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Amy and Ed Go To Olema
Mobile post sent by edbatista using Utterz. Replies. mp3
Invocation
by May Sarton
Come out of the dark earth
Here where the minerals
Glow in their stone cells
Deeper than seed or birth.
Come under the strong wave
Here where the tug goes
As the tide turns and flows
Below that architrave.
Come into the pure air
Above all heaviness
Of storm and cloud to this
Light-possessed atmosphere
Come into, out of, under
The earth, the wave, the air.
Love, touch us everywhere
With primeval candor.
(Thanks to my friend Susan Lubeck for the introduction.)
Bros
An old pic (but new to me) from my brilliant sister-in-law's Flickr photos:
Mobile-Friendly Websites
TimesToCome Mobile has an outstanding list of mobile-friendly websites.
The Nietzsche Family Circus
Killing me. Just killing me.
Kirsch on Shelley
You can't trust a man who believes he is an angel.
- Adam Kirsch, closing his review of Ann Wroe's "Being Shelley."
ED-40
So I turn 40 this year, a birthday that surely deserves its own logo. It's supposed to be an angst-inducing experience, and who knows? Perhaps it will be; I have a few months to go. But for the moment, at least, I'm not there--equal parts denial, cluelessness, optimism and actual satisfaction.
Last year I heard a guy on the radio say (and I paraphrase), "By the time you're 40, you are the man you're going to be." As a perpetual work-in-progress, I'd be surprised if that's entirely true in my case, but if it is, so be it. I'm rarely satisfied with myself, but I'm more at peace than I ever thought I'd be.
So now the question is how to celebrate, how to mark the occasion? I'm thinking something low-key and close to home, but something I've never done and always wanted to: A pub crawl on Haight Street. This is paradoxical, as there's only one truly decent place to get a drink on Haight. We'll see what happens.
I'm Back
Well, sort of. I stayed away for over a year, but I've decided that trying to fold everything into a single site just isn't working, and I'd much rather have 1) a strictly personal site where I can post on anything under the sun (i.e. here) and 2) a more "professional" site focused on topics related to my vocational interests (i.e. there).
As I predicted a year ago, the tangle of topics has gotten a little too messy. The essential dividing line is between posts I simply feel like writing in a public space, regardless of whether they're actually read by anyone but me (i.e. here), and posts that are intended to be read by the wider world--or some miniscule portion thereof (i.e. there).
I doubt I'll be posting often--given my schedule these days, it's hard enough keeping up with my day blog--but it's good to know I'll have the option again.
The Blog is Dead. Long Live the Blog!
The Bottom Line: I won't be posting here for a while, perhaps indefinitely. But I'll be writing up a storm at EdBatista.com, so I hope to see you there.
UPDATE: I've successfully exported all the posts from this site to EdBatista--amazingly, it was even easier than TypePad promised; having taken a lot of heat lately, they deserve the kudos. This makes it even less likely that I'll be writing here again in the future, so I hope to see you at the old/new/other site.
OK. Why? I've been blogging for just over a year now, and it seems like an appropriate moment to make a few changes. Shortly after I began writing on a range of professional topics at my main site, I set up this site as a space to talk about everything from cocktails to tech tips to music reviews.
UPDATE: I've successfully exported all the posts from this site to EdBatista--amazingly, it was even easier than TypePad promised; having taken a lot of heat lately, they deserve the kudos. This makes it even less likely that I'll be writing here again in the future, so I hope to see you at the old/new/other site.
OK. Why? I've been blogging for just over a year now, and it seems like an appropriate moment to make a few changes. Shortly after I began writing on a range of professional topics at my main site, I set up this site as a space to talk about everything from cocktails to tech tips to music reviews.
It was helpful to have two separate forums while I got my feet wet, but I think that structure has outlived its purpose, for several reasons. First, although as recently as last June I felt that it made sense to maintain separate professional and personal sites, at the same time I also wrote that "...it's essential to let people know who you are as an individual and to speak in your own voice when you're working online. That means exposing yourself, speaking authentically, and being unafraid to share your silly passions." Having found my online voice over the past year, merging the two sites now will make it easier to speak more naturally and to cover the full range of topics I'm passionate about, from the silly to the serious.
Second, you might notice that the old tagline on my main site--"Thoughts on design, technology, advocacy and marketing"--is gone. Even though it initially gave me plenty of room to explore my professional interests, it was starting to feel a little cramped, like a shirt that shrank in the wash. I could sense myself backing away from topics that interested me but didn't quite fit the old schema, and that's just ridiculous. Using Doc Searl's metaphor, these sites aren't "channels" or "pipes," they're places. My primary purpose on these sites isn't "delivering content"--I'm stretching my mind, thinking out loud, and occasionally meeting others doing the same. And I don't want to be bound by a predefined set of topics, however broad. (Just as a heads-up, these days I'm particularly interested in issues related to organizational culture and executive coaching. I don't know where those explorations will lead, but I'm looking forward to covering some new ground.)
And finally, thanks to my association with AttentionTrust, I have every expectation that more sophisticated attention services will be coming online soon that will allow readers who are interested in my professional musings but not my music reviews (and vice versa) to sift through my feed and find the posts that are most relevant to them. Those services aren't here yet, so there's certainly the risk that merging these streams will just muddy the waters, making it more difficult for people to find what interests them--in fact, I expect that to happen in the short term. But hopefully the advantages described above will be worth it, and the geeks won't keep us waiting too long.
