The Laun Mix-Tape

Chris Laun came at me with this idea a long-long time ago. And I promised him a spot when there was some down time. Little did he know that he was getting a prime-time Friday morning spotlight. This is good stuff, and a good idea. I haven't even listened to these songs yet but I know that this is a good idea. I've recently finished reading The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao, which came highly recommended by a couple of our listers. This book was as good as promised. Tune in Monday for a full report. This one is worth a damn, that's for sure. Anyway, from here on out is Laun. Listen to these songs at work. What else do you have to do?

This is another music-based recommend but it's got a bit of a twist to it. It'll hopefully be sort of a collaborative recommend if it works the way I'm intending.

Last year when the best-of lists started popping up on Google Reader I came across a couple blogs that had their top songs of the year. In checking out a lot of the music on there I found that there were a lot of great songs that were by people I had never heard of and had never heard friend's mention. Since then I've had a policy of making a point to listen to every mp3 that is shared on any of these blogs especially if it's by someone I've never heard of before and haven't formed an opinion about. If it was something I liked, I would save it to my computer. I wound up with a playlist of great songs by artists I know very little about.

So I've made a playlist of some of my favorites from the past few months. I don't know exactly when these songs were released. I believe they're all fairly recent but they could be from albums that are a few years old or ones that haven't come out yet. I tried to pick a mix of different kinds of songs so hopefully there is something here that will appeal to you.

Obviously the main goal here is to share music that I am really digging with you guys. The second goal is that if any of this is familiar to you that you can make recommendations or anti-recommendations back to me. Or if you don't know any of it but are inspired to explore further that you can report back with what you find. In that sense it could sort of be like we're discovering new music as a group.

You can listen to the whole thing at drop.io/launmix01. You can comment on each song there if you want but make sure you sign your name as it doesn't have any other way to keep track of who says what.

And here's the track listing:

Forest Fire - Slow Motion
Meursault - The Furnace
St. Vincent - The Strangers
Phoenix - 1901
Malajube - Porte Disparu
Nneka - Heartbeat
Jumbling Towers - The Kanestown City Rips
Bodies of Water - Under the Pines
Mystery Jets - Flakes
Laura Gibson - Spirited
Zu - Ostia
We/Or/Me - Tell Sarah
The Bird and the Bee - My Love
Parlovr - Pen to the Paper
Emperor X - Go-Captain and Pinlighter

Oh brother. I hate it when I come in to work early and check Friends Recommend to discover what new recommends are waiting for me only to realize that it's Thursday (my posting day) and not only is there nothing being recommended to me, but I've got nothing to recommend.

We seem to be on a TV Show kick this week so I'll keep the flow going. One show that I've recently come to appreciate is the British series Spaced. The overall plot is that Tim and new friend Daisy pretend to be a couple in order to rent an apartment together. The show features Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz fame.

As Tim and Daisy seek to develop their careers and find love, they receive counsel from and get caught up in the lives of their landlord Marsha and neighbor Brian. All in all, the show is pretty bizarre and surreal at times, and frequently references and parodies movies and other TV shows. Sometimes it's a little too bizarre for its own good, but the cast keeps it together and make you really feel for the characters. Youtube has a lot of really of boring clips from the show, but there were plenty of laugh out loud moments. Again, sorry for not knowing how to embed these. Someone should explain that to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X-_UL08uuI


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFEJstPBwvw&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3KfnPHiTqY&feature=channel

The IT Crowd

Today I wanted to talk about a show I've really been getting into lately: The IT Crowd. This is a British comedy show that is filled with absurdist humor. Basically it's about two nerdy guys and their lady manager working in an IT department. These nerdy guys are classic sitcom characters. One is extremely naive and childlike, the other is the brains behind their schemes. This is my favorite episode of any comedy show that I've seen this year, and had me laughing the hardest. This clip happens midway through the show. The two guys (Roy and Moss) are at a play with their lady boss, and they don't want to use the bathroom bc of a bathroom attendant. So Roy uses a handicap bathroom, even tho he could get in trouble for using it.



What's great about this is he has to spend the rest of the episode in a wheel chair. I love when shows have characters get in situations like these...

So, maybe if some of you are inclined, you'll torrent this episode (if that's your thing). I looked everywhere for a stream of the entire episode, but came up with nothing. So here's a torrent link.

Lookwell!

