Things I Would Like to Link To By Amanda on December 23, 2008 8:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)
1) Shaun has a new blog. I assume I am allowed to tell people.
2) Lazy journo slapdown re: Leonard Cohen. You may have seen that inferior cover versions of Hallelujah are number one and two on the UK charts in the coveted Chrissie week. Not bad for a song that is merely ninth best on its original album.
3) Stereogum's 50 Most Popular MP3s of 2008 (or as Bob Dylan would say 2000 and 8) available for free/legal download. Some 200MB later I can confirm I really just don't dig indie rock/pop very much. What is it about the human voice that is so hateful it must be smothered so far back in the mix? See also: country, alt. I tried, dagnabbit! OTOH, YMMV.
4) An amusing macrumors forum post (h/t Barry Saunders on Twitter) from October 2001 on the announcement of "Apple's New Thing", known to you and I as "the iPod." I had a grand old time laughing at the retrospectively couldn'tbemorewrongness of the "who could possibly ever want more than 64 meg of space for music!!! Steve Jobs has gone CRAZEEEE" sentiments. But really, in 2001 I was still using an audio tape walkman and a few years later someone showed me mini discs and I kind of thought that would be all too much trouble to bother with. Our thinking about portable music has so utterly changed in such a short period of time. Then we didn't know we NEEDED it. Now I am 99% digital. I don't regret it at all, for lots of reasons. I have a small flat and a goodly percentage of living room wall space is taken up with CDs racks, which I barely look at these days let alone flip through. I had an idle thought the other day I could get rid of the racks, shift up the lounge and then I wouldn't have to smash my shins on the filing cabinet/telephone table everytime I try to squeeze through to get to/from the computer. But then the idea of a home without too many CD racks made me sad, and I banished the idea. Also, seems a waste of the nice callouses I have on my shins now. Barely notice.
5) Ta-Nehisi Coates's blog just because I have enjoyed it a lot this year.
6) Skepchick's Top 10 Jackasses of the Year.
7) An epochal moment: the last time any dumb awards show will have a chance to snub The Wire. You won't have Bunky to kick around any more!
8) 2008 Golden Winger Awards for Excellence in Wingnuttery
By Andre
on December 23, 2008 9:02 PM
I keep all my CDs (the ones that come in jewell cases, not the ones in cardboard covers) in big wallets, along with the booklets. The back page is filed in a small box - it frees up loads of room for more CDs!
By Amanda
on December 23, 2008 9:07 PM
But if your musical taste is not on display, how will people know if you are a worthwhile human being or not?
By Andre
on December 23, 2008 9:35 PM
My friends' musical taste is and always has been so bad that it doesn't matter.I've been making compilations that I know they won't play more than once for twenty five years but I have to do it. If I can save just one person from a life of pap music, it will have been worth it.
By Shaun
on December 23, 2008 9:45 PM
Of course you are allowed to tell. But don't let anyone know about the secret handshake.