I was getting nostalgic for LiveJournal. My last non-private post was early 2009. I joined Facebook in 2008. This is obviously not a coincidence. But browsing around my friends journals, most of whom I don't remember, was pleasant. Quaint. It's like remembering you have a savings account that now has a few more dollars of accumulated interest.

And I don't have anything to say. It's possible I may never have anything to say here again. But then again, I might, and knowing that I have an outlet is comforting.

Got My Crush Set On You - dj BC
Burn It Down - AWOLNATION
Down To This - Soul Coughing
Just Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode
Cardiac Arrest (feat. Robyn) - Teddybears
Huddle Formation - Go! Team
Girls In Cars - Project Jenny, Project Jan
Denmark - Chemical Brothers
Energy - Apples In Stereo
Winona Ryder (Xx Version) - Unrest
Speckbos Molotov - Mashup Germany
Gay Bar - Electric Six
One Step Beyond - Madness
Wish (Komm Zu Mir) - Thomas D. & Franka Potente
Dominican Fade - Battles
Private Idaho - B-52's
Vince Lombardi Service Center - The Dead Milkmen
Twin of Myself (Go! Team Remix) - Black Moth Super Rainbow

Galaxy Bounce - Chemical Brothers
Breaker Breaker - Peter, Bjorn and John
Body Movin' (Fatboy Slim Remix) - Beastie Boys
Nothing's Wrong - Cloud Nothings
How Can U Luv Me - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Jump - Van Halen
Go Go Dancer - Pizzicato Five
Cobrastyle - Teddybears
Triple Double/Every Day (Tacologic Mix) - Girl Talk
Ten Cities Beyond - Snake & Jet's Amazing Bullit Band
Appelknyckarjazz - Movits!
Ban On The Drum All Day - Todd Rundgren
Human After All - Daft Punk

bonus tracks:
Golden Peace Frog - djBC
Walkin Out Yo Girlfriend - dj lobsterdust
Paranoid - Black Sabbath
Don't Stop - Girl Talk

I don't know if anybody still reads me here, as I haven't posted publicly in a long time. But I might as well make my playlists public. No reason not to...


Rock And Roll - Led Zeppelin
Please Baby Please - Devo
Cath Carroll - Unrest
Groove Is In The Heart - Deee-Lite
There Goes My Love - The Blue Vans
Tightrope - Janelle Monae
Bad Reputation - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
Sell Out - Reel Big Fish
Fel Del Av Garden - Movits
Blitzkreig Bop - The Ramones
What I Like About Crunk - Menegaux
Police On My Back - The Clash
Doing It Right - Go! Team
The Clapping Song - Shirley Ellis
Summertime - Beck

Jump Jack, Jump - The 5.6.7.8's
La La Love You - The Pixies
Cha Cha Cha - Pizzicato Five
Whole Wide World - Wreckless Eric
Da Da Da - Trio
Burn Baby Burn - The Dictators
Mo Money Mo Problems - Notorious B.I.G.
Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan
My My Metrocard - Le Tigre
Ding Dong Daddy of the D Car Line - Cherry Poppin' Daddies
Dance Dance Dance - Beach Boys
Good Golly Miss Molly - Little Richard
Happy Happy Joy Joy - Ren & Stimpy
Chirpy Chirpy Cheap Cheap - Middle of the Road
Post Post Modern Man - Devo
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa - Vampire Weekend
Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye - The Temptations
Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want - The Deftones
Ha-Ha Hannukah - The Goblins
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da - The Police
Sing Sang Sung (Black Moth Super Rainbow Remix) - Air
Tora Tora Tora - Pretty & Nice
Bed Bed Bed Bed Bed - They Might Be Giants
Hip Hop Hooray - Naughty By Nature
So So Sick - Unrest
Twiggy Twiggy Twiggy vs. James Bond - Pizzicato Five
Tiptoe Through The Tulips With Me - The McGuire Sisters
Head Held High - Velvet Underground
Wild Wild West - Kool Moe Dee
Mean Mr. Mustard - The Beatles
At An Arabian House Party - Raymond Scott
Something, Somewhere, Sometime - Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore
We Were Witchy Witchy White Women - Electric Six
Turn Turn Turn - The Byrds
Alphabet Aerobics - Blackalicious
Sing Sing Sing - Benny Goodman

I remember a little while back, everybody got that animated gif icon with the people saying "Oh noez" and "omg" as they scrolled across the picture. It was cute.

But this is now my icon for "oh noez".

So if those Somali pirates that are currently causing a bunch of havoc were to wear traditional swashbuckling gear and be photographed that way, would there be a backlash against the actions taken against them? And why?

