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

SantaBOT

me: i want death

SantaClaus: I've got a billion children to keep track of -- so could you ask me something a bit more manageable? I'd very much appreciate it.

me: i want katy perry

SantaClaus: My goodness! You certainly are direct!

me: i want a puppy

SantaClaus: Wonderful! Now we are getting somewhere.

me: i want a puppy with wings

SantaClaus: Ho! Ho! Wonderful.

me: and i want his tail to be a machine gun

SantaClaus: Oh, Ho Ho! O:-) Now let's get serious! Anything else?

me: tell santa i want a kitten

and a robot

SantaClaus: I suspect that's not all!

me: you're right. i want to fly

SantaClaus: What would your last Christmas wish be?

me: i want an empty box of hate

SantaClaus: O.K. that's quite a list! Why don't you type, poll and vote for your favorite holiday album?

me: why don't you suck an egg(nog)

SantaClaus: Santa loves eggnog!

me: damn right he does

SantaClaus: Hmm. I'm afraid that kind of language won't get you into the nice column with me.
That's a lump of coal for you.

me: oh, no! not coal!

SantaClaus: O.K. then. Well, have a merry Christmas in any case.

me: you too, good lookin'

SantaClaus: That's a good question, Santa is no hypocrite: I've been on my best behavior, all year.


me: what? are you drunk?

SantaClaus: Oh dear, I am Father Christmas. You really don't remember me?

me: you used to touch me

Playground Law

There is absolutely no logic behind "Whoever smelt it, dealt it." None. It has always bothered me.

Watch "Money Hunters"!

[self-promotion alert]

This Saturday, May 1, the Do-It-Yourself network will be premiering a brand new series called "Money Hunters", produced by my company, Nancy Glass Productions. It stars licensed contractor Matt Blashaw, and engineer extraordinaire Deanne Bell. They'll show you how to renovate on a budget using alternative materials and products, giving tips and using gadgets along the way. Take notes.

Our pilot episode will be airing at 8pm, and my producing (solo) debut will air at 8:30pm. Set your DVRs and tell momma!

Yes, Master

what i learned from watching the masters:
- anthony kim has the best worst belt buckle ever.
- the bunkers are filled with crushed marble.
- the commentators think it's possible for one to have the shot of their career, yet that same shot is not their best shot of the tournament.

iChrist

The 4th generation operating system for the iPhone was announced today. Does anyone else see a Christian cross and shadow? Talk about a God complex...

Tend To Be

Gillians tend to be brunette, motherly, and surprisingly into athletics.
Jillians tend to be blond, with a youthful energy.

Sarahs tend to be bookish, yet very sexual.
Sara's tend to be spunky and might punch you solidly when horsing around.

Kenny Kohle

Have you ever had your dreams come true one second, and then your heartbroken the next?

It happened to me yesterday as I perused the correspondence section of RollingStone Issue #1101. There it was: I had a letter published in the magazine I grew up on! ... and they misspelled my name!

And the real kick in the penis is that they e-mailed me a few weeks ago to confirm the correct spelling of my name. Tragic.

Still, I'm pretty happy, especially since my letter contained references to LOST and The Jersey Shore.

I have a remedy though: I will be taking the necessary steps to legally change my name to "Kenny Kohle" (I envision it being pronounced like "Coal", but some of my co-workers imagine it to be "Colé" ... that might be too exotic for a German / Irish boy like me).

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?

Los Angeles

At the end of January I was lucky enough to take a last minute business trip to LA. It was my first business trip and it was frustrating to not be able to handle it like a vacation. Normally I would have the entire trip planned and spend every wakened hour out and about exploring. Instead, I spent most of my time on set dealing with landscapers and setting up time-lapses. I can't complain though because I got to experience a plethora of amazing food and shared a baggage carousel with Andy Dick. When all is said and done, let it be known: LA is a ridiculously good food town.

Here's a list of where I got to eat, loosely ranked from my favorite to my least favorite:

- City Sip (great wine deals, great cheeses, stoned waitstaff)
- Kogi (Mexican style Korean BBQ served out of a truck whose location you follow on Twitter)
- The Kitchen (I'm embarrassed to boast about how ridiculous their turkey burger is)
- Soy Cafe (1st pho experience)
- Wurstkuche (snake sausage, truffle oil fries with curry ketchup)
- Malo ($1 taco night!)
- Bacon-wrapped Hot Dog outside of the Drawing Room (a dive bar frequented by Kiefer Sutherland)
- Lemongrass (really good appetizers, but I ordered off of the Specials and it was a tad under-seasoned)
- Vinoteca Farfalla (again, really good appetizers, but my short rib was not spicy like advertised, although it was remarkably tender)
- In-N-Out Burger (Animal Style. NBD)
- The Oinkster (I regretfully ate healthy here, but the goat cheese crouton was cool. Their pastrami looked nuts.)

