My Top Albums of 2011

My Favorite Albums of 2011

1. Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo

2. Fucked Up - David Comes to Life

3. Bon Iver - Bon Iver

4. The War On Drugs - Slave Ambient

5. Yuck - Yuck

6. Male Bonding - Endless Now

7. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong

8. The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar

9. Adele - 21

10. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Mirror Traffic

11. Frank Turner - England Keep My Bones

12. Pure X - Pleasure

13. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Lenses Alien

14. Real Estate - Days

15. Wild Flag - Wild Flag

16. Washed Out - Within and Without

17. The Vaccines - What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

18. Black Lips - Arabia Mountain

19. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

20. BOAT - Dress Like Your Idols

21. Dum Dum Girls - Only In Dreams

22. Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness

23. TV On The Radio - Nine Types of Light

24. Florence + the Machine - Ceremonials

25. The Weeknd - House of Balloons

26. Future Islands - On the Water

27. Jeff the Brotherhood - We Are The Champions

28. Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital

29. The Horrible Crowes - Elsie

30. The Rapture - In the Grace of Your Love

31. The Twerps - s/t

32. Youth Lagoon - The Year of Hibernation

33. My Morning Jacket - Circuital

34. Black Keys - El Camino

35. Foster the People - Torches

36. Sleeper Agent - Celabrasion

37. The Antlers - Burst Apart

38. Cults - Cults

39. Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See

40. Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

41. Givers - In Light

42. The Throne - Watch the Throne

43. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

44. Active Child - You Are All I See

45. Wilco - The Whole Love

46. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

47. Telekinesis - 12 Desperate Straight Lines

48. Deer Tick - Divine Providence

49. Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto

50. Neon Indian - Era Extraña

EPs of Note

Wavves - Life Sux

Surfer Blood - Tarot Classics

DOM - Family of Love

Jens Lekman - An Argument With Myself

Dum Dum Girls - He Gets Me High

Most Overrated

Radiohead – The King of Limbs

Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

James Blake – James Blake

Biggest Disappointments

Radiohead – The King of Limbs

Bright Eyes - The People’s Key

Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

Most Underrated

Male Bonding - Endless Now

Frank Turner - England Keep My Bones

BOAT - Dress Like Your Idols

Worst Thing I Heard

Lou Reed & Metallica – Lulu

Honorable Mention

I was unable to objectively rank this album since my friends are in the band, but I highly suggest checking out Sainthood Reps’ “Monoculture”!

My Top Albums of 2010

My Favorite Albums
1. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
2. The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
3. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
4. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
5. Superchunk - Majesty Shredding
6. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
7. Wavves - King of the Beach
8. Vampire Weekend - Contra
9. Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme
10. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
11. Robyn - Body Talk
12. Les Savy Fav - Roots of Ruin
13. Best Coast - Crazy For You
14. Wild Nothing - Gemini
15. Ted Leo - The Brutalist Bricks
16. The Soft Pack - s/t
17. Yeasayer - Odd Blood
18. Tokyo Police Club - Champ
19. Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring
20. Jaill - That's How We Burn
21. Belle and Sebastian - Write About Love
22. Frightened Rabbit - Winter of Mixed Drinks
23. Poison Control Center - Sad Sour Future
24. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
25. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
26. The Drums - s/t
27. The New Pornographers - Together
28. Spoon - Transference
29. The Hold Steady - Heaven Is Whenever
30. Shout Out Louds - Work
31. DOM - Sun Bronzed Greek Gods [EP]
32. Sun Airway - Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier
33. Against Me! - White Crosses
34. The Thermals - Personal Life
35. Violens - Amoral
36. The National - High Violet
37. Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts
38. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms
39. The Love Language - Libraries
40. Broken Bells - s/t

Most Overrated Albums
Sleigh Bells - Treats
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
MGMT - Congratulations

Biggest Disappointments
MGMT - Congratulations
Interpol - s/t
Ra Ra Riot - The Orchard

Most Underrated Albums
Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
Superchunk - Majesty Shredding
Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme

Philly Craft Beer Festival

I attended the Philly Craft Beer Festival (my first beer festival) on Saturday and it was, I have to say, pretty remarkable. What's also remarkable is that I kept myself intact. Here's what went down (literally):

Note: an "*" denotes a brew I recall especially liking...