I wrote a season preview for BTSH. A few people liked it.



It occurred to me that many of the story lines in club soccer are similar to those happening in BTSH. With that, I’ll now try to give each team in our league its club soccer counterpart:

Mathematics: Valencia – A solid core surrounds one incredible talent. When playing against Valencia, you know that David Villa is going to get the ball, and he’s probably going to do some amazing things whether you like it or not. The same can be said for Mathematics, with Andy Pratt playing the hero role.

Happy Little Elves: Wigan Athletic – After arriving in the league for the first time seemingly out of nowhere, both these upstarts are carving their place in the league and look to improve on their performance from last year. It’s unlikely that either will make a title run, but achieving a .500 record would give a lot of hope for the future.

Cobra Kai: West Ham United – Despite toiling away in the lower half of the table much of the time, they were able to sign an incredible goal scoring talent in Adriano Bratta, similar to how West Ham got Carlos Tevez…only to lose him at year’s end.

What The Puck: Manchester United – Despite having an all-star lineup that’s capable of dismantling any team out there, they saw fit to poach some of the top free agents in the league. This, of course, makes them an even better team, but also raises the ire of all whom they play against.

Sky Fighters: Juventus – At one time, they were at the top of their respective leagues, and all was good. Then scandal broke out and caused the former to leave the league and the latter to be relegated. But both are now back, looking strong, and should be considered a threat to anybody they play.

Filthy Gorgeous: Everton – Kind of a new player in the upper echelons of club soccer, but their spot amongst the big boys is well deserved. Both teams feature a balanced attack, stout defending with an amazing keeper in back, and blue shirts.

Denim Demons: Liverpool – Each team boasts having a player who is in the debate for the most talented player around, but neither has put together the pieces for a championship season. Is it too much tinkering from the coach (Ed: Yes!), lack of a killer instinct, or just plain bad luck along with the color red that holds them back?

Mega Touch: Seattle Sounders FC – While it may look like these guys are new kids on the block, they’ve been around for a long time now. While the deck may be stacked against them, getting off on the right foot may be all that’s needed to propel them to the top.

Corlears Hookers: Chelsea – The team you love to hate. Clearly, there’s a lot of skill, and their results show this, but something about the way the teams were composed rubs people the wrong way. Peter Putka may not be a Russian oil billionaire, but he was able to assemble a team of some of the best players regardless.

LBS, Inc.: Real Madrid – If it’s possible for a team that has won it all before to fly under the radar, these guys succeed. It’s no surprise that you’ll see some of the prettiest passing and teamwork while wearing white here, as the core has been together awhile now and are quite comfortable with each other.

Dark Rainbows: Columbus Crew – Sometimes a championship run can be made on the back of one player who raises the level of his team so high, that no one can touch them. Guillermo Barros Schelotto must have watched tapes of Trevor Tyrrell’s incredible playoff run a few years ago as inspiration.

Mexican Standoff: Pachuca – I realize that while there are probably only a handful of people who are familiar enough with European & American soccer and BTSH to understand my references, there are probably less who follow Mexican soccer. So I’ll just say that Pachuca is probably the most entertaining Mexican team to watch in their league, and Standoff is the most entertaining Mexican team in our league.

Fresh Kills: Blackburn Rovers – The only teams to have won the English Premiership are Arsenal, Man U, Chelsea, and Blackburn. The first three are powerhouses, finishing at the top of the table year in and year out, while the fourth had one incredible season that people look back on a few years after and wonder how it happened. Welcome to your destiny, Fresh Kills.

Mighty Squirrels: Montreal Impact – During the first stages of the year, these two teams were turning everybody’s heads with result after result. Then all of a sudden things went to hell. The Impact conceded four second half goals in their Champions League quarterfinal match to lose 5-4, and the Squirrels lost their final seven games after going undefeated in their first ten.

Unicorns: Los Angeles Galaxy – One player on each team is far and away the most visible in their respective leagues. But strangely enough, neither are currently with their teams, and it remains unclear when they’ll be back, leaving everybody wondering “I wonder what they’ll be like without the megastar.”

Gouging Anklebiters: Sporting Portugal – Both teams were happy to get into the playoffs last year and were a year removed from nearly shocking the world with an incredible upset. But the joke was on them as an epic collapse followed, which only led to heavy drinking and longing for the next year to start.

Rehabs: New York Red Bulls – If at first you don’t succeed, get a bunch of new players. After not succeeding to the level that they had wanted in the past year, both the Red Bulls and Rehabs brought a bunch of new players in that will hopefully be the ticket to a dream run to the championship.

