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Best napkins ever!

Originally uploaded by dolapo

Gaeta’s lament

libxml2 > 2.6.32 and wordpress xmlrpc. Me and wordpress. More discussion here and here. The camel’s back is broken, I’m going to move to tumblr instead of maintaining wordpress. I nearly have a heart attack every time I have to untar a directory over an existing, working, installation. And why do they radically change the UI every single release??

Truth!

Originally uploaded by dolapo

I *hate* that song.
And Foxy Brown.
How many songs has she ruined?
How many awesome movies has she ruined by taking her name from them?
W-T-F

I’m doing a little shopping for new headphones to listen to at work. I’ve been using a pair of Sony 7505s that I hate for the past 4 years and I’ve reached the breaking point. The most likely reason for this is that I’ve been using my favorite pair of cans at home a lot more lately and that makes listening to the Sony phones sort of unbearable. My home pair are Grado SR125s. They put me in such a happy place. They distract me from reading. They kept me up the last two hours sitting in the dark listening to music. That seems to happen all the time. The sad: I can’t use them at work since they’re open and would drive my coworkers insane, they’re also pretty uncomfortable.

A friend pointed me at this head-fi thread which has tons of recommendations for different kinds of phones in various makes and price ranges. It’s pretty solid. Given my current tastes in sound and known dislikes, I’m leaning towards a pair of Audio-Technicas. I don’t belabor the technical specifications, I’m picky about what I like, and I’ll know it when I hear it. I’m going to go listen to some soon. Here’s the list of songs that I’m going to use.

♫ Boards of Canada - RoyGBiv

♫ Blue Sky Black Death - Stillness
I don’t know much about these guys but I’ve loved this song since I first heard it. It’s very trip-hop, kinda hard to go wrong with that. There’s also something weird about the mix that makes this track hard to listen to on my Grado’s but acceptable on my Sony and Shure phones.

♫ Ladytron - Beautyx2
Favoritest ladytron track? Yup! So pretty.

♫ Lil Wayne - BM Jr.
♫ Lil Wayne - Money on my Mind
BM Jr was the first track I heard off of Carter I back in 2004. This album came out of nowhere. Before this, Wayne had released three pretty forgettable records (yeah yeah yeah, Tha Block is Hot). The track is typical-to-pretty good Mannie Fresh production — too much snare and high hats but a great bass line and driving melody. And Wayne just killed this track. In a jaw-dropping, “whoa, who is this guy” sort of way. His flow and breath control on this are just incredible. Personal classic.
Money on my Mind is from Carter II and is responsible for unleashing The Runners‘ brand of production on the world. Have you heard Hustlin’? Same fucking formula.

♫ Crookers ft Kid CuDi - Embrace the Martian
I catch myself bobbing my head to this on the subway all the damn time. Oops.

♫ Jay-Z ft Beanie Sigel - Ignorant Shit
Jay’s flow and lyrics. The Isley Brothers sample. Just Blaze is amazing for this. Did you think I wasn’t going to have a Jay track on this list?

♫ M83 - My Own Strange Path
The first time I heard M83 was on the Night<space>Watch trailer. I’ve been sort of obsessed since. This track is from Digital Shades Vol 1, an ambient side project. By itself, it’s a great track. As part of the album it’s the height of a progression, and sort of amazing.

♫ Nina Simone - I Put a Spell on You
Speechless, just speechless. This is going on three times.

♫ Brian Eno - St Elmo’s Fire
The synths, the crazy lyrics, I love this track.

♫ Black Milk ft Royce 5′9” - Losing Out
♫ Black Milk ft Pharoahe Monch Sean Price - The Matrix
Black was easily my favorite producer in 2008. Easily. The Caltroit album, Elzhi’s albums, and Tronic. All just ridiculous, and he manages to hold his own against all these incredibly talented guest rappers… somewhat. His rhyme structure can be a bit forced, but all in all a huge improvement from his first album. The production is the star here though.

… and other things I learned from an episode of Saved by the Bell

• Ed Alonzo wasn’t just the annoying guy that worked at their school’s cafe. He’s an actual magician. You can book him for parties. He’s also not the least memorable recurring character on the show (that would be Stacey Carosi). I hope he’s available for my 30th!
• I’m okay with a teacher asking Slater to the Sadie Hawkin’s dance. Especially after that incident at the ‘88 Olympics. And all those beauty pageants.
• Mr Balding on girls: “They all get headaches Mr Morris.”
• It’s okay to reference Fatal Attraction in day to day conversation. And River Phoenix.
• The Bon Jovi thing kind of blows my mind… but explains her tasseled jacket.
• I can cosign this brand of dramatic irony. Silly Zach.
• Slater “won” this round, even though he ultimately loses Kelly to Zach. If Yahoo groups are any measure of success — and they are — Slater is currently kicking Gosselaar’s ass.

