26 July 2008

Through the Past Darkly

Its a shame the album in the title of this post didn’t make the list. So many great albums before I was born; but, the rules of the meme are that it must be during the years of my life.

1968 White Light/White Heat (The Velvet Underground)
1969 In the Court of the Crimson King (King Crimson)
1970 Bitches Brew (Miles Davis)

This was a hard one. Runners up are John Barleycorn Must Die (Traffic), Loaded (Velvet Underground), The Madcap Laughs (Syd Barrett), Sex Machine (James Brown).

1971 What’s Going On (Marvin Gaye)

This was another year of truly outstanding music. Most of these albums are just a razor’s edge from the top. But James Jamerson’s bass work on What’s Going On is a true classic in the instrument. Runners up are Frigile (Yes), Hunky Dory (David Bowie), Led Zeppelin IV (Led Zeppelin), The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (Traffic), Master of Reality (Black Sabbath).

1972 Songs in the Key of Life (Stevie Wonder)

Closely followed by #1 Record (Big Star).

1973 Tales from Topographic Oceans (Yes)
1974 Bad Company (Bad Company)
1975 A Night at the Opera (Queen)

Runner up of Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)

1976 The Modern Lovers (The Modern Lovers)

Yet another great year for albums. Runners up include Blondie (Blondie), Ramones (Ramones), Jaco Pastorius (Jaco Pastorius), A Day at the Races (Queen)

1977 Sin After Sin (Judas Priest)
- favorite, not best
1978 Van Halen (Van Halen)
1979 Rust Never Sleeps (Neil Young)
1980 Blizzard of Oz (Ozzy Osbourne)

The year Metal matured. So many to choose from: Back In Black (AC/DC), British Steel (Judas Priest), Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath), Iron Maiden (Iron Maiden), Women and Children First (Van Halen), and Permanent Waves (Rush). Non-metal excellent albums were Peter Gabriel (Peter Gabriel) and One for the Road (The Kinks).

1981 Diary of a Madman (Ozzy Osbourne)

Shoutout to Discipline (King Crimson); but, you can’t top this Ozzy album.

1982 Violent Femmes (Violent Femmes)
1983 Murmer (R.E.M.)

My favorite song must be “Freezer Burn/I Wanna Be Your Dog” from Confusion Is Sex (Sonic Youth). Crue, of course, was close.

1984 Ride the Lightning (Metallica)

This is the pinnacle of heavy metal in my opinion. Some other classics this year include Defenders of the Faith (Judas Priest), Fried (Julian Cope), I Often Dream of Trains (Robyn Hitchcock), Last in Line (Dio), Purple Rain (Prince) and Zen Arcade (Husker Du).

1985 Telephone Free Landslide Victory (Camper Van Beethoven)
1986 Skylarking (XTC)
1987 Appetite for Destruction (Guns & Roses)
1988 Fisherman’s Blues (Waterboys)

Another difficult decision. Life’s Too Good (Sugarcubes), The Trinity Session (Cowboy Junkies), Substance (Joy Division) and Kings of Metal (Manowar) nearly made it to the top.

1989 On Fire (Galaxy 500)
1990 Extricate (The Fall)
1991 Peggy Suicide (Julian Cope)
1992 Rage Against the Machine (Rage Against the Machine)
1993 Pablo Honey (Radiohead)
1994 Mellow Gold (Beck)
1995 Garbage (Garbage)

What a sexy voice and attitude!

1996 Sublime (Sublime)

I've heard women say the same thing about his voice.

1997 My Own Prison (Creed)
1998 Devil Without A Cause (Kid Rock)
1999 Californication (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
2000 Mer de Noms (A Perfect Circle)
2001 Lateralus (Tool)
2002 Audioslave (Audioslave)

This is one of my favorite albums. A Hundred Days Off (Underworld) is also pretty high up there.

2003 Singles 93-03 (Chemical Brothers)
2004 American Idiot (Green Day)
2005 Wolfmother (Wolfmother)
2006 We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (Bruce Springsteen)
2007 Back to Black (Amy Winehouse)
2008 It ain’t over yet

There you go. So many good albums passed over.

--e

Update: Per Mike's comment, Songs in the Key of Life came out in '76. So Stevie Wonder gets the top spot in '76 and '72 goes to Big Star.

21 July 2008

Sesame Encrusted Salmon


In keeping with the quick dinner theme, here’s my lunch today. It took about 15 minutes from start to finish, including the side dish. The electricity for the neighborhood was out the whole time; but, its very simple to prepare and needs no special gadgetry.

salmon filet, skin on
white sesame seeds
black sesame seeds
2 tablespoons of dark sesame oil
salt


Wash and cut the salmon filet into steaks about 2.5 inches wide. Sprinkle steaks all around with salt.

Heat the sesame oil at high heat. Sesame oil burns, so getting the heat just high enough to not smoke but still sear the sesame seeds to the salmon is the key.

Lay out the white sesame seeds on a wide plate, enough to coat half the salmon steaks. Do the same with the black sesame seeds on a different wide plate. Take a salmon steak and press the left and right sides of the steak into the black sesame seeds. Carefully press the bottom of the steak into the white sesame seeds. You should now have a salmon steak coated on three sides, two black and one white. The skin side should remain clear of sesame seeds.

Place the coated salmon steak skin side down into the hot oil. Quickly repeat with all the steaks. Fry the salmon steak crispy on all four sides. After frying the top and bottom sides you may be able to turn down the heat of the oil, depending on how rare you want your steak to be.

Serve with a side of leafy greens and white rice.

Update: I finally got around to uploading the photo.

10 July 2008

Breaking the Law

With yesterday's Senate decision and Rove ignoring subpoenas, why do we even bother having laws?

09 July 2008

This Really Does Scare Me

Kiss the Constitution goodbye.

So ends the Fourth Amendment. Thank you, Senator Obama, for the sterling leadership that provides us hope and promises change - not. Count 69 members of the Senate along the roll of traitors to their oaths and to this country.

Many folks, such as Hot Air's Michelle Malkin, call the Democrats "Defeatocrats". She's right on that count, if wrong on so many others. The Democrats bent over to get plugged up the arse by Bush yet again. Losers. They're getting none of my money. The only reason I vote for them is that they're better than the evil and equally incompetent Republicans. Give me an alternative and that alternative gets my vote.

05 July 2008

No Recipe Needed

Here's a hidden gem found within the middle of the new stove. These are just put on. Unfortunately, I don't have an after cooked picture. I was too hungry to wait. They were nicely scored with marks from the extremely hot grill.

Updated: Lunch to the tune of Kid Rock, "Cowboy". --e

Updated II: Doesn't this smile just make you melt? It does me. --e

04 July 2008

A month

Update on the baby front:

Yesterday Alisa and Leia turned one month old. Congratulations little girls! On that same day we estimate we hit the 1000 diaper mark.

Medically, they've both gained a fair amount of weight. They each weigh in at 7 lbs 14 oz. Alisa passed her first pediatrician visit with flying colors. Leia made a mess of the place with every type of body fluid imaginable. Poor nurse had to clean it all up. Leia also has a very minor heart murmur. Nothing