Archive for the ‘lists’ Category
Music of 2009
According to Last.fm, these were my top 25 artists of 2009:
1. The Beatles (222)
2. Lady Gaga (185)
3. Damien Rice (167)
4. Regina Spektor (156)
5. Green Day (145)
6. Marry Me Jane (108)
7. Matchbox Twenty (104)
8. Seether (95)
9. Beautiful Small Machines (85)
10. Jenny Owen Youngs (82)
11. My Chemical Romance (78)
12. Fiona Apple (78)
13. Radiohead (70)
14. Jason Mraz (68)
15. Ingrid Michaelson (66)
16. David Bowie (64)
17. Willie Nelson (63)
18. The Police (61)
19. Rob Thomas (60)
20. Tori Amos (52)
21. The Killers (46)
22. Nine Inch Nails (43)
23. Sara Bareilles (42)
24. Sting (40)
25. The Decemberists (37)
I don’t think I’ve ever in my life been so girl power. Not that I consider that a bad thing, I’m just sayin’.
And these, my top 25 songs:
1. Jenny Owen Youngs - Here is a Heart 2. Regina Spektor - Apres Moi 3. Beautiful Small Machines - Robots in Love 4. Sia - Breathe Me 5. Jason Mraz - If It Kills Me (from the Casa Nova Sessions) 6. Lady Gaga - Bad Romance 7. Fake It - Seether 8. Lady Gaga - Speechless 9. My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade 10. Frankenstein - Aimee Mann 11. Madcon - Beggin' 12. Jenny Owen Youngs - Fuck Was I 13. Carrie Underwood - Before He Cheats 14. Bad Things - Jace Everett 15. Alana Davis - (Don't Fear) The Reaper 16. Ingrid Michaelson - Be OK 17. JayMay - Gray or Blue 18. Eet - Regina Spektor 19. Rosi Golan - Hazy 20. Ingrid Michaelson - San Francisco 21. Roisin Murphy - Ruby Blue 22. Beautiful Small Machines - So Long to U 23. Lady Gaga - Brown Eyes 24. You Don't Know Me - Ben Folds 25. David Bowie - Within You |
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25 Random Things
I originally did this meme on Facebook, reprinted here with permission from myself:
1. I prefer to go barefoot. Because of this, I think, my children automatically shed their shoes upon entering other people’s houses.
2. I hate snow.
3. I find chinchillas unspeakably creepy.
4. I’m not a dog person or a cat person – I’m a reptile person and possibly a rodent person. (Though it does depend on the rodent.)
5. I like to iron – I find it very Zen.
6. I would probably believe anything that Anderson Cooper said.
7. I would like to believe that there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy, but I’m getting old and cynical.
8. I just added Rick Springfield to my iPod.
9. I usually get depressed on Sundays. It’s the day that everything I haven’t done and think I should have catches up with me.
10. Every thing I’ve ever learned that was both useful and worth knowing came after my school years. Except multiplication tables – those have been handy.
11. My favorite color is purple.
12. My three closest friends (aside from my family) live 152 miles away, 1990 miles away, and 2849 miles away. Maybe I should have a complex about that.
13. I love thunderstorms. And fireflies. Where I live we don’t have either.
14. My ringtone is “Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!” Ahem – I mean, Wagner.
15. I love horror movies of any persuasion, though there’s a special place in my heart for zombies.
16. I have a very good memory for events and conversations.
17. I tend to pick up on nuances.
18. I’m over the drama.
19. I like spaghetti.
20. I once shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.
21. My favorite author is Neil Gaiman, though my daughter discovered him first. We scoured the library looking for books that she would enjoy reading when she was about 7 or 8, and she was bored by everything targeted at her age and gender. Then she stumbled upon Coraline.
22. My musical taste is eclectic, but not discerning. I just like what I like.
23. I think Dr. Phil is evil, and because of him I don’t trust Oprah.
24. I don’t own high heels.
25. Napping is one of my favorite hobbies.
I Kind of Love… a New Favorites List
A new derivation of my Friday Five, except not necessarily always five or on Friday. Except that this time it’s on Friday. It might not always be. There’s just no telling with me.
I kind of love Survivorman. The other guy might be a poseur, but Les Stroud is the real deal; eating bugs, building shelter, and starting fires with nothing but a pop can and a piece of chocolate. (True story.) Watching his show has become a standing date with me and my oldest son. The new season started recently, and I hear that tonight he’s in polar bear territory.