Stone Brewing Company - Stone Smoked Porter
Thomas Hooker - Watermelon Ale
Coronado Brewing Company - Mermaids Red Ale *
Brew Dog Beer - Dogma Heather Honey Infused Ale
Boulder Beer - Planet Porter
Hometown Beverages - Pennsylvania Lager
Manayunk Brewery - California Dreamin'
Caldera Brewing Company - Ashland Amber *
Magic Hat Brewing Company - Vinyl Lager *
Troegs Brewing Company - Pale Ale
Doc's Draft Hard Cider - Hard Apple Cider
Doc's Draft Hard Cider - Hard Pear Cider *
Ballast Point - Calico Amber Ale
Sixpoint Craft Ales - Mason Black Wheat
The Bruery - Orchard White *
Beer Valley Brewing Company - Black Flag American Style Imperial Stout
Atomium Beer - Het A Hernitef Hik Brune *
Blue Point Brewing Company - Rastafar Rye Ale *
River Horse Brewing Company - Brewer's Reserve Double White Belgian Style Ale *
Voodoo Brewery - Pilzilla
Original Sin Hard Cider - Pear Cider
Lakefront Brewery - Fuel Cafe
Cigar City Brewing - Jai Alai India Pale Ale *
Intercourse Brewing Company - Bareville Pilsner
Roy Pitz Brewing Company - Best Blonde Ale *
Dark Horse Brewing Company - One Oatmeal Stout

Afterwards we ventured out for some additional food and drinks so while I'm "link-happy" I'd like to shout out the Lucky 13 Pub for their awesome juke box, delicious food, and hospitable owner, Clark.

Cantina Los Caballitos was quite amazing as well, although by that point my eyes were bigger than my stomach. I'll be enjoying my pork and chicken taco leftovers tonight.

Down With the Update

Absurdly, I haven't updated my 101 in 1001 since July 13th. Here's the rundown:

2] Run 3 Marathons - I completed the Philly Marathon on 11.02.09. It was my second marathon overall, and my first towards completing three for my 101. I bettered my time from the previous year by almost 30 minutes, and my knee held up the entire time.
25] Paint a Room for Someone - In August we went over Brian & Dawn's new house for their Painting Party. Barb and I tackled the bedroom.
31 / 32] Do something charitable every Thanksgiving / Christmas - I totally dropped the ball on this and didn't do anything significantly charitable for the holidays. However, I allowed myself to make up for it by donating money to Haiti via the Red Cross.

41] Donate 100,000 Grains of Rice on freerice.com - Currently up to 30,200 grains of rice.

43] Donate a garbage bag filled w/ old clothes - Check. I can't believe some of the clothes I at one time liked and/or fit in.

49] Figure out my credit score - Check. Satisfied.

50] Save up for and buy an Apple computer - This one is tricky. I did save up enough to buy one, but then we were dumb-struck when we received one as a gift. I'm counting it as done.

54] Cook 50 Different Recipes - Done!
- Lime Basil Cous-Cous
- Moroccan Chicken Kebabs
- Grilled Pork Tenderloin à la Rodriguez with Apricot Glaze and Orange Jalapeno
- Burger with Red Bell Pepper and Feta Spread
- Chicken with Grilled Onions and Plums
- Greek Roast Chicken
- Southwestern Salmon
- Beet, Goat Cheese, & Arugula Salad
- Emeril's Oven Roasted Pork Tenderloin
- Corbi-Fein Brussel Sprouts
- Bacon Herb Wrapped Pork Tenderloin
- Broccoli with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Parmesan
- Lemon Glazed Sweet Potatoes
- Maple Glazed Spiced Carrots
- Weight Watchers Cheeseburger with Grilled Onions
- Beef and Vegetable Cheese Casserole
- Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms
- Lemon Grass Chicken and Noodles
- Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs
- Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
- Open-Faced Tuna and Artichoke Melt

55] Drink at 5 Different Breweries - 2 new ones, 4 out 5 done total.
- Dogfish Head. Amazing. The vintage 120 Minute IPA was memorable for sure.
- Pocono Brewing Company. It was OK. The brews helped nurse my newly fractured distal radius.

57] Maintain an herb garden for an entire summer - Done. It helped that I was pretty much laid off for the entire summer. It was nice to have so many herbs at my disposal. It definitely helped out grilling meat and amping up my omlettes.

