Extremely Minor Tips For Better Living

It is a well-established fact that the first Traveling Wilburys album is better than the second, whether it's due to the randomness of inspiration, the loss of Roy Orbison, or some mysterious magical chemical that must have been floating around the atmosphere in 1988. But if you listen to both albums together on shuffle, the differences disappear and you have one big chunk of good old-fashioned enjoyable music.

What I Miss About TV

What I miss about TV is the random access. TV(with cable) was a great technology for quickly finding engaging content without a particular plan in mind. With the web and podcasts and such you have to go through a process of selection that involves mental effort. I guess what I'm saying is websurfing is a more deliberate pasttime than channel surfing, and the ability to mindlessly explore a limited set of TV channels fills a niche in the modern homo sapien's life that the internet can't quite replace. TV's a little bit like iPod Shuffle, in a way. You turn it on, it delivers content, and you respond with a simple binary decision about whether you're entertained. Even when the eventual conclusion is "Nothing's on," there's a certain satisfaction in having looked, and having exhausted the possibilities. The sense of ennui when it seems that there's "Nothing on" on the internet is, by contrast, infinitely deep. It can go on for hours if you persist in looking, because you know the thing you're looking for is out there somewhere(it always is) but you can't seem to find it, or even quantify it with a Google search.

I suppose Youtube is the obvious counter to this, but somehow I don't spend a lot of time there, even though I do like it. Probably I just need more bandwidth. Which is a funny word, sounds like a word a baby would make up. Bandwidth. Huh.

Shuffle Kerfuffle

I'm stealing this idea from the Onion. Ten songs on shuffle:

1.Play Dead - Bjork
Bjork's pretty cool. I guess people have opinions about her. I dunno. She's a great singer. This song has a funky bass line. I like it.

2. Blackbird/Yesterday - The Beatles
This is from the new Love album of mashups and greatest hits. I ignored the Beatles for a long time because I figure things that are that popular probably aren't any good. Turns out, they live up to the hype. Yesterday is one of the most enjoyable songs to sing along with.

3. J-E-N-O-V-A - The Black Mages
One of the best compositions from the Final Fantasy series, in rock form. I love the key changes in this. It keeps shifting up or down a minor third. Strangely affecting.

4. Chocolate City - Parliament
In Parliament's cool guy on the radio series, this one isn't as fun as Wants to Get Funked Up, but it's still cool. And it seems particularly relevant today - "They call it the white house, but that's a temporary condition."

5. jags minns inte - psilodump
This is one of many tracks I got from 8-bit Peoples. If you like the idea of music made with primitive video game sound chips, this is the site for you. Maybe it's just nostalgia, but I love that sound.

6. Fugue #7777 - Asuka Sakai
In the video game Katamari Damacy, this is the theme of the King of All Cosmos. It's a funny synth-opera type of thing. I like having this piece of silliness show up in my shuffles, almost as much as Totaka's Song.

7. Slippery People - Talking Heads
I love Talking Heads, especially in their funky phase. I believe that David Byrne is the ultimate cool white man.

8. Lint of Love - Cibo Matto
My sister got me into this band, which is kind of like J-Pop made by Americans of Japanese descent. They have a unique attitude, and there's a lot of humor in their lyrics. I'd say Lint of Love is definitely their best song. It's both funny and musically strong.

9. Metal Man Goes Clubbing - Disco Dan
From the venerable Overclocked Remix. Like a lot of these game remixes, this one goes on a bit long for my tastes, but it's still great fun. It's almost impossible to go wrong with Mega Man 2.

10. Hanging In There - Ray Holman (Mannette Festival 2003)
Ray Holman is one of the greatest pan composers. In his lightning-quick panorama pieces, he packs more excitement into a few chords than some people manage in entire songs. And then he has tunes like Hanging In There and Since You've Gone that draw you in with impressionistic harmonies but get more emotional as they go.