I kind of love Roger Ebert. His broader journalistic career had transitioned to movies by the time I was old enough to be paying attention, so for me he was just the thumbs down movie guy – and the grumpy one that I usually disagreed with, at that. What he’s been through in recent years with his health problems and the limitations that have come from them seem, to me, to be every reason for a person to give up entirely on living a life. He, instead, seems to be living a bigger life than ever before. Moving back out beyond movie reviews with a writing voice unfettered, a sharper sense of fun and – let’s face it – generally sounding a little off his gourd – it’s like the imp that you always knew he had in him has finally come out. And wants you to embrace the wonders of a rice cooker, apparently.
(Read it, it’s funny.)
I kind of love Neil Gaiman. Well, no, I seriously love Neil Gaiman. I’ve been asked a few times what I would recommend for the Gaiman neophyte – the Neil-curious? – and here’s an article that explains exactly why that’s an impossible question for any Neil lover to answer:
It can be a little difficult to explain Neil Gaiman to the uninitiated, but there’s solace to be taken in the fact that he has similar difficulties himself. “There’s that point where I meet people and they ask what I do, and I say, ‘I write’. So they say, ‘What do you write?’ and I start sounding shifty because I say, ‘Oh, all sorts of stuff’. And they say ‘Adult books, children’s book, short stories, movies, TV, journalism, songs, poetry?’ And I just go, ‘Yes, all of that,’ and it sounds pathetic, I can hear it coming out in my voice. Nobody’s going to believe you.”
And while we’re on the subject, some extremely lovely person wrote A Beginner’s Guide to Neil Gaiman so none of the rest of us would have to.
That being said, I kind of love (no, genuinely) his latest novel, The Graveyard Book. I think it’s very accessible to a wide range of different kinds of readers; young and old, casual or those looking for deeper meaning, fans of the occult or just a nice coming of age story. Try it, you might like it.
I kind of love Netflix’s Watch Instantly service becoming available via Xbox Live. Finally the Xbox does something for ME! I’ve been using the Watch Now service for a while, hunkering down over my laptop. And while it’s true that in general the selection still brings to mind the days when I was in junior high school and my mother worked at a video rental store (circa 1985 – Critters anyone?), there are some nice surprises. And really, it’s allowed me to revisit a habit that I hadn’t realized I’d lost with the switch to three-in-the-mail movie renting – remember back when you would browse the movie shelves, and take home something you’d never even heard of just because it looks good? Or if none of the new releases you wanted were in, you would rent Sixteen Candles or Alien 3 again? These days I’m less likely to risk one of my three slots on something that isn’t a safe bet. So Watch Now has been a nice option for me to branch out of the mainstream or revisit an old favorite – and now I can watch it on my television and share it more easily with the whole family. I can’t wait to show the kids Xanadu.
And though I have had great, great misgivings about the upcoming Star Trek movie (young Kirk looks like a Ken doll, young Spock is the guy who steals people’s brains on Heroes, and J.J. Abrams? He’s a very savvy man, but he’s hurt me before.) I actually kind of love the new trailer.
Mary said I should
I was tagged by Mary at Zenmomma’s Garden for this meme. Unfortunately, she also stole most of my answers. Maybe that’s why we’re friends – we’re both boringly quirky in frighteningly similar but unspectacular ways. I shower, though.
The Mission: Mention six quirky, yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself (that Mary didn’t already say). Tag six other bloggers by linking to them (unless you’ve taken so long that it’s already spread all over the blogosphere and you’re the very last blogger to do this meme). Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged. If you participate, let the person know who tagged you that you’ve posted your quirks! (Hey Mary – I posted my quirks!)
The Quirks
1. I always keep my toenails painted. It started as a promise to myself back when the kids were smaller and time consumier and suddenly things like tweezing, moisturizing, snipping, clipping and brushing my hair became mostly more effort than it was worth to me. At the same time, I was sort of drowning in the selfless mother act and I needed something to remind me that it was important to take care of myself and be a little frivolous. Bonus quirk – This can occasionally backfire when I choose the wrong colors for my mood. Sometimes a person just doesn’t feel cheery enough to pull off orange and yellow toenails, for example.
2. Despite having what I would consider a decently sized vocabulary, when I’m nervous I usually fall back on my 80′s upbringing and if I’m not careful, suddenly everything becomes “Awesome.”
3. I do actually have the ability to sit and just watch TV (especially if it’s important TV like BSG or Heroes or Doctor Who), but I most often prefer to multi-task my leisure time and have something else to do while I’m watching. (Like when it’s The Two Coreys.)
