It comes down to this...

Game 6, Back in Boston

I'll try to keep the mojo working.
UPDATE 10/21: Curt did not fail us. Game 7 is on.

Also, two new TIG reviews

Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81

And here's my current iPod Top 10
1 Almost Ready - Dinosaur Jr.
2 Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo - Jens Lekman
3 Foundations - Kate Nash
4 Pussy'ole (Old Skool) - Dizzee Rascal
5 Daydreamin' - Lupe Fiasco
6 Girls and Boys in Love - the Rumble Strips
7 Geld Essen - K.I.Z.
8 The Opposite of Hallelujah - Jens Lekman
9 Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
10 The Punks Are Writing Love Songs - Tullycraft

Here's to hoping ...

EDIT, 9 PM Pacific: Beckett didn't let me down. 7-1 Sox, we live to see game 6.

ALCS hasn't gone exactly as planned

I wish I could be optimistic about the state of the Red Sox, but things are looking a little bleak, I have to say that.

And although I'm not a big fan of the Sox losing, I'd have to say it hurts a lot less than if it were the Yankers. (It also helps that a bunch of my favorite non-Red Sox players are on the Indians like Grady Sizemore, Ryan Garko, Jhonny Peralta, Victor Martinez, Trot Nixon, Fausto Carmona ... that being said, I still want the Sox to come back).

Moving the wheels of history

I'm trying to ignore how flat the Red Sox seem right now. La la la!

Congrats to the Rockies, though, for blowing into the World Series. They seem like the Team of Destiny (tm)

Otherwise, this clip from The Office (US Version) made me stop breathing:

(The image is linked to youtube... enjoy!)

New Review and AL/NL CS Predictions

I did a first-impression review of the new, download only Radiohead album for TIG... The long and short is I like it a lot.

Radiohead - In Rainbows.

Here is my current iPod Top 10 too...
10 Flashlight Fight - the Go! Team
9 Cliquot - Beirut
8 The Punks are Writing Love Songs - Tullycraft
7 Pussy'ole (Old Skool) - Dizzee Rascal
6 Girls and Boys in Love - the Rumble Strips
5 Stronger - Kanye West
4 Geld Essen - K.I.Z.
3 Daydreamin' - Lupe Fiasco
2 Foundations - Kate Nash
1 The Opposite of Hallelujah - Jens Lekman

As for baseball, my predictions are

ALCS
Red Sox 4 - Indians 3
NLCS
Rockies 4 - Diamondbacks 2

Manny is a bad man

MLB Postseason (Part 1)

I sent this to a couple friends, but I might as well post in publicly:

Predictions:
Rockies win the Wild Card tiebreaker 5-4 over the Padres

Red Sox over Angels, 3-1
Indians over Yankers, 3-2
Cubs over Diamondbacks, 3-2
Phillies over Rockies, 3-2

That leaves NL and AL Championships Series of Red Sox-Indians and Cubs-Phillies. Talk about drama! So many accursed or formerly accursed teams. Wow, that would be great.

Torchwood is ... well ... boring

So I've been waiting for quite a while to see the Doctor Who spinoff, Torchwood, and now I finally get a chance on Comcast Ondemand (did I mention ... I hate Comcast). And guess what? Torchwood is kind of boring. The show doesn't make much sense, it really lacks aliens, is somehow devoid of the rampant sex it was advertised to have and well, is everything that Doctor Who isn't (in a bad way). I think the key problem is that the Doctor Who character is much more interesting, nuanced and complicated compared to Captain Jack (played by John Barrowman). Not that Captain Jack is a bad character as such, but he works much better as a sidekick or secondary character rather than a driving force. Instead, Torchwood, through the first 3 episodes, comes across as a sort of dull, British X-Files, but without the Mulder-conspiracy drama. I'm hoping the show gets its act together more, but otherwise I'll just be waiting until November when Season 3 of Doctor Who comes out on DVD (or 2012 when Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica comes out ... or thats when I expect it will come out, if ever).

Return of the SHRIMP

Palo Alto is hot.

Zircons are hotter.

Damn you clay minerals

If I hear about kaolinite or smectite in auriferous gravels again, I will get very mad.

Otherwise, the geology dept. field trip was fun ...

