Hells yeah!

Only four radio shows received this national shout-out.

Feelin' it

Best Albums of All Time

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

I MUST HAVE ONE!!!

The New Mix Tape

Alltime favorite albums you say? Impossible.

Click for list official participants & info on joining in! See the playlist above for a taste of what's to come!

As blasphemous as this may be, especially considering the task at hand, I must begin by confessing that I don't really "do" albums. Even in the days of yore, when I actually bought albums, an entire play-through was a rare occurance. I cannot defend this. I know that there are many, many, many, rock-your-world, change-your-life, wet-your-pants wonderful albums out there. All I can tell you is that it is the almighty mix disc that gets my engine purring. The challenge of it, the art of it, thrilling! And kinda hot.

That said, below lies my list of all time fave albums ... for what it's worth.


CHILDHOOD (in order of earliest memory)
Music during this phase of life included heaps of oldies, a bit of classical (that would be the mom's doing), oodles of pop radio, and a generous serving of prog rock.

Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon - I am forever indebted to my step-dad for this one; he was way into the dark, heady stuff.

Motown Record's 25 #1 hits from 25 years - Volume I - This would be my bio-dad's influence; he loved him some oldies ... and Yanni ... and Jesus Christ Superstar. Yikes, I know BUT it's likely the reason I now have such an open mind toward music.

Michael Jackson's Thriller - My first official rock god. How the times have changed.

Madonna's Like a Virgin - Oh how this made me long to be a teen/not a virgin.

Transition (angry with the world phase begins to rear its ugly head)
Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion II - First album I bought with my very own, hard-earned allowance. I actually bought Nirvana's Nevermind, Metallica's Black Album, Pearl Jam's Ten, and Red Hot Chili Pepper's Blood Sugar Sex Magik at the same time, but G n' R come out on top.


TEEN-ANGST-HOOD (literally my "hoodiest" phase)
Only rap, hip-hop, and R&B were welcome here. In fact, it got pretty extreme - not long before the transition I was on a heavy diet of Houston's finest - Screw and Watts.

Dr. Dre's The Chronic - Big fan of the chronic. And the album was great too.

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's E 1999 Eternal - The flows were ill.

Mariah Carey's Music Box - Her self titled album hooked me and then this album came along and delivered (endless hours of boy-centered daydreaming).

Boyz II Men's II - There was once a time when I could not imagine a world without their music.

Transition (because thug life wasn't easy)
Third Eye Blind's Blue - If you went to high school in the late 90s then you know there was no escaping this. Plus, I really wanted to fit in.


ADULTHOOD (also known as, "When am I gonna feel like an adult already??")
Absolutely *anything goes from here on out. Which is why mixes are where it's at! They cover the big ones (a la Dylan), the little ones (remember The Hidden Cameras?), and all those in between (Solomon Burke, Nick Cave, etc.). They span genres, decades, and life phases.
Anywho, as the title of this post indicates, I believe it to be impossible to make a favorite or best list. The albums mentioned up to this point have been included because they shaped me, for better or worse. The albums listed below are simply the ones that somehow someway ended up on repeat and are now forever etched in my mind. They're solid for sure, but not the best.

Modest Mouse's Good News For People Who Love Bad News - For bonding with the homies.

Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - For all-night makeout sessions.

The Beatles' 1967-1970 - For walks around town.

Nick Drake's Pink Moon - For the perfect start to any day.


Obligatory shout-outs
As any fan of Tarantino or Anderson knows, soundtracks can be the shit! So in that vein, a list of the bestest.

Vanilla Sky - This is the one that made me wake up and smell the soundtracks.

Garden State - And this little piggy made many others wake up and smell the soundtracks.

Amelie - Three things going for it -- 1. It is French (judge if you want but I'm sticking to my guns, this country makes my favorite non-english music). 2. Yann Tiersen (he only does EVERYTHING right). 3. The phenomenally beautiful movie to which it is attached.

Dirty Dancing - As a child I remember thinking, "Whoa nelly, music can be sexy."

The Sound of Music - Um, because it's THE SOUND FREAKING OF MUSIC and my heart isn't made of stone!


