The Humpty Dance

so ive come up with a top albums of 2007, and now its time to turn to the top tracks of the year. mainly this is a list of songs that stood the test of time; my feelings for these tracks have not wained over the course of the year. this is the official playlist for the year 2007.

10. "selfish jean" - travis. begins with a familiar drumming (something out of a phil collins track), then moves to a poppy rant about how jean is selfish. fond memories of prague lie in this one as i had travis to guide me through the czech public transportation system on my way to class this summer. best line: "hey jean dont rock the boat, when you can't swim."

9. "none shall pass" - aesop rock. a late addition to my music collection, aes has given me new faith in hip hop. everytime they play ay babay, a kitten is tragically eaten by a bear. everytime i hear a track like this one, a kitten's life is spared. the keyboard sample in this one is infectious. itll climb in your head and bounce around for a while.

8. "hard sun" - eddie vedder. eddie vedder is a cool guy. rock star. hot wife. even had a small role in walk hard. best thing he did in 2007, however, was this soundtrack, breaking away from pearl jam's powerful guitars and screaming vocals. strip that away and you have eddie vedder at his finest. best line: "when i walk beside her i am the better man, when i look to leave her i always stagger back again."

7. "side with the seeds" - wilco. their 2002 album yankee hotel foxtrot remains one of my favorite albums of all time, and their 2007 effort sky blue sky, was solid but not their best. a bright spot is this track. jeff tweedy is a helluva songwriter, thus i will always have a soft spot for this chicago band. best line: "you and i/ will be undefeated by agreeing to disagree/ no one wins but the thieves, so why side with anything?"

6. "i feel it all" - feist. going on the soundtrack to my life (future blog idea?). uptempo, revealing, insecure. i cant pinpoint it, but this song gives me chills. could have very well been much higher on the list, but i cant have a bunch of co-number ones. best line: "i dont know what i knew before/ now i know i wanna win the war."

5. "kookaburra" - john vanderslice. the opener in his album emerald city. far and away the best song vanderslice has produced on a very underrated album. would definitely be an indie sampler somewhere. very likable. best line: "from dusk til dawn and dawn to dusk/ the sky will fill with vaporized dust."

4. "rotten hell" - menomena. damn i love this band. how did they sneak by me all these years? odd band, but it works. this song makes you want to tap along through the layers of sound, then yell when it climaxes at about 3:15 in the song. best line: "ive got a strangle hold this decision/ all those opposed can run and hide"

3. "slow show" - the national. the national has rocketed up my all time favorite bands in a very short amount of time. this song is by far the standout of this album. singer matt beringers deliberate singing style shines here, as guitars and violins are careful not to wake his sleepy vocals. best lines: "standing at the punch table swallowing punch/ cant pay attention to the sound of anyone/ a little more stupid/ a little more scared/ every minute more unprepared." "i leaned on the wall/ the wall leaned away."

2. "all i need" - radiohead. radiohead returned to form with their digital only release last month. more bands need to be like radiohead. radiohead is the branch to which all other bands blossom. this track is amazing and simple. its clear that the object of thom yorkes lyrics is all he needs. beautiful.

1. "cheaper than therapy" - rogue wave. the closer to asleep at heavens gate. a solemn tune that begins with church organs and ends with a fading piano. this track makes me think, "the music i want is cheaper than therapy" is an unofficial ode to music's therapeutic qualities. definite addition to the soundtrack of my life, most likely close to the closing credits. best line: "you say im outta my head but really im the only one thats bounced back."

some may be bold, others might be stupid, but here are MY new years resolutions for 2008, my 28th year on planet earth.

1. see a concert in EVERY ONE of seattle's music venues.

2. get a job that will in no way include the use of a mop or a broom.

3. put all my eggs in one basket.

4. decrease any debt by 50%.

5. adopt a dog and name him "help."

6. win a fist fight with a little person (midget or obese child).

7. make more irrational decisions.

8. speak conversational spanish by the time i write this again.

9. try out for i love new york 3, win, then dump her on the reunion show.

10. be nicer to my enemies and meaner to my friends.

11. play basketball at least once a week.

12. be a better father to my children, and son to my parents.

13. drive less, walk more.

14. start taking HgH.

15. master the yo-yo.

16. get jump soles, increase my vertical leap by a minimum of 6 inches.

17. try a new beer a week, til ive tried all the beers of the world.

18. get my car lowered and the windows tinted and act more douche-y.

19. dance.... sober. (not sure i can do this)

20. make someone's dreams come true. and by someone I mean myself. and by come true, i mean fall short, but feel good about making them originally.