A two TIG reviews:
The Aliens (former Beta Band members) - Astronomy for Dogs
Fred Astereo - Don't Break My Heart

My current iPod Top 10:
1 The Opposite of Hallelujah - Jens Lekman
2 Pussy'ole (Old Skool) - Dizzee Rascal
3 Once and Never Again - the Long Blondes
4 Daydreamin' - Lupe Fiasco
5 Girls and Boys in Love - Rumble Strips
6 Stop Wearing Purple - Gogol Bordello
7 Mikrofonprofessor - Die Fantastischen Vier
8 The Heinrich Maneuver - Interpol
9 Geld Essen - K.I.Z.
10 (Bloody Paw on the) Killfloor - Busdriver

While doing research for the seminar I will be leading here in the fall quarter, I discovered the tagline for Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York is ...

The next Pompeii is an eruption away.

Good times!

Let's pretend that didn't happen.

Did I mention how much I dislike Derek Jeter?

To make myself feel better, I'll post a picture of Jacoby Ellsbury.

New two TIG reviews! The first is reeeal good, the second is so-so.
Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare

Enjoy!

Bam Pow Ugh!

Today's game might have been one of the biggest sucker punches I've felt since the '04 ALCS. 8-7 Yankers after a 7-2 lead. Ugly. We'll bounce back, but it definitely hurts the confidence.

Apple Rules

Sorry all you Windows enthusiasts, but Apple rules. They just gave me a shiny new MacBook to replace my iBook after all my logic board problems. It is packed to the gills with features like a 120GB hard drive, dual layer DVD/CD burner, 1 GB RAM and a 2.6 GHz Intel processor. All for free! Like to see Dell do something like that ... trading in a 3 year old iBook for a new new new MacBook.

If anyone wants a spare power adapter for an iBook, let me know and I'll send you one!

Cologne Photos

Here is the beginning of my photos from Cologne ...

A nerd-centric blog post

OK, hold onto your hats fellow nerds ... a number of things have me very excited:

1. Apparently, the BBC has greenlighted (greenlit?) a Ripper TV show/movie. Yes, we will get to see Rupert Giles, Buffy's watcher from BtVS (duh), solve mysteries as he comes out of retirement. After seeing Anthony Stewart Head in Season 2 of Doctor Who and on Little Britain, I am very excited to see him on his own show.

2. James Marsters, otherwise known as Spike from BtVS, will be appearing in Season 2 of the Doctor Who spinoff, Torchwood. Now, seeing both Marsters and Captain Jack (played by John Barrowman) in the same show will (hopefully) be something.

3. "Episodes" 1-5 of Season 8 of BtVS (sadly, only in comic book form), will be released as a graphic novel in November. I find it odd that I can't really bring myself to buy comic books, but if its bound as a "graphic novel," its AOK!

That's all the nerd news.

Here is another new review, too. Enjoy!
Rufus Wainwright - Release the Stars

More Finn Pics

I've added to my Helsinki set ... enjoy!

Another review

Another TIG review ... and more trip pics soon.

Stereo Total - Paris-Berlin

New Reviews

Two new TIG reviews of albums I like a lot:
Architecture in Helsinki - Places Like This
New Pornographers - Challengers

And a new iPod top 10:
1 Pussy'ole (Old Skool) - Dizzee Rascal
2 Jack the Ripper (Demo) - the Horrors
3 The Heinrich Maneuver - Interpol
4 Heart It Races - Architecture in Helsinki
5 Magic Position - Patrick Wolf
6 Da Mystery of Chessboxin' - Wu Tang Clan
7 Failsafe - New Pornographers
8 Daydreamin' - Lupe Fiasco
9 The Smell of an Artist - Cats on Fire
10 Arms - Seabear

Helsinki Photos

By popular demand, here are some photos from Helsinki. More to come once I rotate/fix some ... but here are some good ones.

Helsinki, Finland in August 2007.

Back from Europe

Well, I made it back from Europe in one piece, no thanks to hell-on-Earth aka Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport. Anyway, I'll have much to say soon, but I'll preview with a random pic. More to come later ...