It's an experiment, and who knows? Perhaps the tangle of topics will get too messy, and I'll have to switch back. I'll keep this site in suspended animation, just in case, but I'll be bunking over at EdBatista for the time being.
The LeeVees
Thanks to All Songs Considered's 2005 Holiday Show, I'm obsessed with the LeeVees' "Applesauce Vs. Sour Cream":
Applesauce versus sour cream
Applesauce or sour cream
It’s the choice you’re gonna have to make
Which to put on your potato cakes
Applesauce versus sour cream
Applesauce or sour cream, now
It’s the choice you’re gonna have to make
Tell your mom to fry not bake, now
Life has many decisions
It moves in all directions
This is just one huge, enormous, big decision
You have to make
You have to make it
(Alright, listen up)
One has fruit
And one has milk
If you’re lactose-intolerant, then take a pill, now
It’s the choice you’re gonna have to make
The grease is startin’ to coagulate
Your lawyer called, said everything’s fine
Potato contracts have been signed, yeah
I think your heart just skipped a beat
You can’t wait for your greasy treat, now
Life has many decisions
It moves in all directions
This is just one huge, enormous, big decision
(You have to make)
You have to make it
(You must decide)
Da da da dum
Da da da dum
Da da da dum dum da da dum
Da da da dum
Da da da dum
Da da da dum
You have to make
You have to make it
Jews have to make
Listen up at All Songs Considered (RealPlayer required--ugh) or just buy it at iTunes. Best pop-punk Hanukkah song I've heard in many a year.
Real Guns Are Bad
And shooting people is really bad. However, fake guns are fun. And pretending to shoot people in games is really fun. Real guns and fake guns have nothing to do with each other. Real life and games have nothing to do with each other. So let's stop banning cool XBox ads and pretending that will do anything to stop actual violence.
Disclosure: I don't own an XBox and don't find the idea of playing video games in my living room appealing. But put me in an arcade with one of those stand-up, shoot-'em-up games and a sack of quarters, and I'm a menace.
So Long, J.T.
The Giants said goodbye to J.T. Snow, and he'll be missed. Even though I'm a fan who appreciates a) athletes who act like grown-ups and b) long-time contributors who provide continuity with a team's history, I understand that Snow's time in San Francisco is up. His maturity and defense will make him an asset wherever he winds up, but the Giants need better production at the plate from their first baseman.
I'll never forget Snow's unbelievably heads-up running grab of batboy Darren Baker in Game 5 of the 2002 World Series. (The kid, who was really a little too young to be out there, was retrieving Kenny Lofton's bat and didn't realize that he was about to be flattened by David Bell, who was barrelling into home right behind Snow. It took your breath away, and it's still a great memory...even if it brings unhappy thoughts in its wake.)
Jon at SFist has a nice write-up, and like Jon I hope J.T. gets a chance to carve out a meaningful role on a contending team rather than playing Crash Davis to the young pups on some bottom-feeding team. OK, Sabes, let's see what Lance Niekro or Mike Sweeney can do.
Gold Digger
I first learned who Kanye West was as a result of Hurricane Katrina. (Unless you're a rap fan [in which case you already knew who he was] or were living under a rock in September [in which case your TV reception wasn't too good], the same may well be true for you--West made waves when he called out President Bush on a telethon for Katrina relief, his candor apparently making his co-presenter Mike Myers fairly uncomfortable:
West: I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, "They're looting." You see a white family, it says, "They're looking for food." And, you know, it's been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I'm calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help -- with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way -- and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us!
Myers: And subtle, but in many ways even more profoundly devastating, is the lasting damage to the survivors' will to rebuild and remain in the area. The destruction of the spirit of the people of southern Louisiana and Mississippi may end up being the most tragic loss of all.
West: George Bush doesn't care about black people!
Myers: Please call . . .
I had mixed feelings when I heard about this (I didn't see it on TV.) OTOH, even as I blamed the entrenched corruption, ineffective leadership, and general lassitude in New Orleans and Louisiana for contributing to the disaster, it was hard not to feel that the Federal relief effort would have been more effective had the victims been, say, wealthy, white Republicans. But OTOH, I think it's absurd to accuse Bush of personally dragging his feet because Katrina's victims were black. I ultimately just got sick of the opportunistic finger-pointing and didn't pay any attention to West after the controversy played itself out, because I'm not I wasn't a rap fan.
It's not that I didn't appreciate rap as a genre--guitars, turntables; strokes, folks--but I'd just never heard a rap song that made me want to play it again. Until West turned up on last week's rerun of an October episode of Saturday Night Live and performed his hit "Gold Digger."
Odd enough that I happened to catch SNL--I haven't watched that show regularly for 10 years or more, and that rerun was the first one I've seen in a year or two. But even odder (to me, anyway) was that I loved "Gold Digger." It just grabbed me, and I had to hear it again. (Of course, since the song's been on the charts for months now, it's clear that I've spent much of 2005 under a rock myself.)
Listen for yourself: Here's the clean, radio-friendly version, and here's the video. You can get the unexpurgated version at the iTunes store, but I'm sort of partial to the radio version--something about the syncopation of the "broke...broke" euphemism in the refrain.
