I’m heading off to icky Los Angeles in a few hours. Here’s hoping the interminable sprawl doesn’t hit its Chandrasekhar limit while I’m there. My only consolation will be really good Mexican food.
I’ll be there for a week or two and posting will be sporadic, but in the meantime, here’s some links to check out. First, that picture up above is beautiful isn’t it? Would you believe it serves as conclusive proof of the existence of dark matter? To find out why, and see some other breathtaking pictures, head over to a slightly different kind of year-end list at Bad Astronomy Blog for the Top Ten Astronomy Images of 2006. I won’t ruin the mystery of the #1 picture because it’s really worth going over to see for yourself. I would go so far as to say that it’s one of the best pictures of any subject matter I’ve ever seen. Seriously.
In the world of music, stop by Cokemachineglow for a few year-end articles:
A great albums list, with a wide range of stuff. The thing that really distinguishes it for me is the great writing which really gave me a window into their perspective on what made the records great, even for ones that I personally don’t like. In a couple cases, it convinced me to re-assess my opinion.
The Year in Fey by David Greenwald, which pays homage to all the great lo-fi, indie, jangly, twee, etc. music this year. I disagree with him about I’m From Barcelona (yes, it’s over-the-top, but they’re still really fun), but it’s still a good read.
The Earbud and The Clickwheel: How Apple’s iPod Changed Your Life by Clayton Purdom, which discusses how the iPod has changed the way people experience music. I’m not entirely sure I agree with him, but it’s definitely one of the most interesting takes I’ve seen on the subject.
Elsewhere, with 2006 winding down Music for Kids Who Can’t Read Good has a rundown on some of 2007 releases to start getting excited about. Modest Mouse tops my list, of course, but I’m also pretty worked up for a bunch more (Okkervil River, Brandi Carlile, Ted Leo, and so on). Still, it’s worth noting that my top two albums for this year were from bands I had never heard of a year ago. The mystery and possibility of discovery is part of the excitement of all this, I think.
I Guess I’m Floating finally posted their best albums list, with a lot of good stuff. I don’t agree with the placement of a lot of records, but that’s a matter of taste. All the records there deserve to be heard, which makes it a great place to go to make sure you haven’t missed out on something worth hearing.
And speaking of them…I’m a little late in mentioning it, but IGIF won the award for best music blog in the 2006 Weblog Awards. The competition was a little weird (I had never even heard of half the blogs on the list), but it really is the best place to go for music on all of the internets, so the honor is well deserved.
Finally, I’d just like to point out that I recently described the new Lawrence Arms album as “the best punk record since London Calling” and received no complaints. I’ll stand by the claim, but does the blogosphere really have so few punk fans that no one is outraged? I was kind of looking forward to getting yelled at about that one.
Happy last few days of 2006…