Yet Another 2008 Music List

Although I download a lot of music through emusic.com, I don't actually take the time to really listen to all of it. Therefore I don't feel qualified to make a top ten of 2008 list. Instead, here is a list of albums of 2008 that I enjoyed. Although most of these albums are on many best of 2008 lists, hopefully you'll still make a new discovery. In no particular order:

She & Him Volume One
Everyone went giddy over this album. She & Him consist of Matt Ward and Zooey Deschanel, (previously known for her acting in movies such as, Elf) and have been praised for their combination of Zooey's voice and Matt's arrangements. Paste Magazine (who rated it as their #1 of 2008) sums it up better than I can:

"...Produced with touches of girl-group splendor and arranged with a dreamy, old-fashioned vibe. She & Him's debut couldn't be more adorable."

What adds a little emotional value to this album is that two of the songs remind me of my love life 2008. The first, temporally speaking, being the cover of, "You Really Got a Hold on Me," (a song really about self-abuse; video) and more recently the song She & Him are most known for, "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"


Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? by She & Him

The Hold Steady Stay Positive
A friend of mine really loves this band and tried talking me into downloading it and I refused. Later I decided to take a chance on it and I really enjoyed it.


Lord I'm Discouraged by The Hold Steady

Of Montreal Skeletal Lamping
I love Of Montreal, an experimental, silly, goofball band with extremely catchy melodies. Like past albums this album has odd song titles, but more so than past albums, this one also has a lot of very sexually connotative lyrics. For example the song,
"For Our Elegant Caste" includes the refrain, "We can do it soft core if you want, but you should know that I go both ways." This is only to be outdone by, "Ladies, I’m screaming out to you from the depths of this phallocentric tyranny/ My self-concept is awaiting your invasion/ Clumsy penetration punishment, oh yeah!/ When the hope of another wet nightmare is all we have to live for," of "Id Engager."


Id Engager by Of Montreal

Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago
Hauntingly beautiful. Listening to this takes me to another emotional world.

Flume by Bon Iver

Sleeping in the Aviary Expensive Vomit in a Cheap Hotel
I previously wrote about "Write On" (song here), a song I discovered through Paste Magazine. I was so enamored of "Write On" that I pre-ordered the album directly from the band's site. I absolutely loved it. In contrast, to their previous album, This Old Thing? which is strictly cute college punk band, EVIACH really branches out. It encompasses a lot of different genres so it is hard to pin down. Listen to more SITA songs here.

Thao We Brave Bee Stings and All
I am shocked I haven't seen more about this album, but perhaps it is because it came out almost a year ago. I found it on an emusic list of albums "you may have overlooked," and I suppose they were right. This album combines a light playfulness with underlying deep yet ethereal emotion.


Bag of Hammers by Thao

Okkervil River The Stand Ins
Another group I discussed in a previous post, I initially wasn't sold on this band. That is until I heard "Lost Coastlines" on a Paste Magazine sampler. Here is another sample song from this album (the title of which I adore).


Calling and Not Calling My Ex

British Sea Power Do You Like Rock Music

Jason and Will of the podcast Will and Iris and described the album as "anthem" like. They weren't quite sure if that was the word or not. I would say dramatic and orchestral. There is definitely a shoegazish "wall of sound" to it, and just the right amount of noise.


Waving Flags by British Sea Power

Albums I downloaded that I wish I had spent more time listening to before tonight:
Frightened Rabbit Midnight Organ Fight
Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend
The Ravonettes Lust Lust Lust
Tokyo Police Club Elephant Shell

For more music ideas I also recommend Will and Iris's Best Albums of 2008 , and Will and Iris's Best Songs of 2008. Here you can hear atheist lefty dad Will discuss with his well-musically-read son (about 12-years-old by now), Jason their favorites of 2008. Jason not only has amazing taste, but he really knows how to talk about music. The complementary commentary of the middle-aged hipster dad and the pre-pubescent, future alternateen is not to be missed.

Now I'd like to hear what's on your favorites list.

Do cry over spilt coffee; heartbreak

Starting last week I started getting a steady stream of mailings from personal injury lawyers and chiropractors. I have also received phone calls early in the morning on my days off; can I sue for that?

Although this barrage of offers from ambulance chasers may be a great lead-in for a rant on tort reform, I do not buy into that. Although I will not defend our entire legal system, I have found many times that when one learns the true facts of a seemingly frivolous lawsuit, it is clear that the public's perception is a gross misunderstanding.