"Lookwell!" might be the funniest television series that was never made. It was created and written by Conan O'brien (I am looking forward to his return to late night next week) and Robert Smigel (The guy behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and those SNL Cartoons) way back in 1991. Sounds pretty good so far right? Wait it gets better. The show was about a washed up actor (played by Adam West) who used to be a famous TV cop. In between auditions and teaching an acting class he attempts to solve crimes. He feels he is entitled to do so because he was awarded an honorary police badge back at the height of his fame. Hillarious! The pilot episode of the show was the only one ever made. If you have 22:40 to kill, please enjoy...




What is the second funniest TV series that was never made? I am glad you asked. I can't be sure, because I can't find the pilot episode anywhere, but judging by the shows Title sequence, it might have to be "Heat Vision and Jack". Jack Black played an astronaught who comes back from space with super inteligence. Owen Wilson played his talking motor cycle/best friend. Wow. If any one has a copy of this show, I need to see it.

Radiolab

After about 50 recommends to check out NPR's Radiolab, I finally decided to take Huff up on it this morning. I am not yet finished my first episode, but it is concluding as I type this. Radiolab is hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich and I must admit it is a pretty fantastic program. If you have a job where you can sit and pay attention to an hour-long podcast I highly recommend it as a way to pass your time at the office. It is hard to listen to if you can't really pay attention, because you miss a lot of what's going on. But if you can really tune-in it might become a new favorite for you.

I checked out the episode entitled Musical Language. This is the plot description:

What is music? How does it work? Why does it move us? Why are some people better at it than others? In this hour, we examine the line between language and music, how the brain processes sound, and we meet a composer who uses computers to capture the musical DNA of dead composers in order to create new work. We also re-imagine the disastrous 1913 debut of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring...through the lense of modern neurology.

All of the segments in this episode were really interesting. One highlight for me was an investigation of the Speech-to-Song Illusion. Basically the concept of this is if you hear a spoken phrase repeated a couple times, it begins to take on the character of song. The example here is pretty amazing. This is actually the exact example used in the show. Their is a recorded excerpt of a couple of sentences of a woman speaking, and after the excerpt concludes they loop the phrase "sometimes behave so strangely" (Play "Listen: Sound Demo 1). You don't really get what is happening at first, but on the play back this phrase takes on a songlike character that the rest of the paragraph doesn't simple because you've heard it repeated a number of times. I highly recommend you listen to at least Sound Demo's 1 & 2 to get the full effect. I heard the beginning portion of the podcast in my car this morning, and as soon as I heard the phrase it popped out as being "music" instead of "speech." Neat!

Other highlights for me were an investigation of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (a favorite composer of mine). In 1913 Igor Stravinsky premiered "The Rite of Spring" which was a revolutionary composition, full of harsh harmonies (not reallly for today, but in 1913 they were harsh), and asymmetrical rhythm, and is a portrayal of the Pagan sacrifice of a girl in Spring. Anyway, during it's 1913 premier the Rite of Spring induced a riot within the first 3 minutes and the piece wasn't even performed in it's entirety. Supposedly a lot of people in the building actually liked it, but a LOT of them hated it starting fights and shouting. The very same piece was performed a second time one year later to rave reviews and pushed Stravinsky into superstardom. Radiolab looks into why the first time it was performed it caused a riot and the second time it made Stravinsky so famous that the piece was used in Disney's Fantasia:



There's a lot more great stuff in just this one episode, so I can't wait to check out more. They are all available for FREE on iTunes. So you can put a bunch in an iPod and have them saved for a boring day. Really good stuff. Thanks, Huff...what are other favorite episodes?

Along the same lines as this podcast, check out this video of Sarah Palin Sings. (I guess this goes along with Ricky's post from yesterday as well):

Recommended Distractions

So I never listen to music anymore, the books I read are only OK, and the movies I watch are horrible. Assuming you've all heard of The Office, that doesn't leave much to recommend from the little T.V. that I watch. I do however spend an inordinate amount of time browsing web page after web page. The internets are an amazing things. You can view great, pointless videos like this one:



I don't know how to embed youtube videos or anything else for that matter. So suck it up. The other great thing about the internets (***extremely- inside joke warning***) is that you can go online to buy shoes offline. Amazings!!

Here are some of my favorite places to visit on the internets.

This is Boing Boing. This is a great recommend site. Also great is Neatorama. It's a way less techy internets than this BoingBoing. If you like independant games, steampunk, DRM debates and guest bloggers than BB is for you. Otherwise it's Neatorama.

