How to find your dream job
How to find your dream job. Advice from four people, including chef Tom Colicchio, on finding that once-in-a-lifetime job.
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Entries for July 2005
Huge collection of logos of metros/subways
Huge collection of logos of metros/subways from around the world.
Thirteen favorite albums of the last twenty years
Spin magazine’s recent list of the best albums from the last twenty years (as well as MSNBC’s alternate list) got me thinking about what my favorites list from that era might look like. Since I’m not Spin and my musical opinion doesn’t carry any weight, I felt free to list what I like, influenced me, continue to find enjoyable, and will still listen to in the future instead of what’s actually good…whatever good means.
In rough chronological order and briefly annotated:
- Nevermind, Nirvana - As I’ve mentioned before, I was a late bloomer musically. Nothing outside of Casey Kasem and his Top 40 countdown existed for me when I was a kid. And when you’re listening to music like that, it’s hard to get excited about music in general…I was pretty much apathetic about the whole thing. My freshman year in college, a guy on my floor got a nice stereo system for Christmas and when he threw on Smells Like Teen Spirit, that was it. I’m sure the bands and songs that opened your mind to the possibilities of music and life were a lot better, but you can’t really choose how/why/when/where that happens.
- Rave ‘Til Dawn, Various - This is the worst album on the list but may be the most influential in terms of my future listening habits. For a kid who grew up in the country and went to college in a small Iowa city, hearing rave music for the first time was a complete revelation for me. I had no idea people were making music like this, so fast, so joyous, so unlike anything that anyone I knew would enjoy listening to. I loved it immediately and have been a huge fan of electronica ever since.
- The Chronic, Dr. Dre - Introducing Snoop Doggy Dogg, probably my favorite rapper. So smooth. And Dre’s beats are among the best in the business.
- Siamese Dream, Smashing Pumpkins - College junior, couldn’t get laid…isn’t this what I was supposed to be listening to?
- The Downward Spiral, Nine Inch Nails - I still tell anyone who will listen that Closer is one of the best pop songs ever made. Pretty Hate Machine was probably the better album, but I fell in like with this one first.
- Entroducing…, DJ Shadow - One of the most solid debut albums in the past 20 years.
- Orblivion, The Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds is my favorite song from The Orb, but Orblivion is the album I’ll never get tired of. Saw them spin/play live in Minneapolis once and when Toxygene came on, it was almost religion.
- Homework, Daft Punk - Around the World is my answer to the question, “if you were stranded on a desert island and could only take one song with you, what would it be?” I’ve probably listened to it about a thousand times in the past 8 years and I’m still not sick of it.
- OK Computer, Radiohead - Somehow it wasn’t until mid-2000 that I heard this album (old habits die hard), but it didn’t take long to become a favorite. Still their best…although I haven’t given their earlier stuff the attention everyone I know says it deserves. Radiohead = favorite band.
- Bedrock, John Digweed - Cheesy trance music, but I love it. This album reminds me of my (then) new Jetta and fine times in Minneapolis.
- Agaetis Byrjun, Sigur Ros - I found Sigur Ros while poking around on Napster looking for an advanced copy of Radiohead’s Amnesiac. Boy, I thought, this Amnesiac album is going to be fantastic, but what happened to the vocals? Oh, heh.
- Boards of Canada, Geogaddi - I can’t remember how I found out about Boards of Canada. Online somewhere probably, downloading mp3s off of Limewire or something. After hearing a few songs, I immediately procured Geogaddi and Music Has The Right To Children from my nearest CD shop. Fantastic stuff…they make me wish I could make music.
- Give Up, The Postal Service - Might be too early to tell, but I think this is a classic.
Conclusions: I seem to like all sorts of music, but the common thread is the mainstream-ness of these albums; they’re typically the most popular examples of a particular genre, style, or time period. Gangsta rap wasn’t that mainstream at the time, but The Chronic went multi-platinum. Nevermind was grunge for the mainstream, and The Downward Spiral was one of the few industrial albums to make it big. The same for Rave ‘Til Dawn, Daft Punk, DJ Shadow, Smashing Pumpkins, and Sigur Ros, if to a lesser extent.
Fun little Flash game, kind of a
Fun little Flash game, kind of a chain reaction Missile Command. My high score so far is 133 (49 on an individual screen). You?
Age Maps
Age Maps. “Two photographs of the same person, from different periods of time (child and adult) are spliced together.” Very cool effect.