Erik in Europe, Part 1

So I'm currently sitting on the floor in the Dusseldorf airport waiting to go to Helsinki and I thought I would point out a few things already:

1. My blogger account is showing all the instructions/menus in German.
2. My iBook has decided that this is an excellent time to start having logic board problems ... again! Luckily, I got approval to teach a Freshman Research Seminar, which comes with $1500 that I can spent on a computer, which I will be doing (unless Apple gives me a shiny new one because my iBook logic board, between the two they've given me already, has failed SIX TIMES).
3. I tried to buy a cheap mobile phone and could not get my phone card to work with it. I have no idea if I'm just an idiot, or AT&T are a bunch of liars or maybe the girl I bought it from in the airport was just confused, but I gave up. I just left the phone with the confused girl because I didn't want to drag around a phone that I couldn't call the US with, and who am I going to call in Germany? That's 10 euros (~$15) down the drain.
4. Speaking of down the drain, I am currently paying $10/hr to access the internet here at the airport.
5. Being in Germany marks the first time I've been in a country where I don't speak the language (considering I speak only Spanish and English). I do not like it at all. For one, I feel like the Ugly American when I have to admit to only speaking English. Two, I feel completely confused by very many things. The airport at least has signs in English and German, but the episode with the phone was an utter disaster.

Hopefully Helsinki will be more forgiving ... now, I think I will "Post Veroffentlichen" this post.

So It Begins...

I leave tomorrow morning for my trip to Finland and Germany. The Finnish portion is merely for fun, the German will involve a conference, but conferences are always sort of fun, so its all good. It would give me some time to not think about this or at least attempt to not think about it).

I've packed my iPod with about 20 episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus along with 2 episodes of James Burke's excellent Connections. I have all sorts of goodies on my laptop, but I don't think the battery is what it used to be. Hope Delta is showing something interesting on my flight from Atlanta to Dusseldorf. Then I'm off to Helsinki where I plan to visit a fort, frequent record shops, buy a soccer jersey and try to see what I can see. I'll try to post pictures when I can ...

New Top 10

Busy with preparation for my meeting in Cologne and my trip to Helsinki next week. I'm hoping to be able to update with pictures while I'm in Europe ... we'll see.

Here's my current iPod top 10:
1 "Pussy'ole (Old Skool)" by Dizzee Rascal
2 "Jack the Ripper" (Demo) by The Horrors
3 "The Heinrich Maneuver" by Interpol
4 "Fast Car" by Xiu Xiu
5 "Heart It Races" by Architecture in Helsinki
6 "The Magic Position" by Patrick Wolf
7 "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" by the Wu-Tang Clan
8 "Illustrate the History" by BOAT
9 "They Got Away" by Built to Spill
10 "Failsafe" by the New Pornographers

Passport Saga, Part 3

My passport arrived today! My faith in government has returned, albeit a faith based on persistent nagging, intervention of congress and extreme stress. Does that count?

Radium!

I got radium data today! Huzzah! Take that Becquerel!

Oh yes, new TIG review too...

Chemical Brothers - We are the Night (Hint: I trash it).

KG makes Papi look small

This amuses me. New Celtic Kevin Garnett makes Big Papi look like a little man.

The Passport Drama ... continued

Alright, so, my passport may or may not be coming in the near future. Of course, I mailed it to the Passport folks months ago, so it should have been here by now, but whatever, that can't be fixed. What can be fixed is what I had to do to get any answers. These things included ...

1. Calling the 1-877 number provided by the Passport Agency, which lead me to have a short, unhelpful conversation with a customer service rep who more or less told me "well, too bad for you." Admittedly, they probably can't promise anything, and even said so, but really, why bother having a phone service at all? And jeez, the menus/recorded messages took three times as long as the conversation. On the plus side, I was only on hold for maybe 5-8 minutes.

2. Emailing the Passport Agency via their web form = useless. It just tells you what you already know.

3. Follow the advice of #1 and call my local Passport Office (San Fran) to schedule an appointment. I did this at 3 AM Pacific time and had to call EIGHT TIMES to get through because they said they were getting "high call volumes". At 3 A.M. PDT/6 A.M. EDT? Ridiculous. When I did get through, after being threatened that I had to have a departure date that was sooner that 8/14 and had to bring proof of that (by the way, this is all automated), I tried to make an appointment. The SOONEST that was available was noon on 8/13! Yes, the day before. Ridiculous. Made the damn appointment anyway as a back up.