This post is about the file format

Peter, Bjorn & John - Nothing to Worry About

Somehow I’m headed to Sundance January 21-25 this year. Somehow because, well, I had very little to do with the planning of this trip. That’s all Mollie. She spent much time scheduling and finding a condo and rescheduling and… I think I actually hindered the process by not replying to emails and then waiting until the last possible minute before weighing in with my travel and movie preferences. She changed flights at least once in order to make the last Missing Person screening. She also had to actually call (like on the telephone!) to get tickets since the Internet ticket purchasing was a little fucked. We didn’t get everything we wanted, but that’s what waiting in lines is for. Confirmed schedule:

Wed

The Missing Person

Thur

Reporter
Big Fan

Fri

Peter and Vandy
Black Dynamite (How can this not be amazing?! Have you seen the trailer?)
Dirt

Sat

The Cove
Nollywood Babylon

This post was brought to you by insomnia

I wanted to pre-emptively hate on this new Flo Rida song (Round Round), but I kinda got into it after the 3rd or 4th listen.

Ordinarily I might say something like:
Producers, it’s 09. That “Hey!” shit is getting old. And unless you’re Mali Boi (who gets a pass¹ on cheesy samples), leave the fucking 80s alone! This song was already ruined by that scrubbing bubbles commercial! and Marilyn Manson! and a billion other things. Whine whine whine.

To be honest, I’ve been bad at judging some of these songs on first listen. I hated² on Live Your Life when I first heard it and then grew to love it. Fuck it, this song is catchy. And pseudo-sexual. Almost as catchy as Low or Elevator. Sample it one more time. That’s Kesha on the chorus. Anyone have a producer credit?

At some point last night, in between donning a reindeer sweater with blinking lights and diving into a moving cab, the topic of 5 star songs in iTunes came up. See, I thought the majority of my music library was rated. I use ratings to make smart playlists to fill my iPhone, etc. Blah blah, I couldn’t remember which songs were 5 stars either. Anyway, a little python+appscript script later… (BTW, why is utf-8 in python so *fucked* ?)

Total tracks: 13629
Rated tracks: 5289
1-star rated tracks: 33
2-star rated tracks: 638
3-star rated tracks: 3428
4-star rated tracks: 1138
5-star rated tracks: 52

I have so much work to do now! There are thousands of mp3s that aren’t even getting a shot in my regular rotation.

52 songs that I apparently find desert (or tropical i guess, let’s say… deserted) island worthy, sorted by genre, with playcounts. And bonus: artists with more than one 4-5 star rated tracks, sorted by number of said tracks. I present this information so that you may make fun of me.

Electronic

• Ladytron - Beautyx2 (39)
• M83 - On A White Lake, Near A Green Mountain (81)
• Nanook of the North - The Explorer (22)
• Nanook of the North - Forget It Jenny, Love Is Just a Privilege for the Rich (24)
• The Shanghai Restoration Project - Bubbling Well Road (12)

Hip-Hop

• Blueprint - Pendulum Master Feat Wind’n'breeze (58)
• Common - Nag Champa (10)
• El-P - Innocent Leader (33)
• J Dilla - Stop (102)
• J Dilla - Won’t do (19)
• Jay-Z - Ignorant Shit (Feat. Beanie Sigel) (33)
• Jay-Z - dead presidents 2 (16)
• Jedi Mind Tricks - When All Light Dies (34)
• Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill (23)
• Outkast - Aquemini (14)
• OutKast - You May Die (23)
• Pimp C - Knockin Doorz Down (23)

Industrial

• Nine Inch Nails - Right Where It Belongs (30)

Metal

• Isis - Wills Dissolve (42)
• Isis - Grinning Mouths (35)

Pop

• Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal (21)

R&B

• John Legend - Coming Home (7)

Rock

• Bjork - Pluto (12)
• Coldplay - Talk (40)
• The Cure - The Same Deep Water As You (42)
• The Cure - Disintegration (41)
• The Cure - Boys Dont Cry (18)
• The Cure - Sinking (22)
• Death Cab For Cutie - What Sarah Said (17)
• Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism (34)
• The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize?? (45)
• The Mars Volta - Cicatriz E.S.P. (43)
• Modest Mouse - Float On (18)
• Mogwai - Punk Rock? (61)
• Mogwai - Auto Rock (44)
• Mum - The Land Between Solar Systems (79)
• Mum - The Ballad Of The Broken Birdie Records (61)
• The Organ - Memorize The City (89)
• Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V) (39)
• Pink Floyd - Welcome to the Machine (51)
• Porcupine Tree - The Start Of Something Beautiful (51)
• Porcupine Tree - Lips Of Ashes (31)
• Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong (27)
• Radiohead - Black Star (15)
• Radiohead - Sit down. Stand up. (Snakes & Ladders.) (22)
• Radiohead - The Gloaming. (Softly Open our Mouths in the Cold.) (24)
• Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Phthisis (38)
• Stereolab - The Noise of Carpet (22)
• Stereolab - Motoroller Scalatron (24)
• Tool - Schism (41)
• Tool - Lateralis (36)