58] Enjoy a glass of real spiked egg-nog (bonus: next to a fire!) - Done and bonus achieved with some local Pennsylvania Dutch egg-nog.

63] Learn the basics of a popular editing program - In September I was responsible for cutting together some casting videos and had a crash course using the Avid. I am no maestro, but I no virgin either.

65] Learn 5 "popular" (read: recognizable) songs on the guitar - 2 new ones, 4 out 5 done total.
- R.E.M. - "Man On the Moon"
- The Wallflowers - "Three Marlenas"

69] Attend 25 concerts / shows - I've missed out on a lot of good shows that have come through town but I did see a few. The count is now at 11 out of 25.
- Sunny Day Real Estate at the Trocadero
- Brand New at the Electric Factory
- Sainthood Reps at the North Star Bar
- Brian Fallon, lead singer of the Gaslight Anthem (acoustic show) - First Unitarian Church

72] Geek-out on iTunes #2: Give star-ratings to all of my unrated songs in iTunes - I have a few unrated right now, but at one point everything was rated. All 20,000+ songs, aka approximately 55 days worth of music. Booyah.

73] Compile a playlist of my favorite song each week for a year (each selected song must be new to me that week) - This was completed, and has since been dubbed "A Year In the Ear". If anyone's interested I'll send you a copy. Let me know. Additions since the last update:
- Crocodiles - I Wanna Kill
- Dinosaur Jr. - See You
- The Exploding Hearts - Modern Kicks
- The Rural Alberta Advantage - Edmonton
- The Big Pink - Dominos
- The Knife - Heartbeats
- Arctic Monkeys - Cornerstone
- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - More News From Nowhere
- Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor
- Julian Plenti - Only If You Run
- Brand New - At the Bottom
- Girls - Lust For Life
- The Drums - Let's Go Surfing
- Comet Gain - Brothers Off the Block
- The Feelies - The High Road
- The xx - VCR
- Woods - Rain On
- Julian Casablancas - 11th Dimension
- The Raveonettes - Gone Forever
- Best Coast - When I'm With You

78] Read 30 books by 30 different authors - I've had a major slow down with this one, but a few updates. Currently at 18 of 30.

- About.com Guide to Web Design - Jennifer Kyrnin
- Learning Web Design - Jennifer Niederst Robbins
- 33 1/3: Gentlemen - Bob Gendron
- 33 1/3: Murmur - J. Niimi
- Open - Andre Agassi <-- highly entertaining

86] Visit the West Coast - Unexpectedly done. It was a very last-minute thing, but I was sent to LA for work. Luckily it wasn't all business. I got to see my good friend and old college roommate, AJ, as well as experiencing a culinary tour de force thanks to Gerry and Carla. Check out the LA run down in this older post.

94] Photograph 5 sunrises in 5 different places - 2 of 5. An early call time on set out in LA generated this shot:
95] Photograph 5 sunsets in 5 different places - 3 of 5. AJ took me down to Venice Beach and I happened to catch this shot:
99] Visit 10 new places in our Philly guide book - 5 and 6 out of 10. I'd really like to concentrate on this more. F'real.

- The Ritz-Calton / 10 Arts by Eric Ripert. We ate at the restaurant, we didn't stay at the hotel. We went because we're huge fans of Top Chef and this is where Jennifer from the latest season works. We went while the show was towards the end of the season, before Jennifer was kicked off, and we didn't know if she'd be there or not. Barb can tell you she was, because as soon as I left to use the bathroom she walked out of the kitchen with her trademarked scowl.

- North Star - We got to see our friends Derrick and Cesco's new band, Sainthood Reps, here over the holidays. Check out their music!
This is long. I bet you didn't read all of this. Did you?