21. put more gel in my hair.

22. put less effort in my appearance.

23. do something amazing (like hurdling a car or saving a baby from a burning building) while intoxicated.

24. go to a rave with glowsticks while wearing a diaper.

25. make more people laugh, my friends want to better themselves, and strangers to follow my example.

... if you see me ask me how my resolutions are going. keep in mind that they do not begin until the stroke of midnight on Jan 1st. I am looking forward to 2008 as i will be graduating from school and beginning a new life as an adult. i also wish everyone a happy and safe new year and that the resolutions you make will be as successful as mine will be.

so i made a bunch of resolutions for 2007 and since the year will be over in a matter of days, its time to revisit them and see if i came through on any of them. here goes.

Grow more leg hair - not really, turns out i grew more armpit hair.

Learn to balance more objects on my nose - up to a bowling pin.

Take more baths - still a shower guy since 1991.

Install rubber floors in the living room - bad idea if you fall asleep on the couch and roll off in the middle of the night.

Adopt a child - the 8 year old chinese boy ran away in august.

Try out for a reality TV show - tila tequila's a bitch.

Have a friendship-ruining arguement with at least one of my friends - i will always remember you luis.

Live in the past - every day of my life!

Bottle my emotions up more - im a ticking time bomb.

Lie to the people who mean most to me - if they only knew the lies ive been living in the past 12 months.

Acquire a minor league hockey team and hire Emilio Estevez as the head coach - hockey is a lame sport and estevez is apparently a busy man.

Ride an elephant - i rode in a prius, does that count?

Win the Heisman trophy by at least 100 votes - friggin tim tebow. didnt even get invited to new york. turns out you have to be a college football player too.

Give subscriptions to Swank for everyone's birthday - turns out grandmas dont like porn.

Quit smoking - clean for three months. make that two days. actually three hours.

Find my birth parents - funny cause the people i had been referring to as my parents, are actually my birth parents too. small world.

Think of better New Year's Resolutions for next year - to be continued...

its officially christmas, jesus's thousandth-something birthday. ive been slacking in the blogging, but the new year promises funny (maybe even edgy) posts with my ever important opinions on: movies, literature, the arts, and life in general. i feel a new years resolution list coming on... stay tuned... be sure to give your grandma a hug. i know i will hug mine.

10. josh rouse - country mouse city house - josh is one of the most underrated singer songwriters around. he never makes a bad song, yet he is unique from album to album. his album 1972 featured songs inspired by the year, while nashville about a city. in this one, he returns to his alt-country roots, and sings happy songs about not so happy topics. "sweetie" "london bridges" and the standout closer "snowy." simple, pretty, good for a rainy day.

9. john vanderslice - emerald city - i never really paid much attention to vanderslice, even though he was label mates with death cab and nada surf. i just never woke up and discovered his talent. this album has one of the best tracks of the year, "kookaburra" and is above all smooth beginning to the calming "central booking" a song that reminds me of waiting in european train stations.

8. eddie vedder - into the wild ost - so i never saw this movie, havent read the book (though they are both on my list for 2008), but this soundtrack is awesome. ive always been fond of mr. vedder, even enjoyed a couple conversations with him during my grocery days at thriftway. this album gives him a chance to step away from the rock pearl jam falls into. a softer side of vedder is seen and a far wider range is revealed. "hot sun" is an awesome anthem, one of the best tracks of the year.

7. aesop rock - none shall pass - ive already boasted about this one. a late year discovery and is the best hip hop album ive heard in a long time. aes has gotten me to love rap again. "none shall pass" "bring back pluto" and "citronella" shine in this one.

6. david gray - a thousand miles behind - an album of live covers; i gotta admit i was a bit skeptical, but then again, much of anything mr. gray touches is gold. the accoustic renditions of bob dylans "to ramona" and "one too many mornings", the bee gees "in the morning" (a spectacular track; goosebumps), and will oldham's "one with the birds." beautiful work here, rumor has it that a david gray album featuring originals is due in 2008. this album is exactly how covers are supposed to be done.

5. menomena - friend and foe - menomena is one of my late year discoveries. a portland band that toured with the national a while back (damn would have loved to be there for that). this album is also up there with radiohead as far as being a complete album. "muscle'n'flo" is the opener and sets the tone well, followed by standouts "duel," personal favorite "rotten hell", and the closer "west" featuring calming piano amongst a hectic album. menomena needs to come to seattle very soon.