I also love Men who look like old lesbians. Although, I think the are wrong about many of these men.

Cake Wrecks is gross an hilarious and makes me sad for the world. Post Secret is kind of all of those things too. Actually Post Secret is every emotion of every person all at one place without any judgement of any of it.

Bent Objects is amusing and worth a look every few months. As is Faces in Places.

I sort of enjoy this Photoshop Disasters, but there is also something about it that I hate, but I do not know what.

I love The Big Picture although their subject matter has gotten boring lately.

Finally, It's Nice That is a great art recommender.

Sorry if this is kind of a half-assed blog post, but I got into an accident on the way to work today and I lost half of my ass in the wreck.

Late at night

There are some things that are perfect for late at night. Taco Bell may be the first thing that I think of, and I'm sure many of you agree. Taco Bell really is at its best between the hours of 12am and 2 am. But when I'm driving home during the late night, I like listening to quieter music. A few albums that have been my late night main stays for a long time: Neko Case's Blacklisted, Ryan Adams' Cold Roses, Elvis Perkins' Ash Wednesday and Iron and Wine's Our Endless Numbered Days, among other things. These albums have exactly what I want for the wee hours; beautiful/haunting songs filled with introspection and heartache. I do some of my best thinking while listening to this kind of music. And when I'm driving home from God knows where at Jesus knows what hour, I often look forward to the car ride to reflect on things, and put on the latest late night playlist. I'll also buy some albums specifically for the purpose of playing it only during late night car rides. This week I added to the late night rotation with the purchase of Camera Obscura's new album "My Maudlin Career". I actually haven't been that big a fan of them, but I bought this on a whim and was immediately knocked out.

Camera Obscura are a Scottish chamber pop group along the lines of Belle and Sebastian. Listening to them, one gets the feeling that the singer has had a lot of bad relationships. Every song seems like she's trying to woo someone, or is heartbroken. The production and arrangements are what really stand out at first glance. They're very much along the lines of the big sound of the 1960s girl groups. There are tons of strings and brass on everything, even woodwinds (which I can't recall the last time I heard an oboe on anything). Also, for this kind of music, the singer is singing about things I want to hear: "silvery lakes" and "dusty libraries". And woeful phrases like "In your eyes, there's sadness enough to kill the both of us".

Here's a clip of the single. If you like this, then I highly recommend getting the album. It's one of those rare ones where I enjoy every song. Some of the songs are actually really upbeat and happy, I swear.

The New Face of Tuesday Recommends

Welcome Todd Hargest as our new Tuesday recommender. I really hope he draws some pictures for this.

Summer Tuesdays

The original post for today was me announcing the closing of our dear Friends Recommends in a few weeks. Dedicated blogger thechristophermyers sent me his letter of resignation last night. I thank him for all of his great posts, and wish him well in future life-recommending. My initial reaction to this, after loosing TJ last week as well was to close shop. I was convinced that this was the thing to do. Mike Ward and new blogger Ricky B didn't agree. They shouted obsenities at me via email and called me a coward, and a cheat and accused me of hating this blog more than anyone in the world hates anything. So I'm willing to keep this thing alive if they are. Sincere thank-yous to Chris and TJ for their contributions. Does anyone want to take over Tuesdays for the summertime? There was mention of Colmus possibly being interested, but would anyone else consider taking this on?

Info on recipe week coming soon.

I want you...to make a recommendation.

OK, folks. Is this a cheap one? I don't think it is. I had this idea last week to use when I didn't have a blog post for the day. I didn't realize that day would come so quickly, but I am going to use it anyway.

A lot of potential recommendeerers have shy-ed away from making me a list because making a list is pretty vast, and requires a great deal of thought, and everyone thinks that they are going to be judged based on their recommendations. Contrary to that a lot of people have made me lists, which we have posted on the website here, and maybe these people have new recommends but not quite enough new recommends to warrant an entire list. To my knowledge Huff is the only person who has begun work on a second list, but I know others have ideas. You have to!

So here is the deal. For one day and one day only I want the readers of Friends Recommend to give an on-the-fly pick via our comments section. You don't have to think long and hard about this...all I want is something you've been checking out recently that you think others might enjoy. That is it. Consider this an informal recommends day, but one that we can all benefit from. If you are reading this I expect a recommendation via the comments section. You can't get out of this. I know you are reading. I'm going to start us off with a personal pick from the editor and y'all take it from there. Please?