Perhaps the most famous of "frivolous" consumer lawsuits is that of Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants, or the McDonald's coffee case. Stella Liebeck was a 79-year-old woman who sued McDonald's after burning herself with coffee she spilled in her lap.

McDonald's coffee was not just hot, but was served at 180-190 degrees, a temperature capable of causing third degree burns in 2-7 seconds. McDonald's coffee was significantly hotter than other restaurants' (135-140) and kept it at that temperature despite knowledge of of over 700 other people injuring themselves with it. At this temperature, coffee is undrinkable, so someone may be injured even if they did not commit the oopsidoodle of spilling it (as happens to everyone once in a while).

The car was not moving. Stella did what is intended to be done with drive through coffee and what McDonald's knew would be done with its coffee through market research- sugar and cream would be added if desired and the coffee consumed in the car. She was in the passenger's seat, at a stop.

Stella did not just get a little redness or soreness. She had to hospitalized and receive painful skin grafts and debridements. If you don't know how painful these treatments can be, hopefully you never will.

Liebeck initially tried to settle for a measly $20,000 in medical costs but McDonald's refused. They instead went to court. Although she initially was awarded $160,000 for her injuries and $2.7 in punitive damages, punitive damages were later reduced to $480,000.

The final settlement included a gag agreement, meaning that Stella is not allowed to discuss the final settlement, nor defend herself in the media.

http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm

http://lawandhelp.com/q298-2.htm

http://www.vanfirm.com/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit.htm

http://www.stellaawards.com/stella.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants

Next time you hear about an ostensibly silly abuse of the legal system, think about where your information is coming from (is it a joke by Jay Leno, or a 30 minute segment on 20/20), is it possible that there is more to it, and lastly, if it is a simple common person up against a giant corporate army of lawyers and the suit has survived long enough to be newsworthy, isn't it possible they may just have a case? When it comes to my opinions on these case without all the facts, my jury is still out.

***
As a personal note, I saw the most heartbreaking thing today. I went up to the lake in the gale force winds and was sprayed with frigid water as I walked the pier and later the beach. I was looking for a Pomarine Jaeger, a bird very rare to this area that had been spotted on a regular basis by a local power plant. While walking along the beach I came upon a small juvenile gull. It was standing right up against a dead adult ring-billed gull. (possibly due to imprinting?) We kind of scared it a little, but even after we walked away, it just sort of wandered aimlessly, going up to the edge of the water but never going in for food and never flying. Just what happened to this baby bird, I don't know, but what is likely to happen will most likely be tragic.

We did not find the Jaeger but we did see a Bald Eagle!

Do you care enough to Bible thump at my door?

Just got sent an article about a video (see below) made by Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller commenting on a man who tried to proselytize him after a show. To perhaps your surprise, he had nothing but praise for this man. Penn asks, if you believe that by proselytizing you could save someone from Hell and help them find eternal life, how much do you have to hate a man to not try?

I have often wondered this, too. I have often wondered if many Christians deep in their hearts can't really believe that people like myself will not be denied eternal life or if they just really don't care that much if I am. How important is social correctness compared to saving someone from eternal suffering or at the very least giving them eternal happiness.

In thinking about this, I must remind myself that we all have a certain amount of denial in how we lead our lives, perhaps just to stay sane. I, for example, am very seriously concerned by the treatment of animals in society. I not only feel that animals raised for food are brutalized in unconscionable ways their entire lives and in death, but that we needn't be killing animals for food regardless of how well they are treated. But am I on the street corner every day trying to win converts to veganism? No. Am I even vegan? No! Some of it is just laziness, but a very big part of it is to have that kind of passion, one has to constantly ruminate about the endless, unimaginable suffering happening to billions of sentient beings. I think I may, like so many of the animal loving meat eaters out there, prefer to live in a little blissful ignorance.

While some may be more than others, and perhaps as a form of psychic defense, we are all hypocrites when it comes to living our morals.

***
Finished week 7 of my 9 week program today! Just 6 more runs to go!

I have not posted any pictures of my evolutionary tree of life (winter solstice tree) yet, nor do I think I will. It is pretty much the same as last year, and I did some pretty good write ups last year. I encourage you to view pictures of my DNA garland, Flying Spaghetti Monster ornament, Galapagos ornaments, and Solstice tree topper:

http://www.musingmanya.com/2007/12/christmas-tree-of-knowledge.html

http://www.musingmanya.com/2007/12/update-flying-spaghetti-monster.html

http://www.musingmanya.com/2007/12/my-war-for-christmas-iii.html

http://www.musingmanya.com/2007/12/post-christmas-satisfaction.html

Jeremiah 10:2-4: "Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not." (KJV).