My Top Albums of 2009

Top 40 Albums of 2009
1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
2. Brand New - Daisy
3. Passion Pit - Manners
4. Girls - Album
5. Tegan & Sara - Sainthood
6. Phoenix - Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus
7. The xx - xx
8. Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Pains of Being Pure at Heart
9. Cut Off Your Hands - You & I
10. And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - The Century of Self
11. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
12. Raveonettes - In and Out of Control
13. Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
14. The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love
15. Morrissey - Years of Refusal
16. Japandroids - Post-Nothing
17. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
18. Crocodiles - Summer of Hate
19. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
20. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Outer South
21. Memory Tapes - Seek Magic
22. The Soft Pack - The Muslims
23. Julian Plenti - Julian Plenti is... Skyscraper
24. The Dodos - Time to Die
25. Real Estate - Real Estate
26. Discovery - LP
27. Silversun Pickups - Swoon
28. Matt and Kim - Grand
29. Pearl Jam - Backspacer
30. Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
31. Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
32. Black Lips - 200 Million Thousand
33. Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
34. Julian Casablancas - Phrazes for the Young
35. U2 - No Line on the Horizon
36. Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3
37. Why? - Eskimo Snow
38. Metric - Fantasies
39. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
40. Sonic Youth - The Eternal

Top 10 EPs of 2009
1. The Drums - Summertime!
2. Bon Iver - Blood Bank
3. Death Cab for Cutie - The Open Door
4. Superchunk - Leaves In the Gutter
5. Delorean - Ayrton Senna
6. Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind
7. Washed Out - Life of Leisure
8. Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Higher Than the Stars
9. Fight Like Apes - You Filled His Head with Fluffy Clouds and Jolly Ranchers, What Did You Think Was Going to Happen?
10. Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange

Most Overrated Albums of 2009
Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
The Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
St. Vincent - Actor

Biggest Personal Disappointments of 2009
Youth Group - The Night Is Ours
Peter Bjorn & John - Living Thing
John Vanderslice - Romanian Names
The Dead Weather - Horehound
Eminem - Relapse

Albums I Wish I Heard
Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
Built to Spill - There Is No Enemy
The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
Atlas Sound - Logos
Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms

List Erosion

This whole 101 / 1001 thing is long overdue for an update.

5. I've completed 100 push-ups a day for a month.
13. I've eaten an apple every day for a month.
15. I abstained from microwave usage for an entire month.
16. I didn't fart in front of Barb for 1 month straight. I swear. You can ask her.
17. I didn't drink diet soda for a month. I've had it since, but far less frequently.
21. I backed up all of photos, music, random files, etc. onto an external hard drive.
23. Finally hung my dart board.
24. Mounted my world map and hung it in the living room. Looks awesome.
33. I'm up to 5 of my 30 letters to people I care about but don't really talk to.
41. I've fallen off my pace, but I'm up to 20,800 grains of rice donated on freerice.com
54. I've cooked 13 new recipes out of 50 (pictures above recipe).










- Shrimp w/ Snow Peas
- Grilled Chinese Salmon









- One-Pan Pork Fu Yung









- Chicken Chow Mein









- Thai Curry Stir-Fry
- Roast Sesame Fish









- Spicy Beef & Broccoli Stir-Fry









- Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp w/ Bacon & Gorgonzola
- Turkey Sausage & Hazelnut Stuffed Mushrooms
- Sausage & Chili Tartlets
- Cilantro Aioli
- Emeril's Tiramisu













- Easy Enchiladas
55. Drank at Barley Creek Brewing Company, so 1 out of 5 breweries are done. I'm not drunk in this picture; this is what I look like after snowboarding and 1 beer.











73. Song-A-Week Playlist, now up to 12 songs:
- Parts & Labor - Nowheres Nigh
- Bon Iver - Skinny Love
- David Byrne & Brian Eno - Strange Overtones
- Titus Andronicus - Titus Andronicus
- The Jam - The City
- Archers of Loaf - Web In Front
- Pavement - Harness Your Hopes
- Bright Eyes - I Woke Up With This Song In My Head This Morning
- Billy Bragg - New England
- Fleet Foxes - Mykonos
- The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Stay Alive
- Morrissey - All You Need Is Me
76. I saw my first "Best Picture" winner: No Country for Old Men. Despite being fully engaged from beginning to end, I can't say I was blown away by it, although I think it was very well done and would recommend it.
78. I'm up to 6 of 30 books read. New additions since the last update:
- The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present editing by by Scott Plagenhoef and Ryan Schreiber
- Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden
- The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World by Lonely Planet Publications

Passport Neglect

My Top 10 List of Countries I'd Love to Visit:

- note 1: not in order.
- note 2: New Zealand and Australia have been excluded, although I (constantly) dream of going back.