4. Emailing your local congressman or senator. This is apparently one of the ONLY ways to get anywhere. I emailed Mike Thompson (D - Ca) and, oddly, John Kerry (D - Ma ). Not sure why I emailed Kerry beyond the fact that he helped my parents before and I've voted for him many times now (2 for senator, 2 for president if you count primaries and generals). I didn't hear anything from either office until today, when I got an email and call from a nice lady at Mike Thompson's office who said she would call and get to the bottom of this.

5. Searching the web for other lost souls. This is how I found an internal email address for the Portsmouth NH Passport Processing Facility. Using this email, I was actually able to get a proper answer to the status of my passport! The person told me that it would be Fedexed to me in the next 5-7 days and they gave me a tracking number. Of course, I am no fool, so I'm not holding my breath.

So, there you have it. After utilizing a big pile of contacts and using up an immense amount of time, I was able to find out that you really need to grease the wheels to potentially get your passport on time. Of course, I still haven't gotten it and even if I do, I did lose a night's sleep and $55 to buy a copy of my birth certificate (which, incidentally, I ordered on a Wednesday and received it on the following Friday - 2 days later). I suppose I shouldn't have tried to be a good citizen and mail things with plenty of time. Instead, I should have mailed it in a hurry and paid my official "bribe" (aka, "Expedite Fee") to get it with less stress.

The government really misstepped here with the passport and again seems to show the unfortunate weakness of this whole Homeland Security mess - it isn't going to do any good if you don't put money behind your ideas. Anyway, how does causing all Americans to get passports help fight terrorism when they can get passports from another country anyway? This is all part of the Orwellian future that the Bush administration salivates over, where they can keep us under their thumb. It is never a good sign for a country when they start trying to convince us that war is in fact peace and order is in fact freedom.

Passport Blues

Busy week in the lab.
Anybody know how to get one's passport processing to speed up short of getting the President to show up to force their hand? I'm getting a little nervous now that its been 10 weeks.

Here is my iPod top 10:

1 Pussy'ole (Old Skool) by Dizzee Rascal
2 Jack the Ripper (Demo Version) by the Horrors
3 Fast Car by Xiu Xiu
4 The Magic Position by Patrick Wolf
5 (Bloody Paw on the) Kill Floor by Busdriver
6 Almost Ready by Dinosaur Jr.
7 The Heinrich Maneuver by Interpol
8 Da Mystery of Chessboxin' by the Wu-Tang Clan
9 Fists Up by the Blow
10 Baby Fratelli by the Fratellis

Erik as a Simpson

I posted this on TIG, but I'll post it here too.

Erik as a Simpson!



You too can try this at the website for The Simpsons Movie. I'm still scared that the movie might be a trainwreck, but ah well. {Thanks to Jeff for guiding me to this link}.

And here is a new TIG review for one of my favorite albums so far this year:
Dizzee Rascal - Maths + English
Also enjoy:
Palomar - All Things, Forests

MBARI

Look! Jellyfish!

New Music

I have a new TIG review for two albums for which I am very fond, maybe you will be, too.

YACHT - I Believe in You. Your Magic is Real.
Maximo Park - Our Earthly Pleasures

I'm also going to start reposting my iPod top 10 here, too (along with in my TIG profile page).

1. 'Jack the Ripper' by The Horrors
2. 'The Magic Position' by Patrick Wolf
3. 'Almost Ready' by Dinosaur Jr.
4. 'Pussy'Ole (Old Skool)' by Dizzee Rascal
5. 'Fast Car' by Xiu Xiu
6. 'Fists Up' by the Blow
7. 'Ragoo' by Kings of Leon
8. 'Pump Up the Volume' by Art Brut
9. 'Someone Great' by LCD Soundsystem
10. 'I Believe In You' by YACHT

Off to MBARI and Monterey this weekend. Woo!

Entertaining in more ways than one

It has been a busy week with my sister and parents visiting from parts east. I have taken combinations of them to Chinatown (SF), Old Town Sacramento and Mt. Diablo - I might have some pics later on. All I know is that entertaining tires me out.

Two new TIG Reviews
Art Brut - It's a Bit Complicated (one of my favorite reviews I've written in a while)
The Horrors - Strange House

Here are a couple songs I've had stuck in my head lately:
Xiu Xiu - Fast Car (yes, a cover of that "Fast Car")
Busdriver - Imaginary Places

New Review

Here is a new TIG Review

The Clientele - God Save the Clientele

I did a pretty good job with my All Star picks. Now, go vote for Hideki Okajima for the Last Man.

