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Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts

Monday, March 07, 2011

Remixes and Realizations

I'm not even going to mention how long it's been since I've blogged.  Whoops, I just did.  Oh well, moving on...

I'm totally obsessed with electronica remixes of vaguely folkish music.  And apparently YouTube is the only place to discover them.  Take this one for instance:

It's The Twelves remixing Fleet Foxes "White Winter Hymnal," and they're both kinda mainstream (as well as completely awesome).  This track was featured on The Twelves' BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix from Dec 18 of 2009, so it's likely available elsewhere.

However, I would have never found this gem if it weren't for the 'Tubes, and it is a beautiful work, worthy of radio time:

Some producer called Maffiss totally reworking the haunting, auto-tuned, vocal-only, four-line Bon Iver track "Woods" into some danceable awesomeness.  Looks like you can legally obtain all of his remixes for free at http://maffiss.bandcamp.com/.

Speaking of Bandcamp (the website, not the horrible joke from American Pie), there's some pretty good stuff on there.  Like Apple Juice Kid.  Look him up.

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I've realized that I do need to actually work out a little bit, because as much as I love dancing, and as much as I do it (couple times a week, not as much as I'd like, usually), it doesn't really do much for your anaerobic fitness level.  I also realize that I'm probably never going to go to a gym again and I don't plan on buying a bunch of free weights, so I need something to do that doesn't take much (any) equipment and is a little broader than my usual crunches / push-ups action.

A few weeks ago I came across an article on Lifehacker about J.P. Müller's My System.  First published in 1904, it was apparently the Victorian version of South Beach - effective, but controversial.  Also, it's not a diet.  It's a 15-minute, zero equipment, core-strengthening routine that, even though it's 107 years old, seems pretty effective.  I found several scanned copies on the interwebs and decided to skip the intro, etcetera ("Why Be Weak?") and go straight to the workout, which is broken down into a five-week build-up to the ultimate 18 exercise routine on week six.  I'm on week two, and I can totally feel it in my "flanks."  I think I need to supplement it with extra push-ups to really get what I want out of it, but it's going pretty well.  [Also, apparently someone else was similarly inspired, but they decided to put it online.  www.mullersmysystem.com]

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Along similar lines, I also have realized that my diet is in serious need of some help.  I think my daily caloric intake is somewhere around 1800, including a couple hundred worth of booze, usually, when it really should be closer to 2600, with less alcohol.  [Not that I am worried about my drinking, or even that I drink that much, average of a drink or two a day isn't bad, is it?]  Today I had some hot chocolate, some cereal, some ridiculously tasty oatmeal**, one slice of salami, and some "apple nachos."  Now it's 8pm and I would rather head out the door to go dancing than fix anything to eat.  I suppose I'll have a cookie and see if there's any free pizza available at Avo's when the kitchen closes.  And a beer.  Beer counts as food; it's basically bread.

But yeah, like I was saying my diet needs some improvement.

**Ridiculously Tasty Oatmeal:  So, a very nice girl, who has the shift after mine at Everyday Joe's, has gone through a lot in the realm of eating and being healthy.  She was anorexic and addicted to exercise, and therefore really unhealthy.  I don't know if she even weighs 100 pounds now, seeing as she's a pretty small girl and still extremely active, but she's apparently significantly healthier than she was.  Anyway, we were working together last week and somehow oatmeal came up in conversation.  I mentioned that I liked bacon in my oatmeal [you'll laugh until you try it], and she mentioned that she puts peanut butter in hers and loves it.  I had never thought of putting peanut butter in my oatmeal, but I love peanut butter, and I love oatmeal, so I figured I'd give it a go.  Oatmeal, brown sugar, peanut butter, a little jelly, enough milk to float it all, and five minutes in the microwave at half-power, and damn if that wasn't the yummiest thing to come out of that box in a long time.

Ya know, I think I may have some more of that before I go out dancing after all.  I can get there at nine instead.  Still not a balanced diet, but I'll worry about that another time.