4. Once I start reading a book, I’m committed to see it through to the bitter end, even if it turns out to be wretched and every word is painful to me. I’m usually pretty good at vetting books beforehand, but occasionally I take a risk that backfires.
5. Maybe because I don’t have to do it very often, I love ironing. I find it very Zen, and smoothing out the wrinkles is very satisfying to me on every emotional and spiritual level I possess.
“I was born under the sign of cancer
Like brushing cloth I smooth the wrinkles for an answer…”
- Indigo Girls
6. While I love sleeping in the summertime for the comforting hum that the window air conditioner makes in my bedroom, excess white noise is crazy making to me. Now ask me how I live in a house with 5 computers and 4 large fans and televisions and game systems and handhelds and buzzes and whirs and bleeps -. Well, if I don’t eventually have a psychotic break, at least I know that my appreciation for silence grows stronger every. single. day.
Okay, I’m tagging:
Mike
Kim
Jacqui
Valda
Kristy
Sunny the Hamster and anyone else who hasn’t gotten this meme yet. (Yes, that means you.)
Another Friday Five
Five favorites from the week the earth continued to turn, more or less as usual.
Watched: “Because I can’t live without her.”
First place has to go to last week’s Battlestar Galactica episode, which kicked my ass. But I’ve nattered on about that show before, so instead I’ll say that I’m so glad to have So You Think You Can Dance back on the air, despite it’s unwieldy name and occasional foray into Idolness during the audition process. I’m a little bummed that my favorite guy (the one with the hat that danced like Gene Kelly) (the guy danced like Gene Kelly, not the hat) didn’t make it through to the show, and even more bummed that there are no (!) hot Russian male ballroom dancers on this season. (!!) But otherwise I’m excited about the line-up of sweet and hugely talented kids. (And when I say kids, I say that in a “I guess I’m getting old because I can think of a 20 year old as a kid now” way.)
And: “Boys, if you don’t knock it off, I will pull this car over and you can just walk to your painful deaths from here.”
Buffy, the last two episodes of Season 6. My daughter has gone on a rewatching binge lately, and today we cuddled up on the sofa and watched the world threatened and saved once more. I still cried. Fun fact – the fire demon that Spike battles for his soul is played by the American Gladiator Toa.
Read: “White thinks of the operation not as a head transplant, but as a whole-body transplant.”
I’m still making my way through Stiff. Since last week I’ve read about beating-heart cadavers, the crucifixion experiments, bodies used in the army, in cars and in airplanes, and the great success of head transplants in dogs and monkeys. (Okay, I’m not generally squeamish, but that one was tough.) Of course we’ve covered medicinal cannibalism as well, so it probably goes without saying that this isn’t a good book to read while eating.
Also: “This is the way the world ends…”
At bedtime I’ve been reading aloud Stephen King’s The Stand for the family. I know, I know, but the book is sort of genius and when I was growing up it was the one book that my Dad, my Mom and I all read repeatedly. In fact, Shane was informed that he had to read the book before he could marry me and attain true membership in the family. (He did it, too.) Sharing it with my children I’ll admit to committing some slight censorship with the bawdier bits, but for the most part I’ve been reading it as-is and much to my delight they have been rapt. In hindsight I wish I’d started with The Eyes of the Dragon, an old favorite of mine that’s much shorter and as I recall, kid friendlier. But maybe that will be next.
Listened to: “One day I’ll introduce myself and you’ll see you’ve not yet met me…”
I’m still enjoying Amy Steinberg, and I also really like Alanis Morissette‘s new album, though it does beg the question of whether her career would end if she ever found happiness in love. I’m also enjoying Gavin Rossdale‘s solo effort quite a lot.
Friday Five
Five Favorite Things from the Week Some Crazy Woman I’d Just Met Jumped into My Lap and I Turned Out to Be Real
1. Best Thing I Attended: The Life is Good Conference in Vancouver, Washington. I keep waiting to see if I can write about my family’s experiences there, I keep waiting to see if the right words will come. I’ve been hiding too long behind my comfy cynicism to easily spout words like “life-changing” and “inspirational.” I’ve relied on myself for far too long to trust words like “community” and “embracing.” But I think for now I’ll just say “it felt like home” and leave it at that.
(I have a few pics that I’ll share soon, but the best pictures I’ve seen are here and I’m not just saying that because I’m related to the first person in #13. Although you must admit he’s handsome and dashing.)