Belize (because I've heard nothing but good things)
Canada (because it's so damn close)
Chile (because the pictures I've seen are absurd)
Denmark (because it's supposed to be the happiest country on the planet)
Germany (because of hereditary reasons... and beer)
Iceland (because it doesn't look like it belongs to this planet)
Ireland (see Germany)
Japan (because of Lost In Translation & sushi)
Thailand (because I want to taste real Thai food)
Virgin Islands (because I've been to "paradise", but not this region of it)

Best Albums of 2008

Here's a list of my favorite albums from the year known as "2008".

1. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
2. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
3. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
4. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
5. Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
6. Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line
7. M83 - Saturdays = Youth
8. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
9. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
10. Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell
11. Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster
12. R.E.M. - Accelerate
13. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
14. Parts & Labor - Receivers
15. Nada Surf - Lucky
16. Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
17. Santogold - Santogold
18. School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms
19. Coldplay - Viva la Vida
20. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
21. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Pershing
22. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
23. Army Navy - Army Navy
24. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
25. The Holdsteady - Stay Positive
26. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
27. The Killers - Day & Age
28. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
29. Jack Johnson - Sleep Through the Static
30. Broken Social Scene Presents Brendan Canning - Something For All of Us...
31. Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
32. The Teenagers - Reality Check
33. Robert Forster - The Evangelist
34. The Whigs - Mission Control
35. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement
36. Jaguar Love - Take Me to the Sea
37. Port O'Brien - All We Could Do Was Sing
38. The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
39. Why - Alopecia?
40. Beck - Modern Guilt

101 in 1001

while surfing the internet one day i found myself on facebook. somehow, i ended up looking at the page of a kid who lived down the hall from me freshman year, but who i haven't spoken with in quite some time. i noticed he had a link to this blog/project he was doing so i checked it out. i was skeptical at first, but after reading about it i thought it to be a rather neat idea. his project, which you can read about here, has existed for a few year's now. it's called "101 in 1,001", or some variation of that. essentially, you compile a list of 101 things you want to accomplish, see, do, etc. over the course of the next 1,001 days (approximately 2.75 years). being a list-lover myself, i decided to create my own version.

i guess i don't expect a great number of you to partake in this, but it'd be cool to be doing this alongside a few friends. tell me if you decide to have a go at it. i can see it being a great motivational tool to finally accomplish some of the little things you keep putting off or the bigger goals you're too nervous to attempt.

My List:

Health & Fitness
1. Attend a yoga class with Barb
2. Complete 3 Marathons (0/3)
3. Complete 1 Triathlon
4. Feel comfortable enough to run with my shirt off at the beach
5. 100 push-ups a day for a month
6. Take a 1-hour tennis lesson
7. Go to the dentist
8. Get under 185 lbs.
9. Remain under 185 lbs.

Appearance
10. Get contacts
11. Get a 2nd tattoo
12. Get an expensive haircut

Personal Challenge
13. Eat an apple a day for a month
14. Access college computer (I forgot my Windows password)
15. Don't use the microwave for a month
16. Don't fart around Barb for a month
17. No diet soda for a month

Around the House
18. Clean random crap out of my parent's house
19. Get dents out of my car
20. Wax car twice a year
21. Back up all music, photos, etc on a separate hard drive
22. Organize all of my digital photos
23. Hang my dart board
24. Frame and hang my world map

Soul, Environment, & Friendship
25. Paint a room for someone
26. Write an email to my freshman year roommate
27. Write a letter to my High School football coach
28. Volunteer 3 separate times for 3 separate causes (0/3)
29. Plant 5 trees (0/5)
30. Send a post card to Auntie Pasto's in Hawaii
31. Do something charitable every Thanksgiving (0/2)
32. Do something charitable every X-Mas (0/3)
33. Write 30 random emails to people I don't talk to that often anymore (0/30)
34. Develop old rolls of film sitting around my parent's
35. Send an (extremely weird, non-sensical) message in a bottle
36. Be a "Dharma Bum" with Shu for 24 hours
37. Take Sadie on 3 doggie dates (0/3)
38. Send a package to Australia
39. Find out how / where to recycle paper and do it
40. Donate blood
41. Donate 100,000 grains of rice on freerice.com
42. Do something worthwhile on Earth Day
43. Donate a garbage bag filled with old clothes
44. Replace all of our light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs
45. Mail a secret to PostSecret