... and this doesn't include all of the authentic Mexican places we ordered from on set. One word: "sopa".

And watering holes:

- The Dresden (yes, the 2 singers were there)
- Silverlake Wine ($4 wine tasting + free cheese. Somehow Carla noticed some New Melrose Place cast members. And I thought no one watched that...)
- The York (food looked/smelled really good, but only got drinks. Cool interior, nice local beers.)
- 4100 (darkest. bar. ever... good juke box)
- Formosa Cafe (I think this place is "known". Not sure.)
- Good (was OK. Large beer list, but nothing too crazy. Waiter was weird. And there's no bar, only tables)



"If patience started a band / I'd be her biggest fan" - Elliott Smith

Ashes to Ashes

I love Ash Wednesday because it never fails to deliver a "What the fuck?!" moment. I undoubtedly forget that it is, indeed, Ash Wednesday. I'm going about my day like any other day and then - BOOM! - it hits me. I spy with my naked eye a person with a black smudge on their forehead and my mind instantaneously goes: "What the fuck?!" Then it all makes sense. Ah, Ash Wednesday, you son of a bitch. You got me again, you...

Crisp!

Kashi's new GoLean Crisp!: Toasted Berry Crumble is excellent. It has a different "mouth feel" than other Kashi products. It’s almost grainy, but in a good way. It's very similar to Bear Naked plain granola in texture. I like when the pieces cluster together and give a satisfying crunch. Oh, and the berries are chewy, which is nice compared to a Special K berry that is dehydrated. I would pay up to $3 per box.

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

I Hate the Dentist

Dentist: "What we're gonna do is cut away the gum with a little electricity."'

Me: "That sounds awfully horrific."

Dentist: "Well, Benjamin Franklin actually had an idea to use electricity to kill animals. He thought it would be more humane. OK. Ready to begin?"

Adopting a Theory by Megan Fox

This month's RollingStone features an in-depth interview with the adroit Megan Fox. She drops pearls of wisdom left and right, but the one I'll be taking to heart is her advice on how to avoid dieing in a plane crash:

"She happily elaborates on why she likes to listen to Britney Spears on her iPod while flying: 'Flying really freaks me out, but I know that it's not my destiny to die while listening to Britney.' "

So, next time I'm on a plane, I'll be sure to be pumping some Nickelback. Real loud.

Satan

I went for a jog this evening and was pleased to come upon some sidewalk-chalk graffiti. Written in the middle of the street (in pink, mind you) was "I love Satan". Kids these days...

37 Years

My parents have been married 37 years as of today. Not to sound cheesy, but hopefully I learned something from them.

I feel the need to recycle this excerpt from an old MySpace blog since MySpace is dead to me...

Quoting my Mom: "Marriage isn't about how many rooms of the house you can have sex in; it's about being there for the other person when they need you... it's having your husband hold a pillow against your boo boo."

As Andre 3000 would say, "Thank God for Mom and Dad, for sticking through together."

Location, Location, Location

Barb and I want to move in the fall of 2010. We know what we want but we don't know where it exists. On our own, we both came up with a list of 10 requirements that our new location would ideally have. Do you know if this place exists? Help!

My Requirements (in no order):
- near the ocean (preferably with an irregular coastline)
- town has a "main street" (plenty of food options)
- within 1 hour of mountains/hiking
- no-snow winters
- major music scene within 1 hour
- close proximity to a major sports market
- affordable real estate for future house buying
- lots of outdoor activity options
- town is a little funky / has charm / history
- must photograph well

Barb's Requirements (in no order):
- walk-able "downtown"
- ocean or lake within 30 minutes
- MLB park doable in a day
- university / college to work at
- mild winters, low humidity
- young family vibe (not old or young high school / college vibe)
- potential to buy property before we're 30
- classy food scene
- free outdoor entertainment and fun (ex: beach movies)
- slower pace of life

Bellybutton Legs

I had a dream a few nights ago and it's been freaking me out ever since. In my dream I had what I'll describe as "bellybutton legs".

I was sitting on a chair on a dock. Sticking out of my right thigh were 2 cardboard toilet paper tubes. They were about half-way in and my reasoning for having them was to hide my disfigured leg. I pulled them out and I had 2 "bellybuttons" on my right thigh ("innies", not "outies"). These were big bellybuttons though and whenever I picture them in my head my right leg tingles.