Tuques: Eintracht Frankfurt – While both teams have been around for awhile, they are shrouded in mystery. Each has a few visible players that fans of the league can name, but for the most part, teams that want a leg up on these guys had better employ a few scouts.

Every other week we get a calendar at work that says which people have off when. It's handy and all that, though rarely complete. To liven things up a bit, the crazy people in charge of making the calendar often put in clip art. The fun never stops here, I'll tell you what. Let me attempt to show you how March 8 is set up, as it's truly awesome...


Daylight Savings

[clip art picture of the sun]

Time Begins


Which of course makes perfect sense, but I like the idea of time beginning on March 8.

Yesterday I went to the Chili Takedown. Good times were had and much chili was eaten. But amongst the discussion, this question was brought up... What is the difference between chili and stew?

Just curious to hear what people think.

More and more I hear a lot of mashups that lift a track from Rock Band to use. In itself, there's nothing wrong with this, but I think it gives a lot of producers an excuse to be lazy. This kind of annoys me, because while there are a lot of good A vs B mashups (see Party Ben's Single Ladies In Mayberry), they're also the most simple. And can be the most boring, save for the ones that sound like a dance remix.

C'mon mashup makers of the world, flex your creative muscles!

Whenever I call a large company with an automated phone system that allows you to speak your answer and I only want to speak with a real live person, I make a bunch of nonsense sounds into the phone whenever it wants to know my selection. For whatever reason, saying "operator" continually will just prompt the service to ask you what you're calling about. But if you go "nnnyearghorfurger" you get pretty decent service.

:D

I was inspired by Toby to do this, as he wrote some really cool stuff. And since I usually don’t do these kinds of things, I might as well do it right.

Don’t tag anybody, but if you do decide to do one of these, encourage people to do it as well.

1. I’ve been decaffeinated since 1997. The combination of the way that caffeine makes my body feel, and the fact that I think the less chemicals you are addicted to is a good thing made me quit.

2. It was only a few years ago that I started drinking alcohol. One New Years Eve, I was in Ottawa at a floorball tournament. Whoever ran the tournament recommended that everybody go to these three clubs that were all linked together for the New Year. It was loud and I was with my new teammates, representing the city I love. When the waitress came around with a tray of shot glasses, I figured what the hell, I was tired of being the “not drinking guy”.

3. The college I went to has… issues keeping track of their paperwork, and thought I owed them nearly twenty thousand dollars. I told them I didn’t, and they then sold the “debt” to a third party who tried to harass me for the money. The “debt” continued to change hands until I finally opened up a legal dispute against them, where they dropped it.

4. On a related note, I tacked the two “Paid in full” letters from the financial institutions that issued my loans on my wall. They are next to a few “Star performance certificates” issued by one of my office’s clients, my diploma from Crazy Go Nuts University, and an 8x10 photo of Charlton Heston from The Ten Commandments.

5. My father used to own a Subway on the corner of Congress and Dearborn in Chicago. I worked there from time to time and still occasionally eat at Subway to this day.

6. Probably due to the fact that both my parents were involved in restaurants my whole life, I love cooking for large groups of people. I’ve already begun planning my menu for the 4th of July on my roof in Brooklyn and Thanksgiving in Chicago. You are invited to both.

7. I love doing my radio show, Coup d’Taco. It’s how I keep current with music, and the form of self-expression that I most enjoy doing these days. A lot of time is put into my set lists, and people seem to like what I do. If you’ve never checked it out, I encourage you to do so.

8. When I was a child, my favorite sport by far, was basketball. I played it whenever I got the chance. For a year or two, I went to a Montessori school, where all I did was play basketball and wash tables. Despite all my playing, at some point I realized I was awful, while at the same time it became clear that being a good basketball player was socially relevant. This turned me off the game, and I’ve long since moved on to other sports.

9. It’s been years since I kept count, but I’ve probably seen the band They Might Be Giants about 200 times live. I attribute this to the fact that my parents were/are Deadheads.

10. I blame/thank Danny for the fact that I’m a big soccer fan now. Every year, I try to get to Chicago to see the Fire play and tailgate with Section 8. My hockey team (more on that in a sec) decided to spawn an offshoot soccer team, where I played. And I have tentative plans to travel to Mexico City to watch the US play against Mexico.

11. 2009 will be the third year that I am the captain of the Denim Demons, a hockey team in the Black Top Street Hockey (BTSH) league. I’m a big fan of the community aspect of BTSH and serve on the Executive Committee and am one of the few referees who are paid. I am a good, but not great hockey player, and I’m eagerly looking forward to when it’s nice out so I can run around outside again.