Finance
46. Consolidate my Student Loans
47. Sell 5 things on Amazon or eBay (0/5)
48. Use up all of my existing gift cards
49. Figure out my credit score
50. Save up for and buy a Mac

Food
51. Brew my own beer
52. Make sushi at home
53. Go to a Japanese restaurant and order something that isn't sushi
54. Cook 50 different recipes (0/50)
55. Drink at 5 different breweries (0/5)
56. Jar / bottle my own marinade, soup, and salsa (0/3)
57. Maintain an herb garden for an entire summer
58. Enjoy a glass of real spiked egg-nog (bonus: next to a fire!)
59. Have a good experience at an Indian restaurant with Barb

Personal Know-How
60. Learn to drive stick
61. Learn how to tie a tie
62. Re-learn CSS
63. Learn the basics of a popular editing program
64. Add internal hardware to a computer

Music
65. Learn 5 "popular" (read: “recognizable”) songs on the guitar (0/5)
66. Attend a multi-day music festival
67. Have a music review published (online counts)
68. Get a letter published in RollingStone (or at least write 30 letters)
69. Attend 25 concerts / shows (0/25)
70. Photograph 3 different shows (where I don't know the band) (0/3)
71. Geek-out on iTunes #1: (assign Year, Genre, and Album Art to all songs)
72. Geek-out on iTunes #2: Give star-ratings to all of my unrated songs in iTunes
73. Compile a playlist of my favorite song each week for a year
74. Give away or recycle my old iPod

The Arts
75. Visit 5 new museums, galleries, or exhibits (0/5)
76. See 15 "Best Film" Oscar winners (0/15)
77. Re-read the Lord of the Rings
78. Read 30 books by 30 different authors (0/30)

Personal Creativity
79. Re-edit my Australia photos and do something with them
80. Re-vamp my Web Site
81. Submit a t-shirt design to threadless.com
82. Edit the Lindenhurst slideshow that I scanned all of my photos in for
83. Enter a photo contest
84. Create a stop-motion animation short and post online
85. Paint a birdhouse

Adventures & Activities
86. Visit the West Coast
87. Camp 3 times in 3 new places (bonus: once with a group of friends) (0/3)
88. Move out of Bensalem (bonus: move out of the North East)
89. Go on a fishing trip (bonus: with my Dad)
90. Hike 5 new trails (0/5)
91. Go to Canada
92. Go to an archery range
93. Take a stadium tour
94. Photograph 5 sunrises in 5 different places (0/5)
95. Photograph 5 sunsets in 5 different places (0/5)
96. Go wine tasting with Barb
97. Stop at 10 roadside lookouts (0/10)
98. Rent jet-skis / wave-runners with Barb
99. Visit 10 new places in our Philly guide book (0/10)
100. Visit 3 National Parks (0/3)
101. Go on a road trip with Ian & Dave

I pledge to document this list to the best of my ability.

Furthermore, I promise to donate $5 to a non-profit for every item not completed.