2. Best Thing I Heard: Amy Steinberg performed on Friday night of the Life is Good Conference and she was amazing. I came this close to not going. I was tired. And really, I only went because everyone (and I mean everyone) around my edges has been talking about her forever. I think I expected some Enya-esque, sweetly boxed and branded, ball-less inspirational singer (forgive me, all of you who knew what I didn’t, I obviously underestimated your taste greatly and here is where I beg your forgiveness.) Amy Steinberg, like every single person who recommended her, is a force of nature, and everyone who listens to her will automatically become a better person. It’s really that easy.
3. And: The Vibrations – a band based out of Portland, Oregon made up of unschooling brothers. They opened for Amy Steinberg and jammed with her later like pros and anytime I ever have a doubt as to what an unschooler is capable of I will remember those divine boys and the way they joined in as though they had rehearsed it a thousand times before. They were almost as amazing as the notorious itty-bitty Amelie who boldly interrupted Amy halfway through her second song to ask how she learned to play music. Unschoolers are awesome, ya’ll.
4. Best Thing I’m Reading: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. You guys can have your Tuesdays with Morrie and your Brothers Karamazov. I’m reading about body snatching and how plastic surgeons practice face lifts on severed heads in roasting pans. It’s a testament to how enthralling the conference was this past weekend that I didn’t (despite my natural inclinations) hide in my motel room to read this book. So I’m only on Chapter 3, and just about to learn the nitty gritty of human decay. I’ll be sure to let you know how that works out for me.
5. Best Thing on my TV:
And we’ll leave it at that.
13 Things I Might Be Doing This Weekend Instead of Blogging
1.
eaping tall buildings in a single bound.2.
ntercepting time sensitive materials that must be opened immediately.3.
acilitating a full immersion class for the Ket language of Central Siberia.4.
legantly traversing the sometimes treacherous divide between teatime and the dark night of the soul.5. Appearing in an off-broadway performance of Oh! Snuffleupagus!
6.
gloo-building for a brighter future.7.
ecret ninja training.8. Attending a symposium on the life cycle and sexual dimorphism of the Polyphemus moth.
9.
oogling information on the Treaty of Waitangi.10.
gling hot-headed blonde chefs.11.
verseeing the completion of the fourth wall.12.
ebating the wisdom of cheese.13. Or maybe I’ll be having a great time without you, here:
But I’ll miss you and tell you all about it when I return. Promise.
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
Friday Favorites #28
Five Favorite Things from the Week Summer Finally Arrived (and now we’re whining that it’s too hot)
1. Appropriately, Roasting in Hell’s Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay Temper Tantrums, F Words and the Pursuit of Perfection. One of my Mother’s Day gifts, so far it’s been a really great read about a fascinating self-created man, the rock star of chefs and our future Overlord.
2. Gordon Ramsay’s Fast Food
Another Mother’s Day gift. The idea that I’ll ever be able to recreate any of these culinary challenges is sort of laughable no matter what Gordon says, but if nothing else I figure my attempt might make some excellent blog fodder eventually. And the pictures are pretty.
Don’t get too excited – I haven’t really gone from stick figures to actual drawing skills overnight. What I did was try out this website:
3. Toonlet is a very fun site with SO many creative options, the whole internet should be plastered with comics by the end of the week. I’ll be checking, so get to work.
4. HEY YOU GUUUUYYYYYS! The Electric Company is coming back! Maybe I’m the only one who cares, seeing as how I can’t seem to find anyone around here that remembers it and the one time that I found a DVD at the library and showed it to my kids they were too overwhelmed by the 70s plaids to really grasp it’s genius. (But let’s face it, they’re of the Teletubbies generation anyway. Not really a sophisticated children’s television palate among them, poor things.)
But Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers and the Electric Company were my holy trinity in childhood, and not only did I already sense Morgan Freeman‘s talent at the wee age of 5 (he was my fave), but Electric Company was also the reason I dressed as Spiderman for Halloween that year. The year I won the cake walk at the school carnival. Coincidence? I think not.
5. And last week I featured kids’ drawings redrawn by adults, but I think I might like these photographs inspired by kids’ drawings even more.
I’m off for the weekend to celebrate my 13th anniversary!
Thirteen Songs for Thirteen Years, a Thursday 13
This week I’m cheating slightly, since I’ve posted this before. Thirteen songs taken from a music mix I made for my husband two years ago. Either I’m too lazy to make a new one for our upcoming 13th anniversary, or the songs still apply.
I’m gonna say both.
Some of them are corny, some of them are funny, some of them are sweet or sad or – well, I left the sexy ones off this post. After all, I don’t know you that well.
