war is over

"so this is Xmas
and what have you done
another year over
and a new one just begun

and so this is Xmas
i hope you have found
the near and the dear one
the old and the young

a very Merry Xmas
and a happy New Year
let's hope it's a good one
without any fear

war is over, if you want it
war is over now."

happy christmas everyone.

2009 in tunes

i guess it's time for my annual top ten list of albums. 2009 wasn't a great year for music. it was a good year. i heard lots of good albums, not many great ones. yesterday, tanner burned me frankel, the low anthem and a.a. bondy, so i might change this list once i listen to these albums and get familiar with them. but for now, here it is:

1. the avett brothers- i and love and you
2. grizzly bear- veckatimest
3. dark was the night- various artists
4. animal collective- merriweather post pavillion
5. fruit bats- the ruminant band
6. flaming lips- embryonic
7. girls- album
8. the low anthem- oh my god, charlie darwin
9. the white rabbits- it's frightening
10. wilco- wilco the album

there it is. honorable mention:

yo la tengo- popular songs
elvis perkins- in dearland
u2- no line on the horizon
phoenix- wolfgang amadeus phoenix

and that's really it. like i said, not a great year, but a good one.

anybody have anything else to add?

someone to share my life with

wednesday is my wife's birthday. i instituted what i called "the seven days of birthday" last wednesday where my wife got a gift every day leading up to her birthday. the last three are going to be awesome. she's going to love them! i am the best husband ever. seriously. look it up.

i had blood drawn today for the first time since i was 14. i am the biggest wiener when it comes to blood. but i got through it. it still hurts a little. not much.

i'm so excited about this week. this is going to be a fun week. (check back next week for the entry when i say that this week sucked.)

we've been had

"we've been had. you say it's over. sometimes i'm just happy i'm older. we've been had. i know it's over. somehow it got easy to laugh outloud."

-the walkmen

dig a pony

i saw "fantastic mr. fox" last night. wow. that movie. stop-animation by wes anderson. voices with george clooney and glenn close. the funniest line in a movie in 2009 was by ash, the son voiced by jason schwartzman:

"you're disloyal." that was delivered better than any line in the history of lines. so funny.

i also ate twos bags of popcorn and two giant sodas. i think my total caloric intake for the night was between 15,000 and 20,000 calories last night. i think tonight i'll dream about working out.

the movie actually had three beach boys songs. the movies starts with "heroes and villains." amazing montage sequence. i love a good montage. set to a tune by the b-boys, even better. next was "i get around." great tune. and finally, "old man river," which the beach boys didn't write, but they have an outtake where they are singing with it with minimal instruments and the harmonies are killer. totally killer.

in other news, my cat is the cutest animal on earth.

swimming in the flood

it's cold outside. jeeze. colder than when it snowed.

so for all you sports fans who voted for the tagline of change and hope (myself included in that sports fans reference), you have probably woken up to the harsh reality that change is not coming and hope is dead on the vine.

one of my favorite political writers right now is matt taibbi. he writes mostly with rolling stone. i posted a link to his article a while back about goldman sachs when eviscerated the financial institution.

well he's back. and this time he aim is directly on the obama administration. the obama big sellout. i highly recommend you read it and try your best to understand the back room dealings that are going on here. we'll never know for certain how many of these deals happen, but when one is exposed, familiarize yourself with it. get to know it. and remember it. they think we don't have a memory.

for the next election, we need to make our voice heard. we will not stand for the republican or democrat parties any longer. they're day in the sun is done. vote 3rd party all the way. even if it's the most ridiculous 3rd party there is. how can it be more futile than what we have?

this is a call

well it's not snowing anymore. i'm sure most of you guessed that.

i have been super busy this week. i'll have to catch everybody up later in the week.

i ate some righteous hummus today. very swell.

snow in houston

i cannot believe it. there is snow everywhere. not enough to make you stay in all day, but snow nonetheless. it's beautiful. i made one snowball and my hand almost froze off.

heroes and villains

lyrics

the song

my hero

i don't care what anyone says (and i'm not exactly who this vague force of evil i'm referring to is, but i'm sure it's out there (how's that for paranoia?)) but the foo fighters song "my hero" is one kick-ass, full-on, bitchin' rock and roll tune.

i saw the foo fighters do a vh1 storytellers. it's probably the only music-type show vh1 has done in six or seven years, but it was good. i have mad respect for dave grohl. i don't necessarily love the foo fighters, but for that guy to come from being the drummer of the most adored band of the early '90s and putting out that first album of his took major, major balls. and it was pretty good. it wasn't great, but it was pretty good. i liked it enough to buy it, the last foo fighters album i bought, but still. the guy has personality and is always saying something interesting or funny when i see or read about him. gotta love that.

breathe

"every day, i die again and again, i'm reborn."

"there's nothing you have that i need. i can breathe."

