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Best napkins ever!

Originally uploaded by dolapo

Gaeta’s lament

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

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

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…

I lost count of how many days there actually were, what with that damn date line. This number seems about right if you’re willing to count travel and I guess I am. The trip before this day had been mostly about food, some shopping, and ignoring tourist attractions. I mean, we started this trip with Diana cupcake muling goods from Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery to Singapore. Do you know how difficult it is to resist eating the sassy pumpkin or pistachio when your only other alternative is “the chicken or the fish?” I haven’t shown that much resolve in years. We spent much of Singapore with the Mankansutra guide, eating several delicious things with little break in between. We also spent a lot of time in connected mega-malls, I’m pretty sure that it’s possible to cross the city entirely by mall, though that’s not as entertaining as watching terrorist-scare propaganda videos on the subway.

Anyway, fast forwarding a bit. We were supposed to go to Thailand next, you know, to eat more delicious things, and spend some time on the beach (where The Beach was filmed even!). But then that whole thing with the protesters taking over the Bangkok airport happened. We figured we could Amazing Race our way somewhere else in southeast Asia, so we purchased a flight to Bali scheduled to leave in an hour. Ran to the check in counter, and got laughed at by the airline agents, because, you know what? You need a visa to go to Indonesia, and guess what? You can’t get one without a return flight. Silly Americans! It turns out that on the Amazing Race the show pre-obtains visas, genius really. Determined not to be You Shall Know our Velocity’d out of our vacation, we quickly changed our flight and booked a return flight.

Yada yada. We’re in Bali. It’s the low season, probably because of the rain. We got a good deal on this outdoor villa thing with three bedrooms, outdoor showers, a private pool, and people that are waiting on us a little too hand and foot. Everything we’ve eaten has been not good. This is a little depressing, we would have eaten so well in Thailand!

This is what’s amusing. People in Bali apparently like to shout “Obama” in the direction of black folk. I’d heard that this was a thing, but to experience it up close was just amazing. I suppose I should have been insulted, but man was it funny. Take the feller on the right. He asked me where I was from, I said “New York!” and he says “Alright! Obama!” So I bought some corn from him, not too roasted please, and no butter. Street hawkers selling crappy t-shirts and sunglasses used it to get attention, “Obama! Sunglasses?” No thanks ma’am, the sun’s not out! And just regular folk too, “Hey Obama!” This is so much better than the quiet staring of the Singaporean folk. I think. I’m not sure.

Things to eat in Bali

1. The roast suckling pig at Ibu Oka. It’s delicioso, tender, with bits of cracklins. Yum.

Um, that’s it I guess. Mozaic was underwhelming, and bebek bengil is skippable. Streetside martabak manis is quite good. It’s fluffy and buttery and sweet. My favorite kind of thing really. Here’s a recipe.

Sleepy time.

Yay, it’s vacation time. Tomorrow morning I head off to southeast Asia, specifically Singapore and various places in Thailand. It’s going to be great. I plan to be sick of roti by the time I get back. If I come back, there’s some possibility of a Brokedown Palace situation.

I love bass. I… I have two SVS subwoofers within 20 feet of each other in my apartment. This is the only reason I’m still listening to 808s and Heartbreak. I suspect that Welcome To Heartbreak and Love Lockdown are going to be the only songs to join Heartless in my 808s rotation. The rest of the album is meh to me.

Are any of these new breed of “backpack rappers” that the blogosphere is currently in love with going to be in any way successful? Does the average man on the streets care about Wale? or Asher Roth? Is sampling Sonic the Hedgehog an annoying gimmick?

Have a good week peoples.

Charles Hamilton, Asher Roth, B.o.B - Change Gone Come
Charles Hamilton - Brooklyn Girl

There will be no references to the file format in this here post.

Next week

I’m going to the Toronto International Film Festival next week. I’m excited for several reasons — going on a mini-vacation, seeing a bunch of movies, hanging out with strangers, and being in a city I only lived in for a year. My friend Mollie, who works in “the industry” thinks it’s weird for “regular people” to go to film festivals. She may be right, I have no idea. I decided to do the out of town ticket selection and get the 10 ticket package just so I’d have some guarantees. Five days ago they sent me this large packet with a movie guide and somewhat complicated instructions that I was then supposed to send back the next day. There are approximately a bajillion movies showing, but I sort of narrowed it down to 50-ish and then chose 20-ish as primaries and alternates. I didn’t get all my primaries but mayhaps I’ll see them anyway. Some of these I don’t remember selecting but they do appeared to be dog-eared in the movie guide book. My current schedule:

• The Brothers Bloom - I really enjoyed Brick and Mark Ruffalo makes my loins tingle.
• Slumdog Millionaire - I think Boyle can be a bit hit or miss but that kid is so cute. A Hindi version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? If that isn’t a formula for… something, I don’t know what is.
• Control Alt Delete - I’m hoping this one ends with his girlfriend coming to terms with his addiction to internet porn.
• Goodbye Solo - Because I’m still mad at myself for not seeing Man Push Cart. Also, I enjoy tears.
• Pride and Glory - Wasn’t this supposed to come out a while ago? Anyway, yeah!
• The Dungeon Masters - A documentary about dungeons and dragons players should be entertaining. I will go in expecting to laugh, but at some point realize that they are people too.
• The Wrestler - Say what you will about The Fountain… actually don’t, because I really liked it. Aronofsky is > your life.
• RocknRolla - I’m crazy skeptical about a new Guy Ritchie gangster movie… but Thandie Newton!
• Miracle at St. Anna - Because I’m secretly trying to figure out which film will have the most black people in attendance.
• Chocolate - Because I literally couldn’t keep myself from jumping up and down during Ong Bak, and omg in Tom Yum Goong Tony Jaa has an elephant thrown at him, and I’ll be seeing this at midnight, and hopefully in a theater full of action movie fans, and omg this will be awesome.

While we’re here

Fuck talking bout the recession, the shit’s depressing

The Recession drops tomorrow, I hope you’re ready. Jeezy is the Michael Phelps of hip hop.

The black and white USDA flags in this video are kinda hot