4. feist - the reminder - so i was hesitant about this one at first, with all the attention given to it through the ipod commercial ("1234" got in everybody's head). but this album is worth the hype. im not particularly fond of female singers (dont ask why - its just been the way it is), but feist is the first one ive liked since norah jones came around a few years back. i absolutely love "i feel it all" and "past in present" definitely sneaks up on you.

3. radiohead - in rainbows - this was a tough one for me. radiohead has always been one of my favorite bands and this is album blew their last album hail to the thief (minus "there there") out of the water. from start to finish it is one of the most complete albums of the year, hands down. love "all i need" "15 step" and the perfect "reckoner." a must have for anyone who ever liked anything radiohead ever did. cant wait for the box set jan 1st.

There have been very few times in my life that I have feared for my life. Actually, there really hasn’t been a time. I’ve been witness to death in my life, but not first hand. I’ve seen people die in movies, on TV, read about it in books. I’ve seen death through the comfortable camera lens, but never played a hand in it, or witnessed it first hand. Life is a fragile thing. This has never occurred to me until recently. I’ve been witness to a flurry of movies chronically the genocide in Rwanda. The view from my living room in the united states is a far reach from the horrible things Rwandans witnessed, took part in, and lived. This is the closest I come.

I’ve never thought my life was going to end. I’ve never thought about such things. I’ve been lucky. But with luck comes responsibility. I feel responsible for not knowing about the travesties that take place all over the world, until now. Why didn’t I know? Why didn’t I pay attention? The genocide in 1994 makes me think back to the things that happened in my country while hundreds of thousands were brutally murdered half way around the world. What was so important for the news not to trickle down to me? In my defense, I was only thirteen years old in April 1994. I was more focused on going out with girls and shoplifting candy bars at grocery stores. This is what thirteen year olds are supposed to be thinking about (well, at least the girl part). Yet, in Rwanda, the Hutus were killing the Tutsis, and thirteen year olds in that country had far greater worries than mine. One of those worries, perhaps, was dying.

I never have at any point thought that being who I was would cost me my life. In the last year, I have suddenly been confronted with these sorts of ideas – the ones that are compelling me to write this essay.

I went to Auschwitz, Poland this past summer. I stepped on ground that gave me chills. I walked in places killers killed, and children were murdered without even being told why. I walked into a gas chamber, where innocent people were herded thinking it was a shower. My eyes scanned across horizons where men, women, children once looked, hopeful that they would survive long enough to walk them. I, for the first time in my life, was fearful. I wasn’t fearful of death. I was fearful of life. I could not help from crying. I could not hold back. I could not speak. I could not process the reality that had taken hold of me.

When I returned, I could not speak of it without getting choked up. I could not explain it to someone who had not walked those grounds. I was confronted with the grimmest reality of my life, and I could not do anything about it. I had no way of articulating the anger, the hurt, the shock – the fear.

The fear was real. I was fearful of a living world that generated Nazism (I question whether it should even be capitalized). I was fearful of a world that lived through their mass extermination of Jews, and yet, when genocide reappears in Rwanda, the world that said “never again” turned away.

So, from the comforts of my American home, I watch the history repeat itself. The movies I watch, the TV that fills the background. I may not be thirteen anymore, but I still worry about going out with girls. At this point in my life, I worry if the girls I go out with understand my frustrations.

I wonder if it’s necessary for one to care about the world, they must be confronted with it. I came into this summer knowing I wanted to help people less fortunate than me. I left fearful that there are not enough people who are fortunate that want to help those who are not. That there’s not enough good in the world to overcome the bad.

But is this so bad? I am intimidated by the task at hand. In a lot of ways, I wished I had just remained ignorant. But I have been confronted with the darkest moments in the world’s recent history. I cannot make images of Auschwitz disappear. I cannot forget the graphic footage taken in Rwanda in April 1994. These are things I cannot undo. What I can do is imagine how much life would be different had I been a thirteen year old caught in the middle of genocide.

Every single “fortunate” person in the world has a responsibility; I am only now able to come to terms with it. I’ve never thought my life was in danger, and no one should ever have to. But the grim reality life is death. It would only make sense to cherish not only our own life, but the lives of others, for they could be the very ones who save yours.

had the privelage to see an early screening of the movie "sweet crude" for my africa on film class last week. the movie is in post production, and will not be out for a little while, but i thought id spread the word on it on here. its about oil expoitation of the niger delta region, and its effects on the region. a very eye opening film about a problem that news coverage ignores or misinterprets completely (ie. abc news entry under "latest updates" section of website).

http://www.sweetcrudemovie.com

just another sad story in a world that never seems to learn its lesson.