12. My mother emailed me today to tell me that she quit smoking after almost 40 years. I’ve never been more proud of her.

13. Magic is still a love of my life, I play a lot, but I rarely go to large sanctioned tournaments any more. That being said, I’ll be attending the Prerelease on Saturday and playing Two-Headed Giant with Jim.

14. Thanks to Matt, I’ve really gotten into Yelp. This is my second year as an Elite member, and I believe in their product. If you currently use Citysearch or a related site for finding restaurant reviews and related things, I recommend trying it.

15. In the early summer, I’ll have worked at my company for nine years. That’s longer at one location than almost any of my friends.

16. I believe the fragmentation of audiences due to cable and other mediums has allowed for some great television to be made in the last several years. Previously, I was never a fan, but try to keep current with House, How I Met Your Mother, Law And Order: Criminal Intent, Man v. Food, Top Chef, and Yo Gabba Gabba. I don’t always succeed, but it’s fun to try.

17. I’ve been an Apple user since I was only a few years old, but never had one until late in high school. For several months I’d carry an old Mac Classic two miles home just so I could use it for the night.

18. About a year and a half ago, I had back spasms, and went to physical therapy for treatment. After some work, and some time, I’ve gotten into the habit of lifting weights every week, which has helped my core tremendously.

19. The first concert I ever went to was Johnny & The Leisure Suits, which was fronted by Jonathan Brandmeier who is a radio personality in Chicago. The show was at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin, and I remember never having experienced something that loud in my entire life. My mom bought a t-shirt just so she could wrap it around my head. We had to leave about a half-hour into the show because I couldn’t take it.

20. I lived in Baltimore for about a year. I went to school, did graphic design for an automobile magazine, and later an ad agency. I still enjoy visiting Baltimore whenever I get the chance, though without a car, it’s more difficult than it used to be.

21. I lived in Orlando for about a year. I went to school, was a chef at Disney World, played a lot of volleyball and was active with the college democrats, ACLU and philosophy club. I’ve never been back since I left, and while I think it’s a good town for tourists, living there was kind of lame.

22. In third grade, I broke, fractured and dislocated the pinkie finger on my right hand. We were playing four-square during recess at school, but for some reason, there weren’t any of those bouncy red rubber balls that you usually play with. Instead, we played with a basketball.

23. I don’t own any denim and haven’t for a long time. I’m of the opinion that people should dress in clothing contemporary to their time, and I feel denim is contemporary to hippies and gold miners. Because I am neither a hippie, a gold miner, nor a hippie gold miner, I don’t own any.

24. I also only wear boxer-briefs, but not for reasons related to hippies or gold miners.

25. I used to carry a pocket periodic table of the elements in my wallet, until it fell apart. Everybody in my high school chemistry class got one, as we were somehow convinced that knowing the atomic weight of barium would be relevant later in life.

Stupid things I do - I have this strange theory that the song I listen to whilst walking through the door to work in the morning sets the tone for the day. Today's song was Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who. I hope the iPhone was wrong for once.

So here's the meme. Reply to this thread with a picture from the TV show that you have the most episodes on your DVR. I'll go first.

Last night on Coup d'Taco, my totally awesome radio show was the Holiday bonanza show. I had a bunch of special guests, including tehdawgfather. Dawgfather at one point (after several beers) decided to testify live on the air. Here are the results.

Dawgfather testifies for the lord

There has to be some equation for how good a party was. This has probably been on a website before. If someone would be so kind as to give me a link, it'd be appreciated. However, these numbers should be involved in the equation...

Articles of clothing left behind

Body shots done

People who removed clothing

Pieces of furniture that got moved

People who passed out

Empty bottles

Time from when the party began to when the last guest left

People who hooked up

Facebook posts about the party

I have done a post where I'm all "hey listen to my radio show, because it's awesome" in awhile. But I think the last one turned out really well. So yeah, got check it out.

Blog: Coup d'Taco

Feed: For Podcast

There are some special shows coming up too, like the Holiday show and New Years Rockin' Eve. Lots of fun in store.

One of my favorite terms that gets used here (and I'm assuming in other places too) is "Crash and burn". Whenever we get a project in that has to be turned around the same day, or in some other really short time table, it's a crash and burn. My favorite part about it, is that with one of these projects, it seems that it's one of the deals where we're not supposed to ask questions about it.

But doesn't that seem completely the opposite of the name? Like if there's a car accident and then the car sets on fire, you can sure as hell bet that people are going to be asking questions. Not that expressions make sense, but this always struck me as especially odd.