(Which raises an interesting issue: The original refrain is "Now I ain't sayin' she a gold digger, but she ain't messin' wit' no broke niggaz." The radio version substitutes "broke...broke" because apparently rappers aren't allowed to say "niggaz" on the airwaves. A major step forward in race relations; thank you, FCC.)
So now I'm a rap fan. Should be interesting to see how this affects my Last.fm charts.
25th Hour
Was reminded of this flick today, and how much it affected me. Recommended viewing anytime you're questioning the choices you've made in life.
Think Fast
Gen. George Patton on decision-making: "A good plan violently executed today, is far and away better than a perfect plan next week." Words to live by.
Rilo Kiley
I heard a snippet of a song from Rilo Kiley's The Execution of All Things a few months ago and it really grabbed me. I must have put it on my wishlist, because lo and behold it recently turned up in a stack of birthday presents from my baby. And it kicks ass.
Musically eclectic, lyrically intense, they're a hard band to pin down. (Yes, "they." No idea what the name means, but the woman with the beautiful, hard-edged voice is Jenny Lewis, not Rilo.) Sometimes they remind me a bit of Stephen Malkmus' post-Pavement output, sometimes they're much more folk-y and jangly. But just when you take them a little lightly, they hit you upside the head. From the title cut:
Oh god come quickly, for the execution of all things. Let's start with the bears and the air and then mountains, rivers and streams. Then we'll murder what matters to you and move on to your neighbors and kids. Crush all hopes of happiness and disease 'cause of what you did.
Phew.
NV Frank Family Blanc de Blancs
Frank Family in Calistoga has been one of my favorite wineries for years, and I've particularly enjoyed their sparking wines. But we've had barely any California sparkling over the past few years. Most of it is either affordable and disappointing, or decent but overpriced. Instead, we've been drinking French cremants, Spanish cavas and Italian lambruscos, typically for $9-12 a bottle. (You have to choose carefully among the latter two, but there are good ones to be found--perhaps my favorite bottle at the moment is Barbolini's Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro, a rich, musty red that's a steal at $12. And the French are uniformly good in the same price range--note that we're not drinking actual Champagne, but sparklers from various towns in Burgundy or Limoux in the Languedoc.)
So it was with a sense of curiosity and excitement that we opened a bottle of Frank Family's NV Blanc de Blancs. This was probably the first wine that gave me an appreciation for quality sparkling, and it felt like the return of an old friend. And it was...fine. A perfectly good accompaniment to the French cheeses that were kicking off our meal, but mere decency was something of a disappointment. It lacked the richness and creaminess I expect of a Blanc de Blancs (which I prefer), and at $28 it was no better than the $9 J. Laurents Cremant de Limoux we had last week. Well, at least we have a case of the latter and just one more bottle of the Frank Family.
Ari
Knock off that hippy shit, strap on a helmet, and start shooting. This is Malibu, Emily…I want you to storm that beach like it’s fucking Normandy.
My Nemesis
David Nepove has been tending bar at Enrico's for the past nine years, and he recently took first place in the Best Italian Aperitif category at the 40th annual Bacardi Martini Grand Prix, one of two premier international bartender competitions.
Kudos, Mr. Nepove. My hat's off to you. But I can't look at your gleaming dome without laughing at my own foolishness. Enrico's has been one of our favorite SF hangouts for years. The food's not outstanding, but it's good enough, and the space, and the people-watching, can't be beat. The wine list is quite nice, as are the hostesses. We were practically on a first-name basis with them for a few years when Amy was working in the vicinity.
But one overindulgent evening more than a few years ago I had a slight run-in with Mr. Nepove. Nothing crazy--the result was simply a stern "Is there a problem?" from Mr. Nepove and a tight-lipped "No problem" from me. But for some reason this episode stands out among my youthful indiscretions, and Amy and I remember him as "My Nemesis." So it was a little jarring to see him staring out at me from the back page of today's Wine section, but I'm certainly pleased to see him doing the home team proud.
And that corner of the bar where he's standing? Best seats in the house.
2004 Casa Nuestra Rosado
Casa Nuestra is one of our all-time favorite wineries, an absolute gem in St. Helena that's all the more fun to visit because it's so low-key and informal. And the wine is so damn good that they're one of three wine clubs we belong to--the others are Arrowood in Sonoma and Bonny Doon in Santa Cruz, giving us a nice destination for a day trip no matter what direction we're headed.
But back to Casa Nuestra. A few months ago, our friends John and Alexa told us a story about a recent wine-tasting trip to Napa during which they asked various pourers at various wineries where they should go, and they wound up at...Casa Nuestra. Where they had this rose--and they're not rose fans, mind you--that was the best they'd ever had in their lives.
Well, late this afternoon today the Fed Ex guy rings our bell, and I buzz him in and find down in the lobby our quarterly package from Casa Nuestra, which includes a 2002 Meritage, a 2002 Merlot...and the 2004 Rosado (34% Cab Franc, 66% Merlot). The first two go into long-term storage, awaiting the death of some noble Niman Ranch beast. But the latter goes right into the fridge for immediate consumption.
A wise decision--it's perhaps the best rose of the 20-odd we've tried this summer. And we'll be visiting Casa Nuestra in just a few short weeks. Hopefully they'll have a little left over.