More Changes, The New Wilco, Recipes?

Well, some more changes around the Friends Recommends parts. Our good friend and beloved blogger TJ Huff has resigned his duty as our Thursday blogger. I hold this against him in no way because I have often thought of resigning my blogging duties as well. I guess I pretty much resigned my blogging duties (at least a good portion of them) when I enlisted the help of TJ, thechristophermyers, and Mike Ward (help which I am very grateful for). Anyway, I am certain that TJ will still be around in the comments section, happy to be relieved of his blogging responsibilities. Although, I am very interested in a blog about Radiolab, so maybe he can give us a guest blog on that when the time is right. For now watch out for our good friend Ricky B to take over Thursday blogging. He has admitted to having no idea what he is going to do with it but I'm sure it will be entertaining to most people (especially Erichop).

I had hoped to have another Jenny recommends for today, but when I went to Netflix to watch one of her movies (I've never seen Clue!) none of them were view instantly. More of those are coming soon...I promise. She has invited all of us to go Letterboxing with her sometime. I'm sure she would regret this as soon as it happened.


I'm positive nearly everyone who reads this has at least heard that a new Wilco album titled "Wilco (The Album)" is coming out at the end of June. I'm sure most of you know that it is streaming in it's entirety HERE and I'm sure at least some of you have listened to it. I heard the first half two days ago, and this afternoon when I sat down to do computer things I found that I heard the whole album all the way through. I'm listening to it again right now and I really love it. I want to have it in CD form so I can listen to it while I drive. I am already anticipating this being a wonderful thing. I don't have too many thoughts about the album yet, this being only the second time I've really heard it all. I can tell you that I think the songwriting is solid, Jeff Tweedy sounds GREAT, and as always the guitar work of Nels Cline doesn't disappoint. I still haven't checked out Sky Blue Sky and although it has received very mixed reviews from friends I still intend to buy it. I really love A Ghost Is Born and Summerteeth, but for totally different reasons. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is one of my favorite albums ever, so I guess I compare all Wilco albums to it. Wilco (The Album), at least so far seems to lean back towards Summerteeth in it's feel-good rockiness, and away from the experimentation/drony/soundiness of A Ghost Is Born (which I also love). And although I can't give a total impression just yet, I can say that as soon as this album is released on June 30 I am going to buy it. It is certain to at least be an album that I really like, and will listen to obsessively for a week or two. It will at least be that for me, with a strong chance for more. Good job, guys. I recommend you listen to the first song (Wilco (The Song)) and see how it hits you...it gives a pretty good impression of what else is coming, but by no means tells the full story. Those of you who have listened, what do you think so far?

Lastly, there have been rumblings around here of people interested in posting some of their favorite recipes. This will have to be more than just posting a recipe, but I am willing to give another week in the blogsphere to this idea somewhere down the line if people actually want to do this. I don't know how to turn on an oven, so I am out for this one. But if everyone is dying for the recipe to Ricky's mashed beer potatoes coupled with some hilarious anecdote then I will not try to stand in the way.

who knows how to throw a torch?

aye yay yay.... i am just realizing that another thursday morning has snuck up on me and i've failed twice in a row. inasmuch, i think its past due to pass the torch to anyone who wants to fill my thursdaying slot.

i wanted to go off yesterdays list and talk about another british comic i find "the tops". his name is EDDIE IZZARD, and a good recommender would've posted a whole slew of entertaining youtube clips. i also wanted to bounce off yesterday's list and talk about another NPR show called RADIOLAB and i should've put clips up and lured you with interesting anecdotes. however i just am unable to maintain my responsibilities at such a high caliber.... so who wants thursday????

Russell Brand

Hey everyone,
So today I have a short recommend: Russell Brand. Do you know this guy?



He's an English comic who was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which I would call a decent comedy, but Russell Brand was hilarious in this. He really made this movie. He plays a version of himself, but instead of a comedian, he plays a self obsessed rock star who steals away the main guy's (Jason Seagal) girlfriend. You should watch this if you haven't yet.

Anyway, his real persona isn't much different from this character. He's really famous in England, where he does comedy and his own radio show. So, last week I listened to him on NPR's Fresh Air. It's a really great interview that I wanted to share. I was impressed by how smart he is. And the pranks he talks about are hilarious. One good one they talk about is about him giving his dirty undies to Dame Helen Mirren (the actress who played the Queen of England in "The Queen").

