01.13.05 - 9:30 p.m.

Notes for best of 2004, if I ever get around to it… the problem is only music critics are listening to new stuff all the time. The rest of us (me at least) are going backwards and forwards simultaneously. A lot of the stuff I heard/saw/read for the first time this year came out earlier than 2004. Anyway…

Music (albums):

Erlend Øye – DJ Kicks – perfect party musik
Kanye West - College Dropout – we listened to this a lot
Slack album (Jay-z + pavement) – smart on jayz’s part to release all the acapellas; he knew the time
Dizzee – Showtime – much better than first
Streets – Grand don’t come for free – madness redux
Madvillainy – still think vaudville villain is his best
Theodore Unit – 718

Music (singles):

Masta ace – “wutuwanko”
Kanye – thru the wire, jesus walks
Franz Ferdinand – dark of the matinee (on the train from duesseldorf to amsterdam)
Slack album – 99 problems here, zurich your shoulder
Future heads – “meantime” (driving fast down 101)
Beanie Sigel & Dirt McGirt - When you hear that (ratatat remix)
Furacáo 2000 - 'mengáo 2000 pt1'
MF Doom - Change the beat (Inhumanz remix)
M.I.A. & Diplo - 'Pop', 'U R A Q T'
Air – “Surfing on a rocket”, “alpha beta gaga” (love that banjo)
Ghostface – “Beat the clock”
Keren ann – “Sailor and widow”
Wiley – “reason”
Modest mouse – “bury me with it”, “float on”

Comics:
Homestarrunner (cheat commandos, peasant's quest... these guys are in a league of their own)
white ninja

Movies / DVDs:

Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
The Wire, Season 1
The Office – Christmas Special
The Incredibles

Video games:
Katamari Damacy (also wins "hardest game to describe to friends")
Burnout 3: Takedown

Music blogs:

SF/J – the new yorker gets hip (madvillain piece was nice, what a thing to see in the august pages of NY!)
Blissblog – way ahead of the curve on grime (defined the curve, really)

Misc-
Bogdan Raczynski's "renegade platinum megadance attack party" video

Places I visited in 2004

Kauai
Duesseldorf / Amsterdam
Israel / Dahab
Miami

Parties in 04

Anon salon – blah
Slide ranch – blah
Zamora
Pinhole fundraiser
Blasthaus 9th anniversary

Cali hikes:
Tilden
Sugarloaf

Music I discovered & liked in 04 even though it didn’t come out in 04

McSleazy – “making plans for vinyl”
Tiga – Man Hrdina (still my fave dj)
Beck – Sea Change
MF Doom – “Hey!”
Soda Stereo - “En la ciudad de la furia”
Depeche Mode – “Nothing”
Devin tha dude – “I can’t quit”, “Mo fa me”
Talk Talk – all their hits & later stuff too; what a voice

Ditto for games:

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Advance Wars
Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past (blah)
KOTOR
Warioware

Classes taken
-scuba (open water certified)
-welding (intro to sculpture)
-judaism

Things that happened:

EA moved from Walnut Creek to Redwood City
Threw out all cd cases
Nick moved into the Armory
My bike got stolen
We moved into a new apartment (& painted it)
Bought a car
Shipped Sims2
November 3rd
Pistons beat Lakers
Tried my first oyster
Cos quit his job, went to Red Bull Music Academy
Got down to a 6 minute mile
Rode a Segway

Shows/DJs seen:

Neko Case & Her Girlfriends
Erlend Øye
Of Montreal
Jill Scott
Zap Mama
Sufjan Stevens
Metro Area
Asylum Street Spankers
Michael Mayer

Movies/dvds seen:

Network
Word Wars
Stop Making Sense (talking heads video)
The Corporation
Farenheit 9/11
After Sunrise
Dreaming In Code
Manchurian Candidate
Midnight Express
Scarface
Sideways
Spiderman 2
Spun (cynical cash-in bullshit, worst movie I saw this year?)

Temporary obsessions:

Math – all those math books! Riemann hypothesis
Video games & art – speed runs, Myfanwy’s super mario mod, etc…
Deep sea diving, giant squid
Boggle / Settlers of Cataan

Ubiquitous in sf:
Kid Beyond
Hearts - beautified the city, loved discovering new ones

Books read (these are the ones I remember, there’s probably others I forgot):

Blindness
Windup Bird Chronicles
Israel: the Embattled Ally
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
Amsterdam
Atonement
Insanely Great
The Vanishing Elephant
Gulag
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
Clumsy
Unlikely
Box Office Poison
Hand to Mouth
Permanent Midnight (again)

Misc:
Mitch Hedberg’s comedy stylings

Worst of 2004

Joanna Newsome – ugh
Half-handed cloud
Jerk who stole my bike
November 3rd (on such a different level that it’s ridiculous to include it in this list)
United losing my luggage
EA moving, having to buy a car & commute
Losing my Ecco loafers
Resfest turning into ad-fest

ODB RIP