2000 Nelson Estate Pinot Noir
One of the best wines I've had in my life. Just five years old and it reminded me of huge, ancient libraries, with thick, dusty, leather-bound volumes, and endless stone corridors. Complemented exquisitely by Niman Ranch pork chops with shitakes, roasted figs, and potatoes with ramps. Ramps! Who knew? Goddamn things are delicious. Not as good as the Nelson Estate, though. We picked it up this spring at the Family Wineries of Sonoma in Kenwood, sort of a co-op tasting room for a handful of small wineries that didn't have their own, including Deerfield Ranch and Mayo, in addition to Nelson Estate and a few others. Their site's still up, but we were told that the tasting room was closing down--if it's still there, get up to Kenwood as soon as you can. One of our best tasting (and buying) experiences in 15 years in the Bay Area.
Office 2000 HTML Filter 2.0
From our friends in Redmond:
The Office HTML Filter is a tool you can use to remove Office-specific markup tags embedded in Office 2000 documents saved as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). When you create an HTML document in Office 2000, Office-specific markup tags are embedded in it. These tags help "round-trip" the document for editing purposes. For example, if you create the document in Word 2000 and save it as HTML, the code embedded in the document allows you to re-open the document in Word 2000 and use the same features you originally used to create the page.
Once you have completed editing an HTML document in Word 2000 or Excel 2000, you can use the Office HTML Filter to remove the Office-specific markup tags from the final copy of the HTML document. By removing the tags, you reduce the size of the document, which in turn reduces both the amount of space used on Web servers as well as the time it takes to download the page. For additional information about the benefits and disadvantages of removing the Office-specific markup tags, read Use Office HTML Filter to Create Web Pages that Download Faster.
Download the HTML filter. Basic instructions:
To filter a document in Word
- Open the document you want to filter.
- On the File menu, point to Export To and then click Compact HTML.
To create a cascading style sheet (.css) in Word
- Open the document on which you want to base the style sheet.
- On the File menu, point to Export To, and then click CSS Stylesheet.
To copy text from a Word document as HTML
- In Word, open the document you want to copy text from and select the text you want to copy.
- On the Edit menu, click Copy as HTML.
To filter single or multiple Excel 2000 or Word 2000 HTML files
On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Office Tools, and then point to Microsoft Office HTML Filter 2.0. Read Use Office HTML Filter to Create Web Pages that Download Faster for additional information about using the Office HTML Filter in Word. For more in-depth information about using the Office HTML Filter 2.0, read Using Office HTML Filter at the Command Prompt, Using Office HTML Filter to Remove Office-specific Markup, and Using Office HTML Filter to Save Space on Web Servers.
2004 Chateau de Lascaux Couteaux du Languedoc Rose
A great rose, excellent with cheese, olives, etc., and just $12. Not quite at rich as the Copain we had the other day, a little more flowery, but excellent in its own right. The vintners domain is supposedly www.chateau-lascaux.com, but it appears to be down at the moment, so no more details to be had, other than it's a Kermit Lynch import, which always seems to be a good sign.
2002 L'Uvaggio di Giacomo i Colombi Arneis
Arneis is a medium-bodied white from Piemonte that's apparently usually used as a blending grape. The i Colombi from L'Uvaggio di Giacomo is a very nice example of the grape's ability to stand on its own, especially at $10. The label is the personal project of Jim Moore, director of winemaking operations for Bonny Doon and Ca' del Solo (and actually means "The Blends of James." Tricky.) That seems to fit with Bonny Doon's commitment to unusual varietals. Great with food.
2004 Copain Le Printemps
An outstanding rose from Copain Wines in Santa Rosa. Dry, flavorful, just really nice in every way--and $11. I applaud their mission and am inspired to find some of their other varietals.
2004 Domaine de Fontsainte Gris de Gris
Outstanding rose--dry, spicy, all the usual good things--and a great value, if not actually dirt-cheap, at $13 (although I'm seeing it for $6-10 online.) From Corbieres in Languedoc-Roussilon, a place I'll have to learn more about.
2003 Tres Ojos Rose
Tonight we had our second bottle of the 2003 Tres Ojos rose from the Calatayud D.O. in northeastern Spain. The first bottle, about two weeks ago, struck me as too sweet, but tonight it seemed perfect--spicy, crisp, and a bargain at $8 from the S.F. Wine Trading Co. It's 50% garnacha (grenache) and 50% tempranillo.
In Search of the Perfect Rose
A dirty job, but someone's gotta do it. We've had too many gutless roses this year, so we were very happy to come across the Ojai Vineyard's simply-named 2004 Rose. Very spicy and refreshing. Lots of flavor, but not too fruity. A little spendy for a rose at $13, but life's too short to complain too much.
In contrast, we were sorely disappointed by Lang & Reed's 2004 Wild Hare Cabernet Franc Rose. (Their site is absolute shite, BTW. What is it with wineries? They're like sitting ducks for unscrupulous web designers.) But the rose was worse: Flat, watery, blah--and $15 to boot. We'd shelled out for it on the strength of the L&R name, which supposedly grows only Cab Franc (not that I could discern that from their site), and I recall some very nice full-on reds from them for about $17 or so, but this rose isn't worth a damn. Once again, life's too short.