Here's the interview. Listen if you have 30 minutes.



So Russell Brand has a book that just came out. A tell all about his life.


After listening to this interview, I bought his book, which should be on its way, and I will talk about after I've read it. From everything I've read up on it, and if it's anything like this interview, it seems like it will be a great read.

Gavin Bryars--Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet

Due to unforseen circumstances Mayor Dixon has prevented Chris from posting today, so as an apology for missing last Friday (and the many Fridays before it) I will do a special post for the day. I just got back from a great trip to San Francisco (a recommend all in itself!) and visited my favorite record store in the world, Ameoba Records. If you are ever on the West Coast, a visit to Ameobo is the strongest recommendation I can give. If I walk out of that store spending less than $100 I am suprised, proud, and ashamed of myself all at the same time. It doesn't rival the iternet for amount of music (obviously) but I often miss walking into a record store and being able to actually find something that I want.

I had been looking for this recording of Gavin Bryars' "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet" for a while now. It actually came via recommendation from TJ a couple of years ago. He played it for me, and I really liked it, and then I forgot about it. Recently one of my bosses at Loyola mentioned it, and since we've had this love/hate debate of Tom Waits going on at Friends Recommend this seemed like a good chance to bring it up.

Gavin Bryars is a well-known English classical composer. If you really want to know of his background that is what this Wikipedia entry is for...although he is also a double bassist which earns him points in my book. Basically the whole piece is built around a homeless man singing a folk song. The original recording was for a documentary about homelessness in England. When Bryars heard this particular clip he noticed that it was in tune. He made a loop out of it and played it over and over again, improvising harmonies on the piano to match the vocal part. Apparently while he was doing this he would loop the sample again and again at his place of employment and after time everyone around would be crying. I don't know how valid this is but just hearing the original vocal part (the original singer is labeled Tramp on the recording) caused people around to start crying. It is pretty powerful, so I could believe it.

The essential CD of the recording is 74 minutes long. It begins with just the tramp singing Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet, and you have no idea what is going on. Is this a joke? It goes on for a couple of minutes with him just singing alone. Eventually a quiet string quartet enters in the background, and it sneaks it so perfectly that you barely know it's happening. Throughout the course of the recording it gets the full-blown orchestral treatment, but the finale is where it's at. At the very end Bryars enlisted none other than Tom Waits to sing with the orchestra and loop of the tramp, and it is fantastic. This is one of the lesser known Waits pieces among a lot of his fans, so I wanted to put it on the table.

The Youtube clip I've included is of the ending with Waits singing. The way the whole piece unfolds is pretty special, but this gives it to you in a much smaller and still special package. OK, see you Friday:

Today's Post

Mayor Sheila Dixon canceled my blog post for today. Sorry.

Letterboxing

Before Jenny submitted her list two weeks ago I had never heard of letterboxing, and a guess at what it was would have been far off the mark. I must admit that after investigating the website I'm still not 100% sure that I know how it works. Here is Jenny's summary taken directly from her list:

Letterboxing: I am on a never-ending treasure hunt of finding hidden packages from strangers in trees, under rocks, and in streetlights all over the country. In letterboxing, you carve your own stamp and you find other people’s stamps. You leave your stamp in their hidden notebook and put theirs in your notebook.

This sounds awesome to me. As a little guy (although after Jessica pulled out some family pictures on Mother's Day, and it appears I wasn't so little but more a shrunken Lou Grant from the Mary Tyler Moore Show) the idea of hidden treasure, fossils, maps, etc. was always very exciting to me. The problem was, with the exception of Easter egg hunts, I would have to bury these treasures on my own, or create my own maps, or secret language (via a club called RAD in the second grade) for any of this to be possible. Letterboxing really appeals to this inner-child, never-extinguished desire to find such things. You can read all about it on your own at letterboxing.org. I will try to sum it up as best as I can, but a recommend from the editor is to check out the website because I might not know what I'm talking about.

Basically, from what I understand, there are about 20,000 letterboxes buried throughout North America, with more in other areas of the world. Every letterbox contains a logbook, a stamp, and an inkpad. Every letterboxer has their own stamp (sort of their identity), trail name, and logbook to keep track of the letterboxes they find. When you find a letterbox you put it's stamp into your logbook and leave behind your stamp, your name, and maybe a little write-up about how you found the box in their logbook. This is a seemingly neverending treasure hunt, where while the reward isn't gold or eternal life or three wishes, it seems like it would be pretty exciting to find one.