Honorary mentions
My first mix cd - It had to be said. Yes, mix tapes came first but let's face it, hoping to catch a record-button worthy song on the radio was hit or miss business. And forget about arrangement.

Putamayo Records - International music mixes!? I think so.

Brazos' A City Just as Tall - Absolute favorite local artist.


Post Script: A big thanks to Jessica for inviting me to join in this endeavour and map props to Sarah for being the brain-child.

Check please!

My Quest for Pain and Glory

Since 2006, I have had a dream. That dream was to eat the newly appointed hottest chile pepper in existence. According to the New Mexico State University Chile Pepper Institute, the Bhut Jolokia, or ghost chili, has been the world record holder since 2006, and is twice the spiciness of a habenero, with 1,041,427 Scoville Heat Units. They are so powerful that they use them to deter rampaging elephants in India. I'll let that sink in while Farmer Digonta Saikia shows a Bhut jolokia or ghost chili from his field in the northeastern Indian state of Assam.

Seeds were avaliable for purchase through the New Mexico State University Chile Pepper Institute, but growing conditions are very precise, and require expensive equipment I do not possess, and even then there is a low rate of germination success. I knew I needed to gain access to this kind of equipment if I was to have any chance at eating the spiciest natural thing known to man. I devised a clever plan to enroll as a graduate student in Australia, studying plants at a botanical laboratory with all sorts of cutting-edge nursery technology and greenhouses and other cool shit. However, when I arrived I was presented with another setback. Australia is a real dick about letting you bring stuff in to their country, most of all seeds. They confiscated my beef jerky and my Ranch dressing on the way in if I didn't tell you before. So importing seeds was out of the question, unless I wanted to get deported or something. I laid low for a while, hoping an opportunity would present itself. Fast forward one year...

I figured that if I couldn't bring the pepper to me, then the only other option would be for me to go to the pepper itself. So I went to India. And it would have worked except Priya thought my idea of going to a rural part of India with no toilets and "radical terrorism" just so I could try a chili pepper was a bad idea. So that didn't work and I returned to Australia a broken man without severely burnt taste buds. 

"Whoops, where'd all the chilis go? I coulda sworn they were at the Taj Mahal."

These past few months I have been in a downward spiral, pretty much hitting rock bottom, as the realization of never accomplishing my dream was eating away at my soul, exactly as how I imagined the ghost chili would eat away at my stomach lining. Then, out of nowhere, a miracle occurred. I had spoken numerous times at work about the fabled chile pepper, and a coworker who attended a chile pepper festival that is held annually in Perth remembered one of my chili speaches. This past Monday, I arrive at work to the news that ghost chili seeds were being sold at this festival, and there is a very small company that sells seeds in very small quantities. And, I was so awesome at conveying the message of how awesome the ghost chili is, that two other coworkers of mine want to go in with me and get ahold of some seeds and grow them. So, pretty soon, I will be the co-owner of 8 Bhut Jolokia seeds, and I will have all the neccessary fancy equipment to grow the plants, plus two helper people. 

I realize that I might be getting a little ahead of myself here, because it's not guaranteed that these seeds will become fully functioning members of plant society. These plants are apparently really fragile and their flowers drop off unexpectedly for no reason and they don't like temperatures below 60 degrees and they need a lot of humidity and they are very susceptible to diseases and it takes over 150 days after germination to get a fruit, but damnit I've come this far and I'm gonna eat this damn thing and live my dream just like all those other guys who live the dream. I'm pretty sure it's going to be the most painful and glorious thing ever. I'll let you know how it goes.

The Economist, a PSCSP follower?

Me thinks yes. And I have no problem saying, I told you so.

There are two things that will never go out of style.

The little black dress and whoopee cushions.

beer pong gone wrong

Beer pong has gotten some serious air time lately. But not for a good reason... check this out.

http://www.asylum.com/2009/02/24/herpes-rise-linked-to-beer-pong/

Caution:

Pissing in public can put you in jail. Take Leah's advice... KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS.

You know in The Netherlands, they have these high tech sculptures on street corners. Yeah, they look like art but in reality they are urinals. Genius.

Barack Obama is tired of your motherfucking shit!!!

AWESOME