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December 30, 2008
Most listened albums in 2008
Yesterday I posted a short list of my favorite albums that I listened to in 2008. In the name of scientific inquiry, I thought I'd post my 20 most played albums of 2008, by means of my Last.fm account, which tracks every play on my iTunes and iPod playlists. Though not completely accurate since it doesn't track listens outside of those sources (i.e. CD players), I found it quite interesting. After you peruse this list, check out Last.fm's Best of 2008 list, which tracks the most played albums/tracks/artists of 2008, purely by the numbers. Quite interesting. Happy Listening in 2009!
December 29, 2008
Favorite Albums in 2008
without much pomp or explanation, here are the records I liked in '08. not everything was released this year; to make the list, the album had to have come into my collection in the last 12 months.
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - The Swell Season
Thao - We Brave Be Stings And All
The Dodos - Visiter
Sun Kil Moon - Tiny Cities
The Welcome Wagon - Welcome To...
Vampire Weekend
John Doyle & Liz Carroll - In Play
Sam Phillips - Fan Dance, A Boot and a Shoe
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss (& T-Bone Burnett) - Raising Sand
Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultures
Hem - Rabbit Songs
The Avett Brothers - Gleam EPs 1 & 2
Ben Sollee - Learning To Bend
Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - The Swell Season
Thao - We Brave Be Stings And All
The Dodos - Visiter
Sun Kil Moon - Tiny Cities
The Welcome Wagon - Welcome To...
Vampire Weekend
John Doyle & Liz Carroll - In Play
Sam Phillips - Fan Dance, A Boot and a Shoe
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss (& T-Bone Burnett) - Raising Sand
Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultures
Hem - Rabbit Songs
The Avett Brothers - Gleam EPs 1 & 2
Ben Sollee - Learning To Bend
Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
November 11, 2008
"this is where I'm from..."
whenever we travel or move to a new place, I enjoy finding movies and TV shows that were filmed on location in the place to where we are headed. I'll peruse IMDB for an evening and try to find movies that I've already seen or ones that I can easily rent. I've even gone as far as holding a hometown movie night with some RUFers in Seattle (we watched Singles and Say Anything, for those of you keeping score).
as we moved to the Bay Area, it wasn't too difficult to find movies filmed in San Francisco. we've watched Harold & Maude, Escape To Witch Mountain, Vertigo, The Presidio, and Time After Time. new ones keep popping up all the time!
last night while Sarah was at Bible study, I watched a James Bond film that I don't remember seeing as a child (the sheer fact alone floored me since I thought I'd seen them all). A View To A Kill was the final 007 role for Roger Moore, and starred Christopher Walken as the villain along with a handful of forgetable Bond girls. About halfway through the film I'm wondering, "What on earth is this movie about? And what does the title have anything to do with the movie besides the horrible theme song performed by Duran Duran?" Within a few frames, Walken gave the answer: he was going to destroy Silicon Valley so that his microchip company could take over as the top producer in the expanding computer market of the mid-1980s! He ham-fistededly recites the title as his blimp hovers over the Golden Gate Bridge and he gazes at the San Francisco skyline.
as much of a flop as this film was, the second half redeemed itself based solely on its location. There were great shots of not only the city, but the lower half of the peninsula, which doesn't get as much air time usually. There was even a "diabolical scheme" map that demonstrated what would happen if there was a double earthquake and the entire area were flooded! Now that I've lived here nearly 6 months and have spent time in the city, it's really a lot of fun to catch glimpses of places I've been, perhaps catching a perspective I haven't seen or even pointing out a continuity issue ("how on earth did they get from Lombard Street to the East Bay in two turns?!?")
what are some movies that you've watched that included a place you were familiar with, either as a hometown or a place you've visited? what was it like to see the filmmaker's perspective of a place you know so well?
as we moved to the Bay Area, it wasn't too difficult to find movies filmed in San Francisco. we've watched Harold & Maude, Escape To Witch Mountain, Vertigo, The Presidio, and Time After Time. new ones keep popping up all the time!
last night while Sarah was at Bible study, I watched a James Bond film that I don't remember seeing as a child (the sheer fact alone floored me since I thought I'd seen them all). A View To A Kill was the final 007 role for Roger Moore, and starred Christopher Walken as the villain along with a handful of forgetable Bond girls. About halfway through the film I'm wondering, "What on earth is this movie about? And what does the title have anything to do with the movie besides the horrible theme song performed by Duran Duran?" Within a few frames, Walken gave the answer: he was going to destroy Silicon Valley so that his microchip company could take over as the top producer in the expanding computer market of the mid-1980s! He ham-fistededly recites the title as his blimp hovers over the Golden Gate Bridge and he gazes at the San Francisco skyline.
as much of a flop as this film was, the second half redeemed itself based solely on its location. There were great shots of not only the city, but the lower half of the peninsula, which doesn't get as much air time usually. There was even a "diabolical scheme" map that demonstrated what would happen if there was a double earthquake and the entire area were flooded! Now that I've lived here nearly 6 months and have spent time in the city, it's really a lot of fun to catch glimpses of places I've been, perhaps catching a perspective I haven't seen or even pointing out a continuity issue ("how on earth did they get from Lombard Street to the East Bay in two turns?!?")
what are some movies that you've watched that included a place you were familiar with, either as a hometown or a place you've visited? what was it like to see the filmmaker's perspective of a place you know so well?
October 23, 2008
a happy halloween beat box moment
Thanks to my DVR, yesterday I was able to witness for the first time the wonderful Yo Gabba Gabba. Rather than attempt to explain it's amazing goodness (which you can glean a little from here), I wish you a Happy Halloween by way of the one and only Biz Markie.
October 02, 2008
fernando ortega on pop and theology
(I can't claim this post as my own... I read it over at The Rabbit Room, a blog community hosted by singer/songwriter Andrew Peterson. Typically, I would just stick this in my "Shared Items" in the toolbar to the right of this window, but this quote seemed way too good to simply stick in the corner)
The interviewer asked Fernando Ortega about what he thought of the commercialization of Christian music. Here’s what he said:“Well, I think that most of today’s Christian music is based on a thin premise. When you take a pop song and weigh it down with the gospel it sort of cheapens both. The theology is too heavy for the song, and the song usually ends up being too light for the theology. Often I feel like you end up with some sort of fuzzy Christian propaganda that doesn’t do music or the gospel any justice. That’s why I like hymns so much. The early fathers wrote many of the texts to hymns that we sing today. I like that they attach us to our Christian history and remind us of what in our faith is worth preserving. Hymns were written by theologians, not pop stars, and that is why when they are sung, we so tangibly feel the weight of glory.”
The interviewer asked Fernando Ortega about what he thought of the commercialization of Christian music. Here’s what he said:“Well, I think that most of today’s Christian music is based on a thin premise. When you take a pop song and weigh it down with the gospel it sort of cheapens both. The theology is too heavy for the song, and the song usually ends up being too light for the theology. Often I feel like you end up with some sort of fuzzy Christian propaganda that doesn’t do music or the gospel any justice. That’s why I like hymns so much. The early fathers wrote many of the texts to hymns that we sing today. I like that they attach us to our Christian history and remind us of what in our faith is worth preserving. Hymns were written by theologians, not pop stars, and that is why when they are sung, we so tangibly feel the weight of glory.”
And that’s why we love Fernando.
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