My Top 100 Albums

1. The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead
2. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
3. The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs
4. The Clash - London Calling
5. Weezer - Weezer [Blue Album]
6. The Beatles - Revolver
7. Silent Majority - Life Of A Spectator
8. The Get Up Kids - Something To Write Home About
9. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
10. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
11. Arcade Fire - Funeral
12. Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted
13. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
14. Bright Eyes - Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground
15. Pavement - Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
16. Green Day - Dookie
17. Brand New - Deja Entendu
18. Coldplay - Parachutes
19. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
20. Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
21. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
22. The Get Up Kids - Four Minute Mile
23. Pearl Jam - Ten
24. Glassjaw - Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence
25. Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism
26. The Clash - The Clash [US Version]
27. Jimmy Eat World - Clarity
28. Weezer - Pinkerton
29. Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
30. Radiohead - OK Computer
31. Saves The Day - Through Being Cool
32. Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
33. The Smiths - Hatful Of Hollow
34. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
35. Radiohead - The Bends
36. Pavement - Wowee Zowee
37. Nirvana - Nevermind
38. Morrissey - Vauxhall And I
39. The Beatles - Let It Be… Naked
40. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
41. John Lennon - Imagine
42. Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
43. The Cure - Bloodflowers
44. Rancid - And Out Come The Wolves
45. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
46. Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
47. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
48. Pavement - Brighten The Corners
49. The Cure - Disintegration
50. Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine
51. Saves The Day - Stay What You Are
52. The Movielife - This Time Next Year
53. The Smiths - Meat is Murder
54. Straylight Run - Straylight Run
55. The Postal Service - Give Up
56. Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
57. Sublime - Sublime
58. Yo La Tengo - Prisoners Of Love
59. The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen
60. Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience
61. Interpol - Antics
62. Beulah - When Your Heartstrings Break
63. The Promise Ring - Very Emergency
64. Dashboard Confessional - The Swiss Army Romance
65. The Beatles - Abbey Road
66. Alkaline Trio - From Here to the Infirmary
67. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
68. Brand New - Your Favorite Weapon
69. The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come
70. Radiohead - Kid A
71. Sean Lennon - Friendly Fire
72. The Killers - Hot Fuss
73. Hot Rod Circuit - If It's Cool With You, It's Cool With Me
74. Minus The Bear - Highly Refined Pirates
75. Glassjaw - Worship and Tribute
76. Nada Surf - Let Go
77. Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
78. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
79. Brand New - The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me
80. Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want To Be
81. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
82. Morrissey - Bona Drag
83. The Anniversary - Designing A Nervous Breakdown
84. Against Me! - New Wave
85. Pearl Jam - Vs.
86. The Pixies - Doolittle
87. Modest Mouse - The Moon And Antartica
88. Fountains Of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers
89. Radiohead - Pablo Honey
90. Alkaline Trio - Good Mourning
91. Elvis Costello - This Year's Model
92. Morrissey - You Are The Quarry
93. Inside - Seven Inches To Wall Drug
94. At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
95. The Replacements - Let It Be
96. The Beatles - Magical Mistery Tour
97. The White Stripes - Elephant
98. Eminem - The Eminem Show
99. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
100. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico

This list represents my all-time favorite albums. These aren’t the albums I consider to be the most influential or the most popular. This list isn’t meant to be universal. These are albums that I have a personal relationship with. Each album holds a special place in my heart, and can conjure special memories just thinking of the cover art.

In order to come up with this list I spent 1 year and 4 months listening to every album I own. It was a labor of love. I listened to over 16,000 songs on more than 1,100 albums. That’s over 65 gigs of music totaling approximately 42 straight days of run time. I listened to most of it in my car while driving to and from work, but got a decent amount of listening done while in the office, at the gym, or around the house doing chores. While listening to each song I would assign it a “Star Rating” on-the-go, and when I would sync my iPod to my computer it would transfer my ratings to iTunes. Once all of my songs had been assigned stars, I made an Excel sheet that listed the total tracks per album, and the overall star count per album. I divided the total star count by total tracks, multiplied it by 2 (to spread out the results), and added a “1” to bring the final number closer to a “10” rating. Once all of the data was inserted to Excel, I sorted my albums in a descending order according to their rankings. This gave me an objective list to work with (although, this list can still be considered somewhat subjective as the star ratings were based on personal taste). From there I shuffled my list around, trying my best not to play to favorites, and not to make my list as “hip” as possible. I purposely didn’t spend an exorbitant amount of time finalizing the list; I didn’t want to over-think it. Instead, I went with my gut and came up with the final rankings within 24 hours.

I like how I can look at this list and see the trajectory of my musical journey. Just looking at it takes me from elementary school (Green Day, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine), to discovering local music in middle school (Silent Majority, Glassjaw, Inside), to being turned on to the larger “emo” scene (The Get Up Kids, The Promise Ring, Sunny Day Real Estate). I can see my college “gym bands” (Brand New, Taking Back Sunday), and my college “dorm room” bands (the Beatles, the Smiths). I can see the albums that will define my twenties (the Arcade Fire, the Shins) and albums I can’t believe I love as much as I do (Eminem). I see my running shoes, free weights, and the interior of my various cars. I can see my allowance being spent at Looney Tunes, and my tip money being spent at Tower Records. I can see music I have jewel cases for, and music I didn’t pay a cent for. I can I see Long Island, Poughkeepsie, Sydney, Hawaii, Philly, and my friends. Most importantly, not to sound cheesy, I see a musical portrait of who I am. I’m a fucking nerd.