Mine all mine. But do I want it?

Today I got a special Christmas present. It was the Title of my car. It is all paid off. 5 years of payments and not one penny in interest. In other news, last Friday on my way home from work I was hit by an impatient medical student. Yes there is damage, but according to my insurance card I am not supposed to discuss the accident with ANYONE aside from my insurance company and the police. So no details until that check is cashed.

Ever work so long and so hard for something and in the end wonder why you ever really wanted it?
Well, I don't feel that way about my car. I love it. :)

In other news, an atheist is suing because in Nevada, to be a wedding officiant, one must be tied to a congregation, i.e. not an atheist.

Saved by Always Save

As reported in the Columbia Tribune, Brent Decker, 44 of Columbia, Missouri was down on his luck, unable to find a job, and reached a point of desperation and prayed. He asked for a sign. He got one.

Two days later, in an attempt to add a small bit of pleasure to his life he slowly reached his salt covered fingers into his Always Save bag of chips for another small piece of greasy happiness. That next chip was his answer; it had a cross burned right into the middle of it.

"I believe God shows himself in different ways. It may seem insignificant or not, but he manifests himself in different ways," said Decker. "It was a big eye-opener for me."

Now I do not want to make fun of a man who is jobless and looking for hope. But what I do want to do is point out what Dirk Burhans, author of Crunch! A History of the Great American Potato Chip (no kidding) had to say about this. He points out that with the mass quantities of potato chips being produced every hour in this country, "You’re going to get some pretty interesting things," and then said that in a simple Ebay search found potato chips in all kinds of interesting shapes.

This is a case of the law of truly large numbers. The odds of an individual event may be very low, but if given enough opportunities, the chance of that individual event not happening becomes smaller. With billions of potato chips being produced, in combination with pareidolia (the tendency for humans to find recognition in random shapes) is it any wonder someone found this chip? How many times has he or other people who were not looking for a sign from God found a chip like this and just chowed it down? Now the most important question- will the chip help him find a job? Probably not, but I wish the best of luck to him.

***
I ran 25 minutes today! Hooray for me, I finally did it. Now on to week 7 of the 9 week program.

Scientology Children's Musical; I'm back!

One of the most interesting news items I read about this week is a musical called, "A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant" which started off as an off-broad way production in New York and has since been produced in several more cities including Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. From the above linked article in in the Dallas Observer:

The show unfolds in the awkward, endearing style of a Sunday school nativity play...The intentional impression is that it's all been slammed together in a hurry. That's also part of the joke as the show playfully dissects a carefully constructed belief system based on "thetans," "engrams" and a space alien named Xenu who dropped A-bombs into volcanoes a billion years ago and caused all of mankind's problems.

According to the article, they were threatened with legal action by the Church of Scientology but have since added, "Unauthorized" to their name. And as satirical as the play is, the article points out, the children are never critical of Scientology of all. I guess the truth speaks for itself.

***

Where have I been? I've continued my running though I haven't been updating my running log you see at the side there. I completed a 20 minute run a week or two ago but have been unable to do so again. It's mental, though. It's not physically taxing for me at all at this point, it's just that I get bored running around that indoor track. I listen to podcasts but maybe I need to get something really hilarious or otherwise distracting. Otherwise I keep looking at my watch and wanting to go home. And it's not that I don't enjoy running. I do; I just can't wait to get outside again. In fact, I've been thinking about running when it's in the 40s, or even just above freezing as a way to get back to the outdoors. Sad thing is, I can only do that on the weekend because it gets dark so soon.

I picked up my Christmas tree from the 'rents' basement and am putting it together. Read last year's posts about my tree in the December 2007 archive. I plan to post pictures as I progress with my Christmas/Solstice decorating.

Lastly, I was really busy helping out the Cleveland Freethinkers and the Cleveland Skeptics. I helped the Cleveland Skeptics finally launch their website as well as host the first Drinking Skeptically in Cleveland, Ohio. It was loads of fun, and I really look forward to the next one.

Is there an orange flavored drink I can try that will make my blogging more regular?