Explanation of NASA’s launch countdown
Explanation of NASA’s launch countdown. T-20 minutes doesn’t necessarily mean there’s 20 minutes until launch.
Winners from the 2005 Type Directors Club competition
Winners from the 2005 Type Directors Club competition.
“Right and left wing blogs are both crap”
“Right and left wing blogs are both crap”. “The left is full of crop circle paranoids. The right is full of stupid angry people. The sheer volume of information in both does manage to strip things to bare bones facts, but not by virtue of intelligence, just volume - like a colony of bacteria feeding on a corpse.”
Looks like Karl Rove was Matt Cooper’s
Looks like Karl Rove was Matt Cooper’s source about Valerie Plame. But he may not have known her name or that she was undercover at the time.
Jared Diamond’s Gun, Germs, and Steel three-part
Jared Diamond’s Gun, Germs, and Steel three-part series starts Monday on PBS.
Slideshow of the making of Barcade, the
Slideshow of the making of Barcade, the bar/arcade in Brooklyn.
How to be more charismatic
How to be more charismatic. “Don’t despair if you haven’t got these qualities because you can learn them. Professor Wiseman estimates charisma is 50% innate and 50% trained.”
The illegality of “Rio funk” music has
The illegality of “Rio funk” music has driven it deep into the slums of Rio De Janeiro, controlled by the drug lords. “Funk songs used to pay homage to those who had died, but now it is fashionable to name-check those still alive. Juca is often asked by drug soldiers to write lyrics that include their names.”
Steve makes prison wine out of moldy
Steve makes prison wine out of moldy bread, ketchup, grape juice, raisins, garbage bags, and tube socks. “It’s hard to believe this started out as a bag of fruit snacks and grape juice. Yet somehow these ingredients went from sweet and child-like to harsh and alcoholic quicker than Lindsay Lohan.”
You can pry my shower from my dry, dead hand
Regular readers know that I love me some showering** so this news comes as a bit of a shock:
Taking regular showers could pose a health risk and even result in permanent brain damage, it has been claimed. Scientists believe that breathing in small amounts of manganese dissolved in the water may harm the nervous system. The damage may occur even at levels of the naturally occurring metal normally considered safe, say the US researchers. Although manganese levels in public water supplies are monitored, regulators have not considered the long-term effects of inhaling vaporised manganese while showering, they claim.
Inhalation of vaporised manganese…maybe that’s why I’ve been feeling off my game lately.
** Further reading on kottke.org about showers & showering:
Thinking in the shower
Short pieces on my shower
Improving the shower
Danny Way, a pioneer in distance and
Danny Way, a pioneer in distance and height skateboard jumping, will be attempting to jump the Great Wall of China on a skateboard tomorrow. He’ll trying to break a couple records along the way as well: height out of a skateboard ramp and speed on a skateboard.
The large number of surveillance cameras in
The large number of surveillance cameras in London may help identify the bombing suspects. “In all, there are at least 500,000 cameras in the city, and one study showed that in a single day a person could expect to be filmed 300 times.”
Daniel Gross on why the financial markets
Daniel Gross on why the financial markets reacted to the London bombings as they did. Stocks dropped (but not too much), oil fell sharply, and transportation and insurance stocks took a bigger hit than most.
Google, Hearst, and Goldman Sachs invest $100 million
Google, Hearst, and Goldman Sachs invest $100 million in company that delivers broadband over conventional power lines. I had no idea such a thing was being done. This could be huge for rural areas in the US and abroad.
Some changes coming to Sesame Street
Some changes coming to Sesame Street. “After destroying several garbage cans due to rage issues, Oscar receives a more modern plastic garbage container. Sadly though, the new receptacle has an air-tight lock designed to keep a newly homeless Ernie out. Oscar suffocates and the neighbourhood must now figure out how to properly mourn someone they didn’t really like.”
Both baseball and softball voted out of
Both baseball and softball voted out of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
And now, everything else
Despite the flurry of remaindered links yesterday morning about the London transport bombings, yesterday was a pretty slow day on kottke.org. Because of the time difference between New York and London, news about the bombings became more scarce around noon ET when the London workday was ending and I decided not to post about anything else for the remainder of the day. Today, I’m resuming the usual flow of frivolous links and commentary around here, but I’ll be keeping an eye out for news from London as well.