2007 All Star Roster

Here's my (semi)perfect all star rosters - this year in San Francisco!

19 position, 12 pitchers

I picked a representative for all the MLB teams - which made for some fun decisions (Snell vs. Gorzelanny vs. Nady? Upton vs. Shields vs. Harris? Cordero vs. ... Dmitri Young?!)

It's called "synergy" people!

Yes indeed. Without Bronson Arroyo to play music for the Sox, we had to fill the void. And here it is: a compilation CD of songs that Daisuke Matsuzaka loves!

Music from the Mound by Daisuke "Dice K" Matsuzaka

Oh my!

Otters and Beckett

We went to the coast. We almost got lost many times trying to find Shelter Cove. We saw an otter. Otters are way cool.

While I was away, Josh Beckett beat Jake Peavy. Now thats way cool too.

New TIG Review

Here's a fun new TIG review ... enjoy!

The Veils - Nux Vomica

International travel ahoy!

So I finally made all my travel arrangements to go to Cologne, Germany for the Goldschmidt 2007 meeting (where I will be talking on the timescales of crystallization in rhyolite magmas!) Anyway, it took me a while (because I get obsessed with finding the perfect flights) and I will be traveling:

Sacramento to Atlanta to Dusseldorf to Berlin to Helsinki to Munich to Cologne to Dusseldorf to Paris to Atlanta to Sacramento.

Indeed. The Helsinki leg is for 4 days as a vacation of sorts. Cologne is for the meeting. I'm sure I'll have loads of things to say about my first (yes, first) trip to the continent.

Oh yes, two new TIG reviews:
Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
Voxtrot - Voxtrot


And the Red Sox won (the fasten seat belt sign has been turned off) 10-2 today, with my new favorite Sox Dustin Pedroia going 5 for 5 with 5 RBI. Plucky little Woodland native!

Red Sox Flight 2007

Ladies and Gentlemen, you may have noticed I've put the seat beat sign back on. We'll be experience some light to intermediate chop for the next hundred miles, so for you safety and for those around you, please return to your seat and fasten your seatbelt. Thank you.

World Travel

So last night I was looking for tickets to fly to Germany this summer for a meeting and I said to Susan "Boy, wouldn't it be great if there was a website that allowed you to look at a map of a region and see what places would be cheapest to fly to." Lo and behold, there is such a thing. It is kind of cool to peruse just to see the ridiculousness of airfares in general ... and the fact that apparently the cheapest place in Europe to fly these days from Sacramento is Cologne, Germany, my very destination.

Enjoy: Fare Compare Maps

Paris: Back in Jail

My reaction to Paris being dragged screaming out of the courtroom and back to jail? "How delightful!"

New TIG review:
Ghost Stories - Quixoticism

Paris isn't in jail anymore.

I'm very disappointed that Paris Hilton was released from jail today after 3 days (of her already reduced 23 days) because she was having "psychological" problems, i.e., she didn't like being in jail. Well tough. Maybe we should just release everyone who doesn't like being in jail. This is why this country is going downhill fast because we let rich folks - be they celebrities or business types - do whatever they want. Bah!

And the Red Sox lost, yet again. Bah!

Whatever

The Red Sox got shut-out for 6 innings by former Sox farmhand Lenny DiNardo whose stellar line included 6 BB and 0K. Huh?

A new TIG review!
Brakes - The Beatific Vision

Red Sox 4, Oakland 5

I was in attendance last night for the Red Sox 11 inning loss to the A's in Oakland. It was a tough game for the team after playing three long games against the Yankees in Boston and then flying out last Sunday night to get to Oakland for Monday's game. Heck, Papelbon and Okajima were both unavailable and 4 of the Sox regular starters were AWOL from the starting lineup (Varitek, Lowell, Crisp & Lugo), so the fact that after 9 innings, the game was tied 4-4, it seemed like a little bit of a miracle. This was magnified by the fact that the starters were Oakland ace and AL ERA leader Dan Haren vs. AL Weirdness leader Julian Tavarez. A few observations from the game:

1 - Julian Tavarez is a perfectly serviceable 5th starter - he did a good job at getting ahead of many hitters, but couldn't put them away, especially pesky Mark Ellis.
2 - Brendan Donnelly looked pretty sharp for a while ... Joel Piniero, on the other hand, did not.
3 - J.D. Drew and Julio Lugo look completely lost at the plate - they swung at garbage last night - what is their deal?
4 - Wily Mo went from goat to almost hero, trading some fielding gaffes for a big (I mean HUGE) HR and the tying single in the 9th. He'll get better if he can get more playing time.
5 - The A's really have no bullpen.

