living the dream: use your toboggan

Wednesday 28 Jan 09 / use your toboggan

over christmas i spent a few days with the family at a little ski resort in maryland called wisp. the snow was crap, but skiing with my brother and tubing with the rats n' weenies were both very nice. runner-up for the best moment of the week came on a particular ski run that passed right by the house we stayed in. (it was fantastic - when we got tired, we just stopped in the middle of the run, took of our skis, and walked into the backyard.) anyways, so it's the morning of our last day there, my brother and i are skiing, and my sisters and their families are just about to leave. so my bro and i come cruising down this run to say goodbye, and there, lined up on the side of the slope, is the whole fam, yelling and cheering for us. fantastic. turns out everything is better with a cheering squad. too bad only lame football and basketball players get them. like they need the ego boost. we swim team kids sure could have used some of that support. we're the ones who had to walk around in speedos for pete's sake.

anyway, the winner for best moment of the week came the night before during the greatest game of cranium, probably in the history of the game. my little sister and i were on a team, and due to some really unfortunate dice rolling and a few weak cameo performances, we trailed the whole game. but as the other teams got lazy and insisted upon picking star performer cards, they kept drawing club craniums, which my sister and i just kept winning. long story shorter, we ended up in the middle with one other team, and it came down to this typically obscure data head question:

What did Dr. Samuel Johnson call "a triumph of hope over experience"?

the publication of his dictionary
his journey to Scotland
marrying a second time
his terminally ill son's miraculous recovery

i was clueless. but my little sister, without batting an eye, announced the answer was 'c', citing the fact that 'marrying a second time was such a "cranium" answer'. which of course it was, thus wrapping up the greatest comeback in cranium history. (incidentally that data head card is now in my wallet. it comes with me everywhere i go.)

for my birthday this year, my little sister gave me the '365 days of cranium' calendar, which provides a new cranium activity everyday. (she says it was to commemorate the victory. i think she just wants to keep me in shape for inevitable XMAS'09 rematch.) but then she got jealous, and started IMing me to know what the clue for the day was. so here's what i'm gonna do. everyday there is a fun creative clue, i'll put it up on the blog. first person to put the right answer in the comments gets a shoutout when i post the answer, and a smidgeon of my respect. here's the first one. enjoy. -d

listening

ramona falls: INTUIT
after 'air aid' knocked me all kinds of sideways, menomena pretty much got a carte blanche from me. that extends to their side projects as well. like this one. trust well placed, folks. this is *truly* unique music. (*****)
asobi seksu: TRANSPARENCE
sometimes i struggle w/ female vocalists. i don't know why. but the title track of this little EP hits home for some reason, like i've known the song forever. i don't know why. (****)
the avett brothers: I AND LOVE AND YOU
so the boys got signed to a big label and got assigned a snazzy producer. all cause for concern. concern that was quieted as soon as i turned up the music. rick rubin, you may repair the damage you caused by bringing 'system of a down' to the world. but this is a good start. (****)
shuta hasunuma: POP OOGA
heard 'power osci' the other night on garth's show on kcrw and tracked the rest down on emusic. glitch pop at its purest. staccato never gets so fractured as to lose site of the melody, and the melody never wanders so far into the pop camp as to alienate the folks who would download a glitch album in the first place. 'power osci' is a great place to start. (****)
band of skulls: BABY DARLING DOLL FACE HONEY
don't be scared. it's not as hard as it sounds. saw them a few nights ago at a tiny club in echo park. and yes it was loud. but these brilliant little bits of melody kept breaking through the noise in a way i've never really heard before. and the album does them justice. check it out. (****)

watching

500 days of summer
make no mistake. it's a great movie. well acted, well written, great soundtrack, etc. but it depressed me more than any movie in recent memory. enjoy!
up
it's so good. i mean, it's pixar, of course it's good. but it's really good. and for some reason it made me want to get married real bad. weird.
drag me to hell
scary, campy and really gross, it's exactly what it should be, and i'd see it again in a heartbeat. welcome back, mr. raimi.

reading

christopher moore: LAMB: THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BIFF, CHRIST'S CHILDHOOD PAL
ok, before you send the hatemail, let me say that this book is actually a pretty cool idea. follows the 13-30 section of christ's life that the bible leaves out, and does so very creatively. that said, not for everybody. (sorry ching) but it did make me laugh really really hard. thanks todd. (****)
adam gopnik: paris to the moon
a gift from pere, and so so good. i shamelessly aspire to his writing style, which made magical montagnes out of however-you-say-molehills-in-french, and was somehow humanistic and uplifting at the same time. (*****)
tom parker-bowles: the year of eating dangerously: a global adventure in search of culinary extremes
just okay. camila's kid thinks he's pretty funny, and that gets old. but by the time the book wraps up, it's so aware of its own emptiness that you can't help but enjoy the discovery. (***)