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.

Damn the 24hr News Cycle

What's with CNN and their weird obsession with annoying hip-hop personalities? It all started with the hologram will.i.am on election night! This is what I just witnessed on CNN:

“Wyclef Jean just sent this Tweet and I want to share it with you: ‘buildings falling N da Capital of haiti, but n order 2 clean up da capital we need a massive Exodus.’ He says the buildings are falling. He says they need everybody to leave. He says, ‘I am calling on da US Army.’ That’s Wyclef Jean making that statement a little while ago. He Tweeted that and we wanted to share that with you. We think it’s relevant, we think it’s important, we think it’s news worthy.” – CNN’s Rick Sanchez.

Naturally, this was followed up with CNN’s “Most Intriguing Person of the Day” segment. Of course it was Larry Platt, the mastermind behind the viral “Pants on the Ground.”

Death Cab for John Hughes

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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

Camokini

"The pervasiveness of camouflage - from fashion to war - attests to the troubled relationship with violence that seems to characterize modern times." - Thomas Hirschhorn

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?"

Seattle Seahighlighters

"Check out the new Seahawks jerseys. If you don't think they're awesome, you need awesome lessons."

- Neil Everett, SportsCenter

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...