------
And hey, here are two more TIG Reviews

Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position
Kings of Leon - Because of the Times

Torre is a sad bastard

I think I'm going to call Joe Torre "Dead Dog" from now on because he looks like someone killed his dog every time they show him in the dugout.

The odd 2007 Red Sox

So it's the 4th inning in today's Sox-Yankees game and its tied 1-1. The Yankers scored on a Melky HR but the Red Sox scored on a Wily Mo double, a Crisp sac bunt and a Lugo groundout. Weird, those runnin' Sox? There is a also an old, fat man spraying water on all the Yankees players in the dugout and the pressbox is full of nerds with laptops - which I suppose isn't surprising. Maybe I'll update some more later on, but Curt looks OK so far.

Review Update

Here's a pile of new(ish) reviews

The Earlies - The Enemy Chorus
The Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Living with the Living
Amon Tobin - Foley Room
Clint Mansell, the Kronos Quartet & Mogwai - Original Soundtrack to the Fountain
Dntel - Dumb Luck
The Long Blondes - Someone to Drive You Home

I also a feed of the last 3 postings to my daily TIG column, iPod Roulette, the resurrected (and now consistent) Shuffle of the Day. Look in the upper right hand corner for a daily dose of iPod randomness. I also added a link to the TIG Imagi-Blog feed where you can find me posting (just look for Erik Gonzalez).
Enjoy!

Wow, an even longer pause

Alright, yes, I've neglected the blog for a while. May was a very busy month, and as I mentioned before, most of my blogging energy has been focused to Three Imaginary Girls. However, I'm going to try to be a little more diligent here, focusing back on science & baseball. Yeah! If you're curious what I've been busy with, here it is: 1 NSF Proposal on zircon that involved collecting a whole bunch of data before writing; 1 Final submission of a paper to Bulletin of Volcanology - finally accepted for publication!; 1 massive editing-fest for another paper that will be headed for a special volume being published by the Royal Society of Edinburgh; 1 proposal to teach a research seminar on "Volcanoes and Human Culture" and 1 day (a solid 24 hours) of running samples on the SHRIMP-RG at Stanford. Yeah, a little busy. In fact, I finally got back to reviewing CDs only this week after about a month of nothing. I'll try to compile a list of reviews since I last listed a review and post that in a bit.

Anyway, anybody notice that the Red Sox are an MLB best 36-16, with a 10 game lead on the second place (wait for it) Baltimore Orioles (?!) and a mere 13.5 games up on the (wait for it) last place New York Yankees? Go figure. It's been one of the strangest seasons to be a Red Sox fan in a long time ... and they're 20 games over .500 with no hitting from J.D. Drew (.226 AVE), Julio Lugo (.291 OBP), Coco Crisp (.229 AVE) and only so-so output from Manny and Big Papi. Heck, Mike Lowell has the team lead in HR with 10, yet somehow the team has one of the best offenses in the league. And the pitching has been sharp too, even with Matsuzaka's ups and downs. Crazy!

The Long Pause

Sorry I haven't been adding much here. A lot of my blogging has moved to Three Imaginary Girlsunder my Erik Gonzalez nom de plume. I've just been busy as all heck between lab work, interviewing, eating, sleeping, you know, all that fun stuff. I'll try to be more diligent, but if not, please be sure to check out my daily column on TIG, iPod Roulette...

Being sick sucks

This is the second weekend I've spent being sacked out sick. This weekend it is mostly confined to my head and I can't really hear out of my left ear. Argh.

Anyway, I've been watching some broadcast TV and it worries me. Amongst the products advertised are:
- Kids shoes that have an air pocket under the heel that when you step down, it pushed air through a tube down the shoe and the air comes out between the toes.\
- Kids shoes with a single strap to put them on that are tauted as "the easiest shoe to put on! it's so cool!"
- Gatorade AM, that comes in "new morning flavors to get the most of your morning workout."

Baffled. Baffled.

Besuboro!