While I am really interested in this activity, it would probably take some time to get started up. You can purchase a stamp from somewhere like the Teacher's Resource, or you can choose to make your own. Really, the website covers all of this and tons more. Once you get your letterboxing identity together you can start looking at clues in your area to find some of them. I like this. I hope that one day I choose to actually participate, but maybe for now I will just bombard Jenny with questions every time I see her. For now can you answer just a few if you are reading this? How many letterboxes have you found? Is this something that Mike also participates in, or would he just break down and cry? What does your stamp look like? (If I am getting too personal, please stop me). Have you done this outside of Maryland?

Also, this seems like a good activity to do with kids. Maybe I will promise myself now that if somehow I have a kid I will force them to participate in letterboxing, something they may love in their youth, but may end up talking to a psychiatrist about if I force them to continue doing it into their 20's. Here are some letterboxing pictures whether you are interested or not:

ball dropped... and i'm not even on vacation.

oh man oh man. my apologies for missing my thursday duties. i am in no way on vacation... but was moreso busy and slightly grumpy yesterday to do it justice... and not that putting up youtube clips is doing it justice... i like how adam at least gave us something.

so - because i was late, here's two youtube clips i quite enjoy. they are short and both real funny i think. pardon my not knowing how to embed these things... its not as easy as just grabbing the youtube embed code as i thought.

youtube clip 1

youtube clip 2

Apologies, Vacationing, and Auto-Tune the News

Hey Friends, sorry for this.  I'm on vacation with very limited internet access and haven't been able to pull one together.  I do have a strong recommend for anyone who's never been to San Francisco to get out here.  Especially if you have a little hippy in you...then I would say it was a required life-journey.  Sorry, Jenny...you list updates are coming soon!

To hold you over here is my current favorite youtube video.  Some genius decided to auto-tune a couple of news broadcasts.  It works incredibly well because of the animated voices of the anchors.  If nothing else do yourself a favor and fast forward to minute 1:15...I would listen to a whole album of Katie Couric in auto-tune.  No joke:

More things about food

Today I wanted to talk about something I feel very strongly about: food. More specifically: fast food. I was reading the comments about a recipe week, and I already know that I'm not going to have anything to contribute. I'm pretty terrible in the kitchen, but I'm pretty great at picking places that are considered fast food, but not completely gross.

Baja Fresh
I had a hard time thinking of a topic, but then in the spirit of Cinco de Mayo, I remembered that I love burritos. I lived in Timonium for two years, and while there, cultivated a pretty strong love of burritos. I don't know of any other place in Maryland that has so many burrito places so close by. There's Baja Fresh, Qdoba, Chipotle, some place called Moe's, and another place close by (in Towson) called Frisco Burritos. I've been to all of these many times. Some I've probably had dreams about. But, to me, the best is Baja Fresh. Their burritos aren't as heavy as any of the other places. Chipotle and Qdoba's burritos are loaded with too much stuff, and I don't like their cheese as much. Also, Baja Fresh gives you free chips with your burrito, which is something that will not happen at Qdoba or Chipotle. When I go to Baja, I love the Bean and Cheese burrito, loaded with Cholula sauce. They also don't steam the burrito shell; they grill it, which is nice and different. Having all of these places near me, though, was great. Even when I say favorite, I still would go to all of the other places quite regularly. Now, I have no burrito places in a convenient proximity to my house. So, I miss those days.

Chick-Fil-A
A few months ago, Chick-Fil-A opened up near my house. I live in Arbutus, and it's seriously a barren waste land of quality fast food. This opening has been like a God send. When I go, I get their chicken nuggets. They don't taste like any other chicken nuggets of any other place. They are completely unique. Also, if you've never tried their lemonade, it's probably the best you'll find anywhere. Another thing that's nice about going here is that they are incredibly friendly. The feeling of being wanted is really nice.

Five Guys
I actually talk about this next place quite a bit. Five Guys is the best goddamn burger place in town. If you are like George French, every time you go in there, it's the best meal of your life. It just gets exponentially better with each visit, like a song that keeps modulating up a whole step. I already have built up many happy times eating at Five Guys. The one thing about eating here is that whatever time you go, that's your dinner. They pile the food on. I always get the little cheeseburger, and small fries, and they just fill the bag up to the brim with fries. For me, one of the things that makes this place so great is how different the burger seems from other places. The patty is really good, and the fixings are all really good, with tons of options. Maybe someone more eloquent than myself can put it into words better.