- both from bono.

age brings wisdom. supposedly. but for the most, i think it does. christmas is a great time of year. but man, i see so many people killing themselves, not enjoying the spirit. the lights. the music. the shiny stuff. it's beautiful. there's nothing at best buy or some jewelry store that you need. like jeff tweedy said, "the best life never leaves your lungs." don't get too high. don't get too low. that's how to live life. i wish i knew that ten years ago.

there's a lot going on in the world, but i want everyone who reads this to think and pray for jessie maker. she had her foot amputated. i pray for healing and strength for her. she is most beloved and is an amazing woman. i have no doubt she will overcome this and be up again taking care of those around her.

moods for moderns

food stamps now help one in eight americans and help to feed one in four children. read that again. one in eight americans and one in four children. that is amazing. i sit here and read that and think, there's no way that's right. but it is. one in four children. 25% of the children in this country are fed with the assistance of food stamps. we're hearing a lot of talk about a "recovery," but each time i hear that i think about what i see and hear everyday. i don't think we're grasping how deep this problem is going because a) we're not paying enough attention and b) we still think things can continue the way they always have since i've been alive (30 years): debt will spur growth. that is not sustainable. it is not logical.

we're lucky. most of you/us reading this are in a state that, while not immune to this great recession, has weathered it better than most. there are entire states out there that are hurting. and while the story about tiger woods wife beating up his back window with a golf club might be fun and entertaining, the truth is:

1. we're sending more troops to afghanistan, where we've now been for almost nine years; longer than our involvement in WWII
2. we have 17% total unemployment, which includes people who have given up looking for work and part-time employees who would rather be working full-time
3. we have an imploding national debt that will start to eat into our everyday lives as we grow older
4. we have a political system that is engrained in the status quo
5. for those with jobs, we have stagnant wages with price increases in food, power, medical and retirement fees

we need to pay attention. we need to hold those in charge accountable. start writing your senators. start writing your reps. start writing the president. we've got huge problems and we're patching holes while the boat is sinking.

we're marching towards zombie capitalism.

and the glitter is gone

michael moore's open letter to president obama.

it actually inspired me to write one to him as well. click the link on the bottom of the letter to write to him or someone who reads for him or to him. who knows. it just felt good writing and telling someone what a mistake it is to send more troops to afghanistan.

nice

a shot in the arm

man. i needed this past break. it felt so good not to go anywhere or spend all night studying. wednesday, my buddy and i went and rampaged this ping-pong table. that was incredible. ping-pongs wars ensued. thursday was nothing but food covered in gravy, which is the way it was intended to be. and friday we saw my friend's little boys and played with them. and saturday and sunday, we took it easy. so nice.

does anyone really believe that if you listen to a repetitive phrase, or several repetitive phrases while you sleep, that you can actually memorize them in your sleep? i wonder. it's actually called "hypnopaedia" which translates to sleep teaching.

greatest avclub inventory ever. 17 peculiar beach boys songs! i have them all. my favorite on the list is probably johnny carson. that is a brilliant album.

great article by niall ferguson regarding the possible debt implosion and how the great superpowers have fallen because of it.

be thankful you have a job right now. seriously.

end the fed

i can't believe i missed this:

ron paul in houston, part 1.

ron paul in houston, part 2.

middle of the road

so i took time out of my life last night to watch the texans play on monday night football. my wife and i got some hamburgers, some chips and some beers. she watched about half of the game. i watched about 3/4. we made a bet on the game too. she doesn't like to do money bets, because it all comes from the same pot. so we made a dinner bet. whoever lost would have to cook dinner for the other person. the dinner doesn't have to be 4 star michelin, but it has to have thought, planning and preparedness.

i bet on the texans to win. so what should i cook? i'm thinking some sort of pork dish maybe. like a pecan crusted pork loin. or maybe something more exotic, like buffalo or maybe something from the sea, like scallops or chilean sea bass. i have to do it before 30 days have passed, so i have time to think and prepare and plan.

i should also think about not betting on the texans next game or ever again.

i'll be waking up early tomorrow to take BEC, another portion of the CPA test. if i fail this one, i think i might have to take drastic measures in my studying habits. like tape myself reading the material and listening to it while i'm sleeping. or take stuff to the inside of my eyelids. i don't know.

whatupwiththat

i watched a bit of snl on saturday night. mostly, i don't think the skits are very funny, but every once in a while, you'll get a good show. this one was hit and miss, but this skit in particular is still making me laugh and i'm not sure exactly why. it's not that original or witty, but it's catchy and man i want those dance moves.

what up with that?


ooooooooooooooeeeeeeeeee!

it's got to be the glasses

the motown sound. we know it. we grew up with it. and the consensus is marvin gaye. he was the maestro. and you won't get an argument from me. the man was soul personified. he wrote and produced his shit. he ached every note and believed every pause and silent fixture.

but that's not the whole story. david ruffin. if you listen to david ruffin's vocals with the temptations, you'll hear a man with tread on his voice. a man who didn't force nothing. double negative. i love those.

i wish it would rain. i'm losing you. my girl. the man couldn't control his urges, but what man can? his demons destroyed him. but sadly, that's what made his performance so great. he was desparate. every note was the last.

when i started writing this i was listening to i'm losing you. but now, the cd player has shifted and admiral halsey, uncle albert is playing. what a great song. the perfect paul song. it means nothing, but man is it gorgeous. the melody is so sweet. the melody is perfect and so are the harmonies. i wish brian wilson had decided to get out of bed and do his little tunes. i'm sure he would have made songs so seemingly insignificant, but yet, so deep in their brief existence.

i take BEC on wednesday. i wish i was smarter.

this guy is probably a total douche, but i'm digging this first song off his solo album.