple of things by them recently. Pretty mind blowing in a hillybilly on belladonna sort of way. On a label with the wacky name of Secretly Canadian.
canuckistani
Thanks for the affirmation, guys. Mac B, I’d be curious to hear what British Indie and hip-hop you’d add. Since radio is so dead, I need new sources of info about cool music.
For cool titles, I’ll nominate “Don’t Mash My Digger So Deep” by Bo Carter, “What’s the Use of Getting Sober (When You’re Gonna Get Drunk Again)” by Louis Jordan, “Death Car on the Freeway” by King Apparatus, “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” by the Dead Kennedys, and “I’m So Bored with the U.S.A.” by The Clash.
Pb
DougJ,
Speaking of inane scandals, I remember Lysistrata over on Scrutator somehow trying to pin that Canadian Red Cross tainted blood scandal on Clinton–the source of the allegations apparently being from some nuts’ Scaife-promoted book or something. They were nothing if not creative in their ability to blame anything and everything on Clinton… not like they’ve stopped trying it, mind you…
DougJ
Thanks for the suggestions, Mac. I’ve listened to the Walkmen a bit before. I like the title “Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me is Gone”.
The Other Steve
Nope. That’s the one.
I think of it as my own secret dieting technique.
Mac Buckets
I think Art Brut are genius (think modern, English Jonathan Richman), and Maximo Park, Bloc Party, the Futureheads, and the Shout Out Louds (from Sweden, but you’d never know it) have put out better records lately than pretty much anything on this side of the Atlantic. Of course, your mileage…
Most current hip-hop has lost the plot IMHO, but I like a good bit of the Streets, Fat Joe, Kanye, Jurassic 5, Mobb Deep, and whatever Mos Def happens to be doing.
Tim F.
How could that site possibly not be a spoof?
SeesThroughIt
I don’t own an iPod and in fact listen to music in its proper analog form. So, these are the last 10 records to hit my turntables:
Steady B–“Serious”
Kool G Rap & Polo–“Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”
Frontline–“What Is It?”
Bo Diddley–“Down on the Corner”
Cold Blood–“Kissing My Love”
Eddie Bo–“The Thang (We’re Doin’ It) Part II”
X-Clan–“Grand Verbalizer, What Time Is It?”
Jackson 5–“I Want You Back (DJ Z-Trip remix)”
Wilson Pickett–“Engine #9”
Large Professor–“The Mad Scientist”
I dig pot roast, but I like brisket more–I think because I’m better at making brisket than I am pot roast. I feel like there’s more you can do with brisket, particularly with the marinade, than with pot roast. And finally, I believe all telescopes are inferior to the smell-o-scope.
Krista
I highly recommend The Trews’ – Den of Thieves. “Poor Ol’ Broken Hearted Me” is a kickass song, and any other song I’ve heard off of it has also been great.
And no, I will not be playing “Eye of the Tiger.” However, I have to say that my flagging pace on the elliptical the other day was vastly improved once “Get Up Offa That Thing” came on. Thank heavens there was not one other person in the gym with me. The feet were pedalling, but the upper body was in full dance mode.