Ann's Dairy Cream
Growing up, I would go to this place at least twice a month. Ann's Dairy Cream is on Richie Highway, in front of the Marley Station Mall. They specialize in footlong hotdogs, and milk shakes and they've been there in that one spot since the 1940s. The footlong is a wonder. Getting "everything" will get you chili, onions and mustard. It's better than any hotdog you've ever had. The milkshakes are also probably better than what you've ever had. If you go there, you go for hotdogs and milkshakes...if you are going to get a soda, you might as well not go at all. I usually get the Vanilla, which may not seem like a big deal to rave about, but it really is that good. They also have banana, cherry, strawberry and chocolate.

OK, those are some of my faves. I look forward to seeing what everyone else's raves are.

Chuck

Hey everyone.

Welcome back to my weekly column. I'm sick today and I don't feel like being as talky as I typically am. So let's just hop right into it and I'll explain who I am next week.




When I first saw this and countless other advertisements featuring this Jim Halpert wannabe, I didn't want anything to do with this "Chuck" TV show. Add in the fact that it was created by Josh Schwartz, creator of The O.C., another show that I was determined to hate although I had never seen an episode. And man, what's the deal with that haircut!!?! How do bangs do that?

So, it was inexplicable that I added a TiVo Season Pass for this show anyhow. Somehow, two seasons later, its secretly become the most thoroughly consistent enjoyable hours of television that I watch each week.

What is this Chuck all about? It doesn't matter. If I explained it, it would sound stupid and like something you wouldn't want to watch. What you might like best is that its not too deep in mythology. Sure there's one or two twists, but mostly, you can jump in wherever you want and kinda get the idea.

Anyhow, this show's gonna get canceled, maybe, so whatever.

Okay, let's watch some clips. Clip by clip, you'll have no clue what's going on, but I bet you'll be strangely turned on.

This is an exciting wedding!!!



And then, there's Buster!



And then this is what I imagine how Ricky B's workday is like:




Save Chuck!

Chris Myers

The Steve Colmus (and last!) Top 5

This is it, friends. Thanks for sticking with us, but it's time to put the Top 5 to rest for a little while. Maybe we'll be back with something new for you all to sound off on. Thanks to everyone who participated. I have some really great Top-5 playlists on my iPod now. And for better or worse, I feel like I know everyone here a little bit better.

Jenny-list greatness will be coming your way in my next post. Like I said, not sure what these other jokers are going to write about this week. We'll see! I just bought Junot Diaz's The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao today on the strong recommendations of Heather and Mike Gittings. Also picked up The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon, who's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and Yiddish Policeman's Union have been recommending in this very blog. Should finish at least one on my trip to San Francisco this week, and I'm looking forward to whichever one I pick. And here goes Colmus...(editors note: Colmus has a potty mouth, if you are under 18 please send your permission slip to me via email to read this post):

I apologize to Adam for having taken so long pulling this together, but I was torn between contributing my Top Five Songs and mounting a defense of Jack Kerouac, because you all are some hatin’ ass fools. In the end, I decided against the Kerouac piece (for now) after being reminded of the old saying about how you can lead a horse to water, but he’s got to figure it the fuck out from there for his own damn self. Plus, after Ward and Myers’s Top Fives, I figured it might be nice to offer a man’s perspective.

These aren’t necessarily my Five Favorite Songs of All-Time, but they’re in the shooting match.

The Replacements “Bastards of Young”



This is what rock n’ roll should sound like - loud, sloppy and drunkenly heartfelt with a healthy dose of alienation. This is from their major label debut and it’s an amazing Statement of Purpose from a band who really couldn’t give a fuck about anything - record sales, being famous, even learning how to play their own songs. I love this recording because it’s warts-and-all - Westerberg can only barely sing the song, the solo two wheels it around the corners, and the whole thing feels like it could fly off the rails at every minute. In the end, it’s all held together by sheer excitement and force of childlike abandon - it sounds like the drunkest high school band in the world. It’s real, it’s honest, and it fucking rocks.