For those of you who enjoy very bizarre statements, enjoy this:

Ichiro Suzuki (OF Seattle) on facing fellow countryman Daisuke Matsuzaka (SP Boston) tomorrow:

"I hope he arouses the fire that's dormant in the innermost recesses of my soul."

Indeed!

The Illness

Well I've spent most of the weekend (and today) being quite ill, sleeping something like 41 hours. Not sure what knocking me down, but my away message says it best: "Erik feels like he's been hit by two buses that were very angry with him."

In other news, here are new TIG reviews
!!! - Myth Takes
Dalek - Abandoned Language

And we'll see if this sticks, but my iPod top 10 will move here.

Top 10 ...

Things get a little less busy for me now, so that's good.
I'm bringing my iBook into the Apple Store tonight to see if it needs repairs. Woo!

Not much to offer right now beyond my current iPod Top 10. A lot of turnover this week.
10 Bomb. Repeat. Bomb. (1954) - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
9 Someone Great - LCD Soundsystem
8 Yeah, Oh Yeah (Live) - Tullycraft
7 You Don't Want Yr Nails Done - Panther
6 In the Morning - Junior Boys
5 Paragraphs Relentless - Dalek
4 Scenic World - Beirut
3 Made of Steam - Dengue Fever
2 The Prayer - Bloc Party
1 Did I Step On Your Trumpet? - Danielson

Argh to academics

I'm beginning to wonder if a career is academics is just constant rejection. Rejected from faculty searches, rejected from fellowships, rejected from grant proposals, rejected from paper submissions. Heck, I think I'm 0-for-50 for job applications (well, I guess I do have my current job) but otherwise I look like the career batting average of a AL pitcher. Do I have to crack some secret club code or invent cold fusion to get a job? Maddening I say, maddening.

Opening Day!

It's Red Sox Opening Day!

Of course, as I type, the Sox are losing to the mighty Gil Meche & the Royals 5-1. Maybe the Sox should have spent that ~$50M on Meche instead of Matsuzaka (it's Schilling starting today though). Um, maybe not.

My life has been subsumed lately by (a) labwork and (b) fixing my iBook. Both endeavors have been fairly unsuccessful so far. Bah!

New Review

An album that I find highly remarkable. Heck, I gave it my highest TIG rating ever, a 9.7!

LCD Soundsystem -Sound of Silver

That's all for now! Machine time all weekend! Woo!

New TIG review

Here's a new one ...

Albert Hammond, Jr. - Yours to Keep
Hammond is the guitarist (well, one of them) from the Strokes and also the son of the guy who wrote "To All The Girls I've Loved Before". Now that's pedigree!

Imaginary Update!

Haven't really had too much to say lately ... Just too darn busy.

However, a few peripheral bits ...

(1) The new Three Imaginary Girls site is up! Why is this exciting. I now have a daily column on TIG called iPod Roulette, which some of you might find startlingly similar to "Shuffle of the Day". Well, it is, dammit! I'm currently re-running a few SOTD to get up to speed, but look for it to be much more lively and regular than SOTD ever was. Someday soon I'll have a music blog on the website too and maybe even (gasp!) a mailbag. (And I have a bio on the TIG site too.)

(2) I also have 2 new TIG reviews:
The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Matt & Kim - Matt & Kim

And for those of you who enjoy it, my current iPod top 10
10 The Ave - Blue Scholars
9 Yeah Oh Yeah (Live) - Tullycraft
8 Decapitated - The Faintest Ideas
7 Paragraphs Relentless - Dalek
6 I Hate Scotland - Ballboy
5 Rachel Says - Campaign for Real Time
4 Scenic World - Beirut
3 Made of Steam - Dengue Fever
2 The Prayer - Bloc Party
1 Did I Step On Your Trumpet? - Danielson

All the excitement of Erik's purchases

Well, I was in Berkeley yesterday and spent too much at Amoeba, as usual. "What did Erik purchase?" you ask. Good question.

Blue Scholars - Blue Scholars: For a mere $5! And its better than I imagined, especially "The Ave", which is, surprisingly, about the Ave in Seattle.
Common Market - Common Market: Another fine Seattle hip-hop act for a mere $5!
Palace Music - Lost Blues & Other Songs: I have this on LP, but wanted a copy to put on my iPod, and for $7, who could say no? Not I!
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver: I have yet to even scratch the surface of this one.
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank: Again, haven't really absorbed it, but it seems more splintered than previous Mouse albums. We'll see ...

