stupidfool, yet again

Culture QotW: Cheers!

nobody@vox.com(btrott) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:03:44 -0700

Salma Hayek recommends Campari

Share a recipe for your favorite summer drink.

I can answer this one!

Lately, I've been enjoying a nightly Americano, made with equal parts Campari and sweet vermouth (I really like Vya), along with a splash of club soda and an optional slice of orange.

It's refreshing, but with a distinct bitterness, which I find I appreciate more and more nowadays.

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Listening, lately

nobody@vox.com(btrott) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 19:35:33 -0800

In addition to Nicole Atkins...

Distortion

Magnetic Fields

The Magnetic Fields' Distortion is, as advertised, full of lovely, noisy distortion. Aside from that, it's a nice set of pop songs, as usual; my favorites are "California Girls" and "The Nun's Litany."
Now that I've had more time to digest 8 Diagrams, I've settled on "Stick Me For My Riches" as my favorite track on the album. A great intro, and another amazing verse from Method Man.
I've loved Maxi Geil! & Playcolt for a couple of years, and I bought their Strange Sensation album sometime last November--but I hadn't really listened to it until this week, when I ran across this post on Fluxblog. And indeed, "Your Best Won't Be Enough" is a killer song.

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Nicole Atkins, Neptune City

nobody@vox.com(btrott) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 22:39:54 -0800

Neptune City

Nicole Atkins

My album of the week: Nicole Atkins's Neptune City, which has accompanied me all of this week on my various commutes to work. I love it all--it's like listening to ABBA and the Pretenders at the same time, or something.

I have a lot of favorites, though the one I keep coming back to today is "Neptune City" itself.

It's the maudlin in me, I guess; the ones that clings to nostalgia: "Maybe if I paid attention / I could learn to love the landscape I was born to." Anyway, it's a gorgeous song, as is the album.

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Poochie!

nobody@vox.com(btrott) — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 21:39:10 -0800

Anthony Bourdain, in a wonderful rant about the Food Network:

There's last year's Great Hope, Guy Fieri, who reminds me of the "Poochie" character in the classic Simpson's episode where it is decided that Itchy and Scratchy need a "hip, in-your-face, pro-active" new sidekick to bring in a younger demographic.

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"Bad company makes bad wine!"

nobody@vox.com(btrott) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 22:53:25 -0800

Campfire

And, as a final something for 2007: Wu-Tang Clan's "Campfire" (listen), track one from 8 Diagrams.

A very sobering and (dare-I-say) mature kung-fu sample; an incredibly spooky sample of the Persuasions' cover of Curtis Mayfield's "Gypsy Woman"; and an absolutely killer verse from Method Man to get it started.

Not a bad start to an album that's growing on me very quickly.

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Favorites of 2007

nobody@vox.com(btrott) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 21:49:58 -0800

Favorite books:

Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Some of these were published in 2006, but when reading I'm always behind by at least a year, I figure--so I think it's safe to say that these were my favorite books that I read in 2007 (hey, they all start with "M"!):

Favorite songs:

The following twelve songs are my personal favorites for 2007: they're the songs I most enjoyed and that, out of sheer narcissism, I suppose I'd classify as "best", whatever that means. More than anything else, they're the songs I'd like to listen to most, right now.

Some notes:

R. Kelly makes an appearance on three out of twelve tracks: it was the year of R. Kelly, after all!
There's no Ghostface or Wu-Tang, because I just bought Big Doe Rehab and 8 Diagrams last week and haven't had nearly enough time to digest them. This makes me sort of sad, but I guess gives me license to include them next year.

Siobhan Donaghy - Ghosts

In alphabetical (essentially unordered) order:

Celebration, "Evergreen" (listen)
Ciara, "Promise (Remix) feat. R. Kelly" (listen)
The Fiery Furnaces, "Restorative Beer" (listen)
M.I.A., "Paper Planes" (listen)
Of Montreal, "Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider" (listen)
R. Kelly, "I'm a Flirt feat. T.I. & T. Pain" (listen)
Richard Hawley, "Lady Solitude" (listen)
Rihanna, "Umbrella feat. Jay-Z" (listen)
Robin Thicke, "Got 2 Be Down feat. Faith Evans" (listen)
Siobhan Donaghy, "Goldfish" (listen)
Spoon, "Black Like Me" (listen)
Swizz Beatz, "It's Me Bitches (Remix) feat. Lil Wayne, R. Kelly, and Jadakiss" (listen)

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Something really sad

nobody@vox.com(btrott) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 21:11:44 -0800

I love this quote (among others) from a 1996 interview with David Foster Wallace:

And I know that when I started this book I wanted--I had very vague and not very ambitious...ambitions, and one was I wanted to do something really sad. I'd done comedy before, I wanted to do just something really sad and I wanted to do something about what was sad about America.

Which "this book", i.e. Infinite Jest, definitely is, i.e. sad, and which reminds me--again--that I really want to re-read it. One of these days, I guess.

(via Jason and Daring Fireball)

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QotD: Cold Weather Beverage

nobody@vox.com(btrott) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:59:07 -0800

What's your favorite thing to drink when it's cold outside?

Brooklyn Skyline

Over the last couple of weeks, I've really been enjoying an occasional Red Hook cocktail, which I first read about on the Cocktail Chronicles, and then again on gumbopages.com (which is also where I found the sazerac recipe I'm most fond of).

It's rye-based, so a perfect warming drink for a chilly fall evening. Yum!

The Red Hook Cocktail
(by Enzo Errico, Milk & Honey, New York City)
2 ounces rye whiskey
1/2 ounce Punt e Mes
1/2 ounce maraschino
Combine with ice in a mixing glass and stir for at least 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

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QotD: Singing A Holiday Tune

nobody@vox.com(btrott) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:18:51 -0800

Another Lonely Christmas

Audio: What's your favorite carol or holiday song?

Without a doubt: Price's "Another Lonely Christmas".

I must admit that I'm still a little thrown by the pokeno & banana daiquiris, but that said, this is my #1 when it comes to Christmas songs.

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Link Grab Bag

nobody@vox.com(btrott) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 10:27:31 -0700

I have a file of things to post to my blog about, and it's become clear to me that I'm not going to have the time/inclination/desire to write full posts about each of them. Some of these are old, so you may have read or seen them already.

So:

Lady's Bridge

Wu Tang Clan, "The Heart Gently Weeps". I love this in concept; in reality, it's just okay for me, though Method Man's bit towards the end redeems it quite a bit.
Richard Hawley's new album, Lady's Bridge, is gorgeous fall music. My favorite so far is "The Sea Calls".
I'm enjoying Blake Lewis's "Break Another" way too much.
A combination of a dead hard drive and annoyance at having something like 5 (all different!) iPhoto and iTunes libraries inspired me to do a little cleanup. Applications used both to combine the libraries and keep them in sync, all highly recommended: iPhoto Library Manager, Senuti, and Martian Slingshot.

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