On the Metro
I was reminded of this story by a funny post of Dr. Frank's:
On my only trip to Paris, five years ago, my wife and I were in a full Metro car when two men started arguing. We don't speak French, so all we could do was observe them and our fellow passengers. The argument began to grow heated, and the atmosphere in the subway car grew tense as everyone strenuously tried to ignore the fighting men and pretend that nothing unusual was happening. The argument built to a crescendo of shouting and pushing, the other passengers were mortified, the tension seemed unbearable, when suddenly--Pop!--the men stopped fighting, turned to their fellow passengers and addressed us all, and revealed that they were actually performance artists and that this was a piece of street theater. (At least that's what we gathered.) The crowd's relief was palpable, and they burst into applause. Then the performers passed the hat--with great success--and got off at the next stop. I've never seen anything like it, and I can't imagine an "act" like that working here in the States, although I'm not sure what that says about the differences between American and French culture (and subway systems).
NOLA
Can I just say how much I wish I were in New Orleans right now? Earlier tonight I was driving home and heard some blues-y buskers on a corner, and just now a car drove past my apartment with something funky coming through the open windows, and I was just hit with this urge to be in the Quarter, or perhaps the Marigny, hearing music from all directions, the air so moist and thick you can part it with your hands, the finest food on God's green earth, and a go-cup just for the hell of it. God damn, San Francisco's perfectly nice, but sometimes I feel like I'm just not in the right place, you know?
The Life Aquatic
Finally got around to Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Not as good at The Royal Tenenbaums, but in the same baroque/deadpan style. Weighed down by Owen Wilson's so-bad-it's-just-bad "Southern" accent (and overall superfluousness), Anjelica Huston's so-deadpan-it's-just-dead performance (in a small but central role), and so-cheesy-they're-not-ironic-they're-embarrassing CGI effects (which feature heavily in the climactic scene.)
Buoyed up by Bill Murray's brilliant reinvention of the same fuck-it-all character he's been playing for years now (not that I'm complaining); fantastic small parts from Willem Dafoe (simultaneously wrapped too tight and unhinged), Cate Blanchett (smart and sexy and, if anything, underutilized), and Jeff Goldblum (unctuous as ever); a handful of great scenes; and Anderson's usual deft touch with understated dialogue.
The Epicure's Lament
Last week I read Kate Christensen's The Epicure's Lament, and it's a deeply satisfying book, although the author loses the courage of her convictions at the end. Suffice it to say that Hugo Whittier is one of the more inspiring protagonists I've come across lately, all the more so because his specific predjudices and general misanthropy make it clear that his tale wasn't originally intended to be an uplifting one, even if Christensen finds the temptation irresistable. A few choice quotes:
"Talking precludes thought or consideration; most interpersonal yakking is prompted by the concomitant desires to appear to be something and to get something, commerce and advertising masked as 'social communion.'" [p. 139]
"Underneath she was white and smooth as an oyster out of its shell, quivering with briny juices and piquantly yielding to the teeth." [pp. 178-9]
"I am still that young Hugo, the way a withered apple is its fresher self as well as its rotted self, both at once. Midlife is like standing on a high peak looking down at the plains, temporal and spatial simultaneity; it's a congruence of life and death, ashes that you came from and the ones you're headed toward becoming." [p. 203]
At least the optimistic coda makes it slightly more likely that we'll see Philip Seymour Hoffman in yet another role he'd be perfect for.
Where Have You Been All My Life?
I picked up a 1 GB iPod Shuffle almost on a whim this weekend. Lord knows I love my 20 GB model to death, but it's a little too heavy for a shirt pocket or for exercising, it's expensive enough that I worry about dropping it or losing it, and the battery life isn't really that great. (Yes, I know I'm spoiled. Don't blame me--blame Steve Jobs and his army of engineering nerds toiling under the watchful eyes of their designer overlords.) Enter the Shuffle.
I had no idea I'd love it as much as I do. Light as a feather, drop-proof (all Flash memory--no moving parts), not exactly cheap--but a good sight cheaper than the 20 GB, and 12 long hours of battery life = digital music nirvana. Then factor in 1) the absence of any chargers or other crap to lug around (it charges when it's plugged into a USB drive on an iTunes equipped computer), and 2) the 330+ songs I was able to cram onto mine, and I am truly in love. It's pathetic.
My only mod has been to etch cross-hatchings in the on-off switch to make it easier to slide. It's a little too slick as is and required too much pressure to toggle. Otherwise, the damn thing is perfect.
UPDATE: iPodLounge has a great Shuffle tutorial. Best tip: "When listening to a playlist in shuffle mode, press Play three times quickly to re-randomize the play order."
Haywood Redux
The mystery is solved. Haywood's very own Ted Pauly has dropped in to explain why his late, much-lamented band mentioned my obscure hometown, Mechanicsburg, PA, in their memorial site's "thank you" section:
We played one wonderful poorly (nearly un-) attended show at some giant empty hall-ish space (teen dance club) in Mechanicsburg in the late-early-nineties. I think the show was put together by the guys who ran proteen records. When we put together our thank you list, we tried to remember every good thing that ever happened to us, which included that jaunt to M'burg.
(Don't ask me how he found this even-more-obscure corner of the web. I'm running into so many interesting people through my blogs these days that I only occasionally stop to wonder at the interconnectedness of it all.)
The only thing better than a solved mystery would be...two new Haywood songs. Download "A Pair of Tragic Kites" and get "Mermaid" on Music for Robots, Volume One, a limited-edition CD from the site of the same name. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, according to Ted:
We recently got back together to record some stuff, some of which is actually good(!) In spite of the whole anti-climactic un-break-up-to-break-up style, we're going to try to release it all somehow some time. That'll definitely be it until I tour under the name when I hit fifty, lining up some lifeless session players to replace the rest of the band.