Final death toll from London bombing will
Final death toll from London bombing will be at least 50, but “unlikely to top 100”.
A Letter to the Terrorists, From London
A Letter to the Terrorists, From London. “We’re going to take care of the lives you ruined. And then we’re going to work. And we’re going down the pub.”
The Guardian has some links to the
The Guardian has some links to the blogosphere’s reaction to the London bombing.
BBC News has some eyewitness photos of
BBC News has some eyewitness photos of people evacuating the tube.
BBC reports that the death toll is
BBC reports that the death toll is up to 33 due to the London bombings.
An “I’m OK” message on Flickr from a London resident
An “I’m OK” message on Flickr from a London resident.
A Wikipedia page about the London bombing
A Wikipedia page about the London bombing is already being filled out.
The Guardian’s NewsBlog has pretty good coverage
The Guardian’s NewsBlog has pretty good coverage of the London bombing. “Four explosions are confirmed. One on a tube train between Aldgate and Liverpool Street, one on a bus, one in the tube at King’s Cross, another at Edgware Road.”
Eyewitness photo on Flickr of London tube bombing
Eyewitness photo on Flickr of London tube bombing.
Looks like Londonist is on top of
Looks like Londonist is on top of the bombing story as it develops.
A series of explosions in London this
A series of explosions in London this morning during rush hour; at least 2 dead and 160 wounded. The explosions were coordinated and officials have shut down the tube and central bus service.
A list of mini golf holes based on movies
A list of mini golf holes based on movies. “Raiders of the Lost Ark: You must putt the ball precisely into the idol’s head, or a 15-foot-high, 1-ton golf ball comes rolling after you.”
Some film directors’ top ten movies lists
Some film directors’ top ten movies lists. Directors Michael Mann, Sam Mendes, Cameron Crowe, Quentin Tarantino, and others choose their favorite films.
A long time ago…
As I was walking home this evening, a little girl was riding her bike in the middle of the street. She still had the training wheels on as she wobbled and struggled to peddle. It reminded me of when I was little and how badly I wanted a bicycle but couldn’t get one. My parents wouldn’t let me have a bike until I was 12; my mom was too afraid I’d hurt myself. I’d pass the bike section in the store and just look, having given up asking my parents about it long ago. I eventually did get one after much pleading and begging. Amazingly, getting my driver’s license at 16 and the subsequent borrowing of the family car passed without incident.
Taking one for the team
Over on TrueHoop, Henry Abbott notes something interesting about Ray Allen’s just-signed contract with the Seattle Sonics:
Though the average yearly salary of the contract is $16 million, the starting salary for Allen has not yet been worked out. Allen’s side has given the Sonics the freedom to structure the deal however they choose in order to allow the team to surround Allen with talent, possibly by re-signing some of their own free agents or entering the free-agent market and signing top quality players.
Although I’m sure it freaks out the agents and laywers, that concession gives Ray Allen and the Sonics a much better shot at success.
I’ve always wondered why so-called “franchise” players on pro teams in leagues with salary caps (particularly in the NBA, where the number of players per team is so small) don’t do this type of thing more often. Well, besides the fact that their agents, who presumably work on commission, won’t let them. You get a guy like Kevin Garnett, who wants to win multiple championships, give him $3-4 million less per year than he could get on the open market (so he’s still making millions per year and much more in endorsements) on the condition that the #2-5 guys on the squad are also making below market level by a mil or two, and then spend that money on the bench or on a #3 guy who would be a #2 guy anywhere else in the league. Garnett wins championships, everyone on the team wins championships, everyone’s endorsements go up, the team makes more money, and the profile of everyone involved is raised (higher profile = increased future earnings potential). Of course it would never work, but what if it did?
Wage Slaves: a look inside video game sweatshops
Wage Slaves: a look inside video game sweatshops. Low-paid workers “farm” gold and other trickets in virtual worlds and make their employers thousands of dollars a month.
How to solve the separation of church
How to solve the separation of church and state problem in the US. “Offer greater latitude for religious speech and symbols in public debate, but also impose a stricter ban on state financing of religious institutions and activities”.
The shape of a mobile world
The shape of a mobile world. The main purpose of the Personal World Map is to give awareness of your actual position in the world in relation to other places by taking into account the “effort” you need to get to a certain destination.
Animated geographic history of the United States
Animated geographic history of the United States. This is pretty cool.
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