Supergrass “Alright”



One of my friends thinks that the indie rock of the 1990s will become the next Classic Rock when our generation is old and rich enough to afford our own radio stations. If so, this deserves to be in heavy rotation because this is about as perfect a pop song as anyone wrote in those years. This just feels like being 17 years old and careening through the streets in your friend’s car, trying to find something - or someone - to get into.

Bob Dylan “Mr. Tambourine Man”




I probably don’t need to explain this one. There are two dozen Dylan songs that could make this list, but I always come back to this - especially this version, from a concert on Halloween of 1964, before either he or the Byrds had released their takes of the song. The studio version is great enough, but this just seems to pour out of him effortlessly, in a gorgeously drowsy fashion. At the risk of sounding like some asshole Phish Phan, he really seems to climb inside the song on this. These are maybe my favorite lyrics of all-time, even if I really have no idea what he’s going on about. I think it’s an idealized peace the narrator is desperately in search of, where he can “forget about today until tomorrow.” Or it’s about smoking pot.

ABBA “Waterloo”



Someone who knows far more about the architecture of The Modern Pop Song than I, once told me that this is a mathematically perfect song - the first turnaround comes exactly one minute in, as prescribed; the second follows one minute and one second later; and then it’s all driven home with one last chorus, burying that hook in your brain. I hit things with sticks precisely so I don’t have to worry things like that, but I love this song simply because it always puts a smile on my face. Its so tight and perfectly arranged, and those crafty Swedes thought to compare an episode of romantic capitulation to Napoleon’s great defeat. SOLD! I really, really love the shit out of this.

Foreigner “Feels Like The First Time”



Bands don’t write shit like this anymore - tell me that chorus doesn’t have balls so big, they drag. It’s fucking enormous. For a long time, Foreigner was nothing more to me than the ironic soundtrack to my friends and mine’s illicit high school games of Risk in my parent’s basement, when we’d hide the beers under the bean bag chair and root through my Dad’s record collection. But I gradually realized that this song kicked so much ass that it almost made up for “I Wanna Know What Love Is.” When they launch out of the bridge and into the chorus around the 2:15 mark and Lou Grant is just riffing in and out of the backing vocals, it makes the hair on my ass stand up every time. You can scoff if you want to, but that probably just means you’re an asshole with no taste.

That’s enough out of me. I’ll re-introduce myself whenever I make the cut here again.

The Heather Van De Mark Top 5

What happened to Colmus? You're guess is as good as mine. HSV really saved the day with this one...and three days before she thought she was going to have to go. Thanks, HSV:

no preface, i'm too tired to type much. just know, nothing's ever really all-time for me, everything changes.plus, i don't think i've even been exposed to my top five all time favorite songs yet. i know two for sure, the other three i'm just into.

Sierra by Cursive



i heart this entire album, it's epic. but sierra stands out because it's such a melancholy scenario. i particularly like when everything builds up and breaks around 2:16. i can just feel it. listen to the whole album, it's amazing. this song won't ever come off of my top-5 songs.


Waste of Paint by Bright Eyes



this is the other song that won't come ever fall from my top-5. i like his story telling style (particularly for the first half), some parts are happy and some are sad, and his lyrics just work for me. i can't be in a crowded place and not think, "the way they spin and turn and jockey for positions."

Some Kind of Wonderful by Joss Stone (editors note: sorry for the shotty youtube video. Heather's version was from iTunes so I couldn't play it or post it here. Let me know if this is the wrong song or something.)



i like female artists, and rather than include some lifelong favorites like shirley manson, brodie dalle, gwen stefani, karen o, etc., i went with joss stone. i'm not sure, i'm not familiar with her work (nor do i even know who originally wrote this song). but i like songs from this era/genre, whatever it is.

Dramamine by Modest Mouse



maybe not the most exciting song, but something about it puts me into a special place. the sort of song i put on repeat and fall/cry asleep to. i like it, but i could see it falling from grace at some point.

Labeling Keys by Taylor Mali



okay, not a song, but spoken word definitely has rhythmic elements. taylor mali is fantastic and his whole cd is really good. basically, after i listened to each one i wanted to add it to the list. some are sad, some are funny. i also like that he doesn't incorporate music into his poetry, which a lot of spoken artists will do, and i'm not crazy about that.

bonus track: my summer jam: Laugh Love Fuck by The Coup. You'll have to click on that song, the first song isn't it.
link to : http://www.myspace.com/thecoupmusic
yeeaaaaah. this just gets me into a mood. a real good mood.

that's all folks.