Ted, I'm sure your old bandmates will understand. Perhaps they could strike out on their own, a la Creedence Clearwater Revisited, and we'll have dueling Haywoods criss-crossing the country in 2025. Life could be worse.
Many thanks to Ted for stopping by this humble online outpost, and to everyone who had a hand in bringing Haywood to life. Until they see fit to release the rest of their recent output, show off your good taste: buy the MFR compilation or their back-catalog classics, We Are Amateurs, You And I and Men Called Him Mister.
A Little Color On The Walls
We moved into our new place in a hurry last year and never really finished decorating. Our old place had molding all over the living room walls, making it difficult to hang anything, so although we had plenty of pieces for our hallways and smaller rooms, we didn't have anything big enough for our new living room. I'd painted the old living room to make it bright and colorful, but I wasn't about to make that sort of investment in the new place.
After staring at our blank walls for a few too many months, Amy put her foot down and said we had to do something. I proposed vintage wine posters, and we soon found what we were looking for at Art.com. We love the mid-20th century design, the vivid colors, the sexy and irreverent subjects, and, of course, we love wine. Here's what we chose:
This devilish nymph is promoting wine from the southern Spanish town of Jerez, located on the historic frontier between Moorish and Christian lands (hence "de la Frontera"). The English loved the wine but apparently couldn't quite pronounce "Jerez," so they called it "sherry." I've never been a real sherry fan, but I'm keeping an open mind.
Technorati and the Tagged Web
Back in March Preetam Rai of betterdays posted a fantastic primer on the "tagged web" and how to use Technorati. Great stuff, and I'm in his debt.
Technorati has a good page on TypePad ping configuration, but Rai's post puts the technical details in a much more useful context.
Blogtricks Link Feedback
Blogtricks offers a number of interesting little add-on services for bloggers. The most useful one (and the only one I've actually tried) is their Link Feedback service, which allows you to create an automated list of websites referring visitors to your site.
It's easy to set up--in Typepad, just take the script from their "linkbuilder" and use it to create a new item in a "link" Typelist that has been configured to read notes as text. And your Blogtricks account is free--if you want to pay $10/year, you can opt not to have their little ad displayed at the bottom of your list of referrers.
A nice feature is the ability to exclude certain referring domains--for example, you can exclude search engines, so that your list only displays traffic from actual links on other sites, rather than traffic from search results. (Helpful when you get a lot of random traffic from people searching on, say, your uncommon last name.)
I used it for a few days and really liked the convenience of seeing referrers right on my home page, but I didn't pony up for a paid account, and loading the ad from their server was really slowing down my site. It's worth $10/year for the ad-free service, but they currently only accept PayPal, and I don't have a PayPal account.
Here's the script that was generated for my account, including a number of blocked domains. Note the hard break in that line between "google.fr" and "search.msn.com" to get it to display properly here:
<script language="javascript">
document.write('\074scr' + 'ipt src="http://svc.blogtricks.com/referrer' +
'?token=0d04699ac43ec0e657ff51afd58957a3' +
'\046exclude=google.com%2Cyahoo.com%2Cgoogle.de%2Cgoogle.fr
%2Csearch.msn.com%2Cgoogle.co.nz%2Cgoogle.it%2Cgoogle.be%2Cgoogle.pl' + '\046maxlen=40' + '\046maxwordlen=40' +
'\046action=combo\046referrer=' + escape(document.referrer) +
'">\074/sc' + 'ript>');
</script>
Audioscrobbler
In their own words, Audioscrobbler...
...builds a profile of your musical taste using a plugin for your media player (Winamp, iTunes, XMMS etc..). Plugins send the name of every song you play to the Audioscrobbler server, which updates your musical profile with the new song. Every person with a plugin has their own page on this site which shows their listening statistics. The system automatically matches you to people with a similar music taste, and generates personalised recommendations.
I just started using it, so my profile's pretty skimpy at the moment--but I'm just going to let iTunes shuffle my 2,226 song "Alt, Punk, Pop & Rock" playlist for a few days on end and see what happens. Check out my Audioscrobbler page to watch my profile evolve. Once I get over 100 songs in my profile, Audioscrobble promises to find users with similar tastes and put them in my "neighborhood," so I can look over their profiles
Also cool--and requiring no registration--is their Explore Music feature. Type in the name of a band to see a list of associated bands (determined by the frequency with which Audioscrobbler users listen to both.) For example, here are the top 25 bands on today's list for Interpol (based on results from 60,107 people):
Audioscrobbler doesn't make this explicit, but I'm interpreting the chart as saying that 100% of the people who listen to Wilco and the White Stripes also listen to Wilco, 74% of the people who listen to the Fiery Furnaces also listen to Interpol, etc. In contrast to this data, when I go to Interpol's page on Amazon right now, the list of "similar artists" is:
- The Cure
- Franz Ferdinand
- The Postal Service
- Air
- Death Cab for Cutie
None of which are in the Audioscrobbler list above, or even in the
complete list of 100 bands Audioscrobbler associates with Interpol. Hmmm. We'll see if anything useful or interesting comes out of this, but it's sure seems kewl.