And the big list

Jay-Z (46), Kanye West (28), Radiohead (25), Pink Floyd (20), The Flaming Lips (19), Mogwai (19), M83 (18), Nas (18), Mum (17), The Mars Volta (15), Outkast (15), Ratatat (15), Little Brother (14), Ladytron (14), Common (14), Isis (14), Eminem (13), Goldfrapp (13), Jedi Mind Tricks (13), Porcupine Tree (12), Stereolab (12), Explosions in the Sky (11), Sigur Ros (11), Mobb Deep (11), The Cure (11), The Album Leaf (11), MF Doom & Madlib are Madvillain (11), Death Cab For Cutie (11), Lupe Fiasco (11), El-P (10), Stars (10), The Foreign Exchange (10), TV On The Radio (10), J Dilla (9), Lil Wayne (9), T.I. (9), The Game (9), Sneaker Pimps (9), The Notorious B.I.G. (9), 50 Cent (8), Beck (8), Tool (8), John Legend (7), Young Jeezy (7), Handsome Boy Modeling School (7), Massive Attack (7), Elzhi (7), The White Stripes (7), Nine Inch Nails (6), Editors (6), Godspeed You! Black Emperor (6), MGMT (6), A Perfect Circle (6), N.E.R.D (6), Air (6), Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (6), The Organ (6), Bone Thugs N Harmony (6), Gorillaz (6), Tears for Fears (6), Blueprint (6), The National (6), 2pac (6), Jill Scott (6), Junior Boys (6), Modest Mouse (6), Murs (6), Nina Simone (6), Erykah Badu (5), Pineapple Thief (5), Delays (5), Lauryn Hill (5), Rick Ross (5), Zero 7 (5), Kidz In The Hall (5), Secret Machines (5), Snoop Dogg (5), Bjork (5), Mick Boogie & Terry Urban (5), Beanie Sigel (5), Cormega (5), Metric (5), The Knife (5), RJD2 (5), DJ Shadow (5), Binary Star (4), Blackfield (4), Quasimoto (4), Nanook of the North (4), Yoko Kanno (4), Broken Social Scene (4), Tortoise (4), The Postal Service (4), Brian Eno (4), Ray Cash (4), Cloud Cult (4), Matt Pond PA (4), King Crimson (4), Puff Daddy & The Family (4), Kill Bill (4), Nicolay (4), Black Star (4), Gnarls Barkley (4), Deltron 3030 (4), cibo matto (4), Mr. Lif (4), Bitter Sweet (4), Atmosphere (3), Black Milk (3), Lovage (3), Dntel (3), Cannibal Ox (3), Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! (3), Terence Blanchard (3), Cam’ron (3), Cut Copy (3), dead prez (3), BLu (3), ABN (3), Andre 3000 (3), UNKLE (3), The Beta Band (3), Wax Tailor (3), The Octopus Project (3), Joe Budden (3), Michael Jackson (3), Four Tet (3), Coldplay (3), The Notwist (3), Honeycut (3), Goapele (3), The Strokes (3), Bones Domingo (3), Paul Oakenfold (3), Wutang Clan (3), Juvenile (3), Franz Ferdinand (3), D12 (3), Fela Kuti (3), Entre Rios (3), M.I.A. (3), Cee-Lo (3), Mice Parade (3), Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek (Reflection Eternal) (3), Howard Shore (3), Freeway (3), S.A.S (2), Tenacious D (2), Wilderness (2), G-Side (2), Moby (2), Obie Trice (2), Propellerheads (2), Big Punisher (2), Memphis Bleek (2), Nicolay & Kay (2), Bun B (2), Slim Thug (2), Pimp C (2), Dr. Dre (2), C-Murder (2), Jay-Z And Linkin Park (2), Mannie Fresh (2), Army of the Pharaohs (2), Portishead (2), Mos Def (2), Alicia Keys (2), Prodigy (2), Notorious B.I.G (2), Dwele (2), Dilated Peoples (2), Ellen Allien & Apparat (2), Mars Volta (2), Big Tymers (2), Ras Kass (2), Jane’s Addiction (2), James Figurine (2), The Clipse (2), 120 Days (2), Jim Jones (2), B.G. (2), Scissor Sisters (2), Janelle Monae (2), Ghostface Killah (2), Kenna (2), Floetry (2), Sean Price (2), Mase (2)

If only I had a dating site profile to fill out…