Technology

Top 10

1. Mad Men (oh yeah, it’s back)
2. The IT Crowd (4th season starts Aug 10)
3. Broadcast (seem to have the clearest sense of what Hauntology should SOUND like: warped, fragmented, discarded sonic impressions of the past)
4. Louie (an amazingly good show)
5. Patton Oswalt (finally saw him in concert–in San Diego during ComiCon, where he reigns as king [with Felicia Day as queen, of course])
6. The Guild (speaking of Felicia)
7. Ableton Live (am taking the advanced course on this program from Berklee College–it’s a great course, and I’m constantly amazed how deep and how fascinating Live is)
8. Inception (the rare big-budget action film based around an original idea)
9. Barak Obama (sorry all you conservatives out there–he’s saving the country and you’re trying to ruin it.  In 2 years, that’ll be crystal clear; right now, it’s not.)
10. LiveControl (controlling Ableton Live with my iPad is awesome–exactly what I was hoping for when I bought the pad)

Bottom 3

1. Angels (not every year can be a playoff year)
2. Meg Whitman (if she just gave California the money she is spending on her campaign, the state wouldn’t have to lay off all those teachers)
3. All other Republicans

Top 10

1. iPad (software still iffy but device is amazing.  Watching Netflix in my office between classes is awesome)
2. M.I.A. (new album should be interesting)
3. Sly and the Family Stone’s Fresh (have been listening to this a lot–forgot how awesome it is)
4. Wind (hey, in the desert, when the wind goes away, the heat arrives–and stays)
5. Vernor Vinge’s A Deepness in the Sky (even better 2nd time around)
6. Emeralds, Does It Look Like I’m Here?
7. Mutek 2010 (damn–I’ve been wanting to go to this for 10 years, and I haven’t made it yet.  Perhaps next year…)
8. BBC America (has replaced Comedy Central as my default channel)
9. Steak (mmmmm)
10. John Scalzi’s Whatever

Bottom 3

1. Lost finale (massive cop-out to turn the flash-sideways into purgatory.  I never thought I’d say this, but Star Trek: The Next Generation kicked this show’s ass as far as complex, intelligent finales)
2. Angels (Kowbell’s broken leg encapsulation of the season)
3. Oil

Top 10

1. iPad (waited for the 3g version–it didn’t disappoint)
2. Flying Lotus, Cosmogramma
3. Treme
4. Rangers, Suburban Tours (so 80s, it’s only out on vinyl)
5. Incredible String Band reissues
6. Parks and Recreation (welcome back!)
7. Fantastic Mr. Fox (Rushmore meets Harryhausen)
8. Teaching Scalzi’s Old Man’s War
9. Joker, “Tron”
10. Lost (will finale be greatest thing ever or worst?  Seems destined to be one or other)

Bottom 3

1. Arizona
2. Angels
3. Heat

Top 10

1. Barak Obama (finally, health care!)
2. Opening Day (Go Angels!)
3. iPad (though since I ordered a 3G model, I won’t be getting mine until late April)
4. Joanna Newsom (yes, I will review Have One on Me–when I have a spare second)
5. Lost
6. Parks & Recreation
7. Caprica
8. Ableton Live
9. Top Gear
10. Ham

Bottom 3

1. Fox “news”
2. Teabaggers (the crazy kind, not the John Waters kind)
3. Spring (where I live, spring is the gateway to the hell that is summer)

Here’s a song I created for my Berklee Music class on Ableton Live.  The voices are taken from an episode of The Outer Limits (new series) entitled “Music of the Spheres.”

Top 10

1. Ableton Live
2. Pitchers & catchers!!!
3. Lost final season
4. Moon Wiring Club
5. iPad
6. Heater Core: 365 Live Tips
7. Hauntology
8. Kiva
9. New Joanna Newsom
10. Caprica

Bottom 3

1. The voters of Massachusetts
2. Republicans
3. The Grammys (irrelevant since…forever)

Top 10

1. Flavors.me
2. Burial, Untrue
3. The Mighty Boosh
4. Berklee
5. My new office (in a new building with new furniture–though same job)
6. Parks & Recreation
7. Avatar (hey, it’s good sf)
8. Novation SL MkII
9. The Bugle
10. Camacho’s Place

Bottom 3

1. Another fallen Angel: Rory Markas, RIP
2. Having a cold during vacation
3. Promos for all things reality (that’s as close as I come to watching them–and that’s just too close)