PLCB
W. Blake Gray recently had a fascinating article in the Chronicle's outstanding* Wine section on Jonathan Newman, chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB), and his efforts to inject a passion for wine into the great, gray bureaucracy that controls all liquor sales in the Keystone State. This week, the Chron published my letter in response (third one down from the top):
A Mystery I Must Unravel
Haywood is, well, was one of my favorite bands. And tonight I discover a reference to my obscure hometown, Mechanicsburg, PA, in the "final thanks" section of their memorial site (link's at the bottom right.) Now, technically, I lived in Hampden Township as a kid, but my mailing address said "Mechanicsburg," and I can attest that at no time from 1973 to 1985 was that locale likely to attract the likes of Haywood, and I'm confident that remained true during the band's lifespan, from 1992 through 2000. But not only did they venture to the 1705x, it apparently made a meaningful impression on them. Uh, WTF?
Aimee Mann
In 1985, I thought Aimee Mann was a vapid puff of corporate-rock trash and Paul Westerberg was God. Twenty years later, I think Mann's one of the finest pop artists alive, and I don't really know what to think of Westerberg, whose post-Replacements output is just barely good enough to keep me interested but never actually good enough to fully satisfy. What the hell happened?
Perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on 'Til Tuesday, but everything from their name to their pouffy hair signified utter crap at the time. And their one hit truly was shite, redeemed only by Gang Green's sarcastic cover. When TT inevitably faded from the pop charts, Mann probably thought her 15 minutes of fame were over--but did she sulk about it? Well, maybe--I have no idea what she was doing between the last TT album in '88 and her first solo disc in '93. But in the mid-'90s she got her groove on and started cranking out these fantastically rich, resonant pop albums. Paul Thomas Anderson was so impressed he based Magnolia on a suite of songs by Mann. I can't listen to her enough these days--she's making some of the best, most thoughtful, mordantly moving music for grownups.
Westerberg, on the other hand... Well, the Replacements were the coolest kids in school (uh, out of school, actually) in the mid-'80s, rock legends in the making. But all the critical raves and the undying love of indie music nerds like me weren't enough. They never actually made it big, sunk by their own bad habits, the agonized politics of pre-grunge indie music, and the bitch that is Fate. God knows they went down fighting--their last album (really Westerberg's first solo album), All Shook Down, is a lamentably unsung masterpiece. But today I get the feeling that Westerberg never got over his missed shot at stardom, and that seems reflected in the unevenness of his solo output.
Obviously, I'm drawing a parallel based on convenient circumstances--both Mann and Westerberg had their moments in the '80s pop spotlight, migrated to Los Angeles, and built modestly successful solo careers focusing on themes of love and loss. And in fairness to Westerberg, 1) It's easier for Mann's current work to look good in comparison with her earlier stuff--she doesn't have a Let It Be on her resume, and 2) When he's good, he's still very, very good. But if you would have told me in 1985 that someday I'd buy the new Aimee Mann album and leave Paul Westerberg's on the shelf, I'd have clocked you.
Cocktails
Cocktails are among the highlights of Western Civilization, and IMHO every adult who imbibes should be able to make--or at least order--a decent drink. By no means is this a comprehensive or proscriptive list. But it's a start.
7th Regiment Punch
Blue Velvet
Champagne Cocktail
Donata
DTBNL
El Presidente
Fighting 69th
Granny
Manhattan
Martini
Pegu Club
Petite Liqueur
Rembrandt
Sazerac
Seelbach
Sidecar
Sud-Ouest
Ulanda
Vodka Sour
XYZ
Yellow Bird
7th Regiment Punch
Adapted from Eric Felten's November 11-12, 2006 column in the Wall Street Journal (and named for the 7th Regiment of the New York National Guard, which became the 107th Infantry in 1917.)
3/4 oz. brandy
1/4 oz. curacao
1/4 oz. syrup from a jar of maraschino cherries
1/2 oz. lemon juice
3 oz. Champagne
Shake all but the Champagne with ice, strain into a flute, top off with Champagne and stir gently. Garnish with a twist.
Felten originally called for 1/4 oz. maraschino liqueur and 1/2 oz. simple syrup, but I don't keep either on hand, and it just seemed like too much sweetness. I always have a jar of maraschino cherries on hand (usually with too few cherries and too much syrup), so that was an easy substitute, and it's sufficiently sweet to omit the simple syrup. I also bumped the brandy up to 3/4 oz. from Felten's original 1/2 oz. to give it a little more backbone.
Blue Velvet
My own invention. I'm trying to eat a lot of blueberries because they're apparently some sort of superfood.
They're usually out of season, so I buy them frozen, which makes
them a perfect garnish. And when they're used in a drink, it's good
for you!
2 oz. Absolut Kurant
1/2 oz. vermouth
7 frozen blueberries
Shake the liquor with ice, and don't rush it. You want it really cold and smooth. Strain over the blueberries in a Martini glass. Enjoy the purple tint the berries impart to the vodka, and reflect on the virtues of a healthy diet. Salud.
Champagne Cocktail
An "old-fashioned drink," as I was once told at the Zam Zam, but one whose charms are undiminished.
<> Drop a sugar cube in the bottom of a champagne flute.
<> Saturate with bitters--not too much!
<> Add about an inch of brandy or Grand Marnier.
<> Muddle thoroughly. The more finely you can grind the sugar, the better. I find that a chopstick works well.
<> Fill
the glass--slowly--with champagne. The sugar will cause the champagne
to foam up aggressively, so use a light touch as you pour.
<> Top with a twist.
For a more complex variation on the theme, see the Seelbach below.