Top 10

Another week gone to the gods of Column Chemistry. Ah well.
And now I'm out of the available Battlestar Galactica on DVD. Bah!

Oh well. At least its sunny and 80 here in California.

The current iPod Top 10
10 Decapitated - the Faintest Ideas
9 I Hate Scotland - Ballboy
8 This Sentence will Ruin/Save Your Life - Born Ruffians
7 Scenic World - Beirut
6 Rut! - B for Brontosaurus
5 Rachel Says - Campaign for Real Time
4 Paragraphs Relentless - Dalek
3 Made of Steam - Dengue Fever
2 Did I Step On Your Trumpet? - Danielson
1 The Prayer - Bloc Party

Failure is just sucess rounded down, my friend...

Brilliant!

And to look no further that Endtimes are here, or at least that indie rock is no more...(from Pitchfork.)
The Arcade Fire's second album Neon Bible claimed the No. 2 spot on the U.S. Billboard 200 charts this week, stomping all over new LPs from Daughtry, Relient K and Robin Thicke. According to Billboard, the album sold 92,000 copies this week; only Notorious B.I.G.'s Greatest Hits sold more. That album, which was released ten years after the rapper's death, sold 99,000 copies. This position is miles ahead of Funeral's chart ranking, which peaked at #131.

Oh my lordy.

AstroPOP!

My TIG podcast/article is up! Listen/read the March 2007 AstroPOP. Enjoy songs by Amon Tobin, B for Brontosaurus, Born Ruffians, Campaign for Real Time and more.

That's it. Headache. Busy. Spreadsheets. Woo.

This week went by lickity-split and more work needs to be done! Ack! I had a conversation today with one of the grad students here about consulting vs. academia and the allure of consulting, which came down to consulting being a job where your job is your job, whereas academia your job is your life and lifestyle. Ah well ...

Some sad(dish) music news today:
Brad Delp, the lead singer for the band Boston, was found dead Friday in his home in southern New Hampshire. He was 55.
Not sure why I care other than that "More Than a Feeling" was a gateway drug for me to start listening to 70's hard rock/metal.

Fantasy baseball season starts full swing this week for me, with 4 drafts in 10 days. Woo! We can all continue to enjoy my mancrush on Grady Sizemore.

And here is my current iPod top 10. Enjoy!
10 I Hate Scotland - Ballboy
9 The Sons of Cain - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
8 This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life - Born Ruffians
7 Scenic World - Beirut
6 Paragraphs Relentless - Dalek
5 Rachel Says - Campaign for Real Time
4 Rut! - B for Brontosaurus
3 Made of Steam - Dengue Fever
2 Did I Step On Your Trumpet? - Danielson
1 The Prayer - Bloc Party

BP 2007

I got the 602-page Baseball Prospectus 2007 today. Now, if only I could sequester myself with it for the next week. Ah well. I'm sure its got some gems in there and I'll report of them as soon as I get a chance to start reading it. Then again, I've been reading BP 2006 for the last year and I'm still not bored with it so who knows...

Oh yes, and speaking of being a baseball nerd, I'm pretty close to getting XM satellite radio so I can listen to the Red Sox. Now they're on WRKO instead of WEEI (oh boy, I get to trade Dennis & Callahan ads for Rush Limbaugh ads). And I have to say, so far, I am not a big fan of the new Sox broadcaster Glenn Gaffney ... I much prefered good ol' Jerry Trupiano. Bah!

Long week

It was a long week. Heck, all the weeks seem long these day. Ah well, busy busy busy.

Anyway, here is my current iPod Top 10

10 This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life - Born Ruffians
9 Esther's - Amon Tobin
8 The Sons of Cain - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
7 Scenic World - Beirut
6 Paragraphs Relentless - Dalek
5 Rachel Says - Campaign for Real-Time
4 Rut! - B for Brontosaurus
3 Made of Steam - Dengue Fever
2 Did I Step On Your Trumpet? - Danielson
1 The Prayer - Bloc Party

Speed...

Having never done any illicit drugs, I have no ideas, but ...

If people stay up ALL NIGHT, talking - non-stop for 8 hours (midnight to 8AM) - very loudly, quickly and over each other - does that imply they're on speed? Or maybe they're just giant a**holes.

I hate people today.