Click on the link to listen or download:
1. I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) – The Proclaimers
But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door
2. Head Over Feet – Alanis Morissette
You’ve already won me over in spite of me
And don’t be alarmed if I fall head over feet
3. Love of a Lifetime – Firehouse
I guess the time was right for us to say
We’d take our time and live our lives
Together day by day
4. Two of a Kind (Workin’ on a Full House) – Garth Brooks
I’m yours and you’re mine
Hey, that’s what it’s all about
Yea, we’re two of a kind
Workin’ on a full house
5. Gonna Make You Happy Tonight – The Tripods
Before we get down to love
Before we get down
I just gotta finish this level
I gotta high score tonight
I just gotta save my game
Well i’ll be with you in a minute sweet darling baby honey
I love how you dance for me
(But could you) move a little to the left baby
I can’t see the TV
6. Livin’ on a Prayer – Bon Jovi
Take my hand and well make it – I swear
Livin on a prayer
7. Ever the Same (Acoustic) – Rob Thomas
We would stand in the wind
We were free like water
Flowing down
Under the warmth of the sun
Now it’s cold and we’re scared
And we’ve both been shaken
Hey, look at us
Man, this doesn’t need to be the end
8. Everything – Alanis Morissette
What I resist, persists, and speaks louder than I know
What I resist, you love, no matter how low or high I go
9. Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol
I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
10. Don’t Change – Marty Casey
Resolution of happiness
Things have been dark
For too long
11. I’ll Follow You into the Dark – Death Cab for Cutie
Love of mine some day you will die
But I’ll be close behind
I’ll follow you into the dark
No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark
12. The Way – Fastball
They made up their minds
And they started packing
They left before the sun came up that day
An exit to eternal summer slacking
But where were they going without ever knowing the way?
13. Trees – Lovehammers
I don’t wanna go through this life
Without you by my side
And I have got it all worked out
In my head
Here’s how it’s got to be
It will be you and me up in the trees
And the forest will give us the answers
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
Friday Favorites #27
Five Favorite Things from the Week Mary’s Imaginary Friend Called Her on the Phone.
I worry about her.
1. So since I’ve actually seen the thing this week, I can say with confidence that Iron Man is perfection in the form of a super hero movie. I honestly couldn’t find anything to complain about even if I tried, and I don’t want to try. You can’t make me. This is my favorite super hero movie of all time, no contest.
2. Robert Downey Jr. (and his biceps) certainly deserves his own mention this week. Especially with this cover:
Checkered and unhealthy past hopefully staying in the past, this is definitely a man who is aging well thus far. Man.
“When Tobey Maguire and I were doing Wonder Boys, we went to see The Matrix, and that was a big deal. I’ve known Keanu for ages. I watched the whole thing happen for him. Then I saw Tobey with his whole Spider-Man thing. And then I saw, in a different way, what Johnny did with the whole Pirates thing. You get to firmly embed yourself in the unconscious of the planet in a way that’s so clearly not important that you don’t have to take it all that seriously. I just thought it would be really fun not just to get to do this—or maybe a couple of these—but also to get to be endorsed by Burger King and Hasbro and Slurpee cups.”
3. While I haven’t actually listened to it yet, another thing that makes my list of favorites this week is the new Nine Inch Nails album, The Slip. Released in digital form completely free as a thank you to fans, it can be downloaded from the site right this very minute. HUGE kudos to the Trent Reznors and the Radioheads who are actively trying to move toward the future by finding a way to make the internet work for all of us, instead of roaring indignantly from La Brea like the suits at the record companies are wont to do.
4. Fun link – kids’ drawings redrawn by artists.
And more here by Dave Devries.
5. Another quotation, this time from one of my favorite bloggers. Gelert at An Experiment in Normality is always an amazing mix of humor, quirk and poignancy. I usually walk away from his posts with something to think about, and I read this one at just the right moment this week.
“Walking the streets of Athens with my i-pod was an interesting experience. It’s a modern city of course, yet at the same time its a city surrounded, illuminated and limited by its past – rather like all of us I guess. To walk about in it is to be struck by the burden that the past is. It’s something you can’t get away from. Even if you build new things there are limits. Boundaries you can’t cross, areas you can’t get to, and even in the middle of modernity you only have to turn round and there is the past again, looking right over your shoulder. It’s hard to know what to do with it.”
And then the post goes on to discuss the fact that you can’t flush paper in the toilets of Greece, which is why I love Gelert.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