(Note that I use the term "champagne" ecumenically. Actual Champagne is great, but my budget prefers crémant de Bourgogne, sparkling wine from Burgundy. It's cheaper than the real thing and better than all but the best California sparkling.)
DTBNL
The Drink to Be Named Later, known to CocktailDB as the "Vermouth Triple Sec Cocktail" (yawn).
1 oz. dry vermouth
1 oz. gin
1/2 oz. triple sec
2 dashes orange bitters
Combine over ice, shake for at least 30 seconds, strain into a chilled Martini glass, and garnish with a twist.
If a drink ever needed a naming consultant, this is it.
Donata
Courtesy of Gary Regan's outstanding Cocktailian column in the SF Chronicle. I love the Galliano--I'm a little too young to have had actual Harvey Wallbangers back in the '70s, but my grandmother's Harvey Wallbanger Cake was a favorite.
2 oz. Scotch (Regan recommends a heavier blend, such as Famous Grouse or Teacher's, or even a single malt, if you're feeling flush)
3/4 oz. Galliano
1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
Shake with ice, strain, garnish with a twist.
El Presidente
Eric Felten's "How's Your Drink?" column in the August 19, 2006 Wall Street Journal
considers several rum cocktails before settling on El Presidente,
described by one Basil Woon in 1928 as "preferred by the better class
of Cuban." By that standard I'm doubly unqualified to drink it, but
Basil's in no position to object.
1 1/2 oz. light rum
1/2 oz. dry vermouth
1/2 oz. orange curacao
1 dash grenadine
Shake with ice, strain, garnish with an orange twist.
Fighting 69th
Briefly mentioned in Eric Felten's November 11-12, 2006 column in the Wall Street Journal, this simple version of a Champagne Cocktail is named for the 69th Regiment, which was part of the "Irish Brigade" in the Civil War. According to Felten, when Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher ran out of soda water to cut his whiskey, he used Champagne liberated from a Virginia plantation instead, and the resulting two-parts-Champagne, one part-whiskey mix is still the official regimental drink.
1 1/2 oz. Irish whiskey
3 oz. Champagne
Chill the whiskey, add it to a flute, then top with Champagne.
Granny
Eric Felten made a glancing reference to this drink, named for old-time sportswriter Grantland Rice, in his September 9, 2006 "How's Your Drink?" column in the Wall Street Journal. Felten listed the ingredients but not the amounts, so I'm still experimenting with the right proportions. It's a nice, tart change from the usual sweetish bourbon drink, but it really needs a new name.
2 oz. bourbon
1/2 oz. orange curacao
1/2 oz. lime juice
1 dash orange bitters
Shake with ice and strain. (I'm still searching for the right garnish. Suggestions?)
3 oz. bourbon or whisky
1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
1/2 oz. dry vermouth
Combine over ice, shake the hell out of it, and strain over a twist.
A note on bourbon: Evan Williams Single Barrel is by far my favorite. Note that this is not their standard stuff with the faux-Jack Daniels label. A note on whisky: I don't have a strong preference here--sometimes I just want something less sweet than bourbon. I wouldn't waste Lagavulin, Talisker or Laphroig, but I've had an outstanding Manhattan made with Glenlivet. A note on sweet vermouth: I have a nostalgic preference for Martini & Rossi, but I've heard good things about Vya--haven't tasted it yet, though. And a final note on bitters: I'm a big fan of bitters--look elsewhere on this page--just not in my Manhattans.
Martini
There's this weird, almost macho attitude about martinis these days--the drier, the better. People, a glass of gin is not a martini. You see, they had some problems with gin back in the day--that's why they invented the martini. So please, I beg you, buck the trend. That said, I have to note that I'm drinking them a little drier myself these days. I used to go 2:1, which is sometimes called an FDR in honor of our 32nd President's preferred proportion, then I went to 5:1, and today I'm likely to go 6:1, as follows:
3 oz. gin
1/2 oz. dry vermouth
Shake the hell out of it, at least 30 seconds, then strain over olives (I'm partial to Silver Palate's jalapeno- or chipotle-stuffed) or a twist.
A note on gin: I'm getting more selective in my dotage. I used to enjoy Boodles, but I find it a little too sweet lately. Hendrick's is much crisper. Another note on vermouth: I reflexively reach for Martini & Rossi in the store, but Noilly Prat seems to mesh perfectly with Hendrick's and a twist.
Pegu Club
From Eric Felten's "How's Your Drink?"
column in the October 13, 2007 Wall Street Journal.
2 oz. gin
3/4 oz. orange curacao
3/4 oz. lime juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash orange bitters
Combine over ice, shake for at least 30 seconds, and strain into a chilled Martini glass.
Hendrick's is my gin of choice these days, and I'm perfectly happy with Regan's Orange Bitters, although I haven't had the chance to try any other brands.
Petite Liqueur
From Eric Felten's "How's Your Drink?"
column in the April 1, 2006 Wall Street Journal. I'm leaving this up for, uh, posterity, but I have to note that it's not a personal favorite. I've been converted to pineau des charentes, which I find preferable to Sauternes, but the drink just doesn't come together for me. Seems sort of a shame, so if you have any suggestions to spruce it up, please let me know.
According to Felten, the original Petite Liqueur was bottled by Moet & Chandon for fans of sparkling who "enjoyed the taste of well-aged, slightly mader
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