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There's more news, like the job I got, my constant truck tribulations, the super awesome balboa weekend, etc, but that may have to wait or be skipped.  Watch my twitter if you're really interested in what's going on day to day.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Songs about rain

After threatening all day yesterday, the weather finally got its act together and actually rained for a little while today here in FoCo!  I love the rain (when I don't have to work in it, that is), and this was just a nice, steady, gentle shower that is really going to help get the grass and plants going!  Not to mention rinse some of the infernal dust and pollen out of the air for at least a little while!!!  Sheesh, my allergies are killing me this year!

Driving home through the nice little rain shower got me thinking, there's a lot of good songs about rain, and I should make a playlist / compilation of them!  I started to make a list, so let me know what you think, if you want to email me any mp3s, and if I missed anything!
  • I Love A Rainy Night - Eddie Rabbitt
  • Rockin' With The Rhythm Of The Rain - The Judds
  • Raindrops keep fallin' on my head - B.J. Thoma
  • I'm Only Happy When It Rains - Garbage
  • Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again - The Fortunes
  • Kentucky Rain - Elvis Presley
  • Here Comes The Rain Again - The Eurythmics
  • (It Must Be) Raindrops - David Cassidy
  • Have You Ever Seen The Rain/Who'll Stop The Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival
  • Fire And Rain - James Taylor
  • It Never Rains In Southern California - Albert Hammond
  • Rainy Days And Mondays - The Carpenters
  • Laughter In The Rain - Neil Sedaka
  • Never Liked the Rain - Clint Black
  • Rain In My Heart - Frank Sinatra
  • (Somewhere) Over The Rainbow - Judy Garland
  • Rainbow Connection - Kermit The Frog
  • Singin' In The Rain - Gene Kelly
  • Box of Rain - Grateful Dead
  • Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain - Willie Nelson
Once I get the list finalized, whittled down to a reasonable number, and find all the songs, I'll try to figure out a way to share my new list with a few people.  Like I need another project...

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Things that make me happy, things that make me unhappy.

Well, since I just can't neglect my blog any longer (it's been nearly three months!), and since I'm pretty sure I don't have any regular readers anymore, this post is all about me. What makes me happy and what makes me unhappy.

First of all, since I was passively watching TV and this commercial just caught my eye, I love the music they use in the Lincoln car commercials. They always have some really sweet remixes of classic songs, and that makes me happy. They need to release an album.

Pretty good, eh?I've kinda gotten into the AMC show "Mad Men" this fall, and while I am way behind on the plot and don't really watch with any regularity, I'm really intrigued by the setting and props used on the show. I love the old houses, appliances, clothes, furniture, and especially the cars that make their way into the show.

Anyway, what I wanted to share is the "Mad Men Yourself" page on the AMC Mad Men blog. It's pretty awesome. You start by selecting your gender, body type, skin tone, and facial features, then you move on to your clothes, accessories, and setting. And all the while there's a swank, loungie theme song playing in the background. The best thing is that you can download the results in several different sizes and the results can be pretty spot-on.

This "wordle" also makes me happy. They take your most common words from your Twitter tweets and turn it in to a picture. The larger the word, the more often it has occurred. The shape is pretty random, but I like the way this one turned out. Since the whole site is a java app, you can't directly save the image, but you can link to is, so go check it out. Make your own; share it.
Wordle: good

The fact that "for a limited time" you can get 155 Mojo Nixon tracks for free from Amazon mp3 makes me happy. If you're not familiar with his music, it's pretty much as trashy and lowbrow as it gets, but it's quality rockabilly goodness just the same. Go here for the deal.

This doesn't make me very happy. In an article on MSNBC.com asserts that "higher jobless rates could be the new norm" and quotes a really good economist to back it up.
"This Great Recession is an inflection point for the economy in many respects. I think the unemployment rate will be permanently higher, or at least higher for the foreseeable future," said Mark Zandi, chief economist and co-founder of Moody's Economy.com.
With unemployment headed to 10% and no real relief in sight, it's kinda discouraging.

Well, there's a review of the things that are currently making me happy and unhappy. It's too bad that the bad thing is so bad, but at least there are more good things. Let me know what's making you happy in the comments.

Also, my hornet sting from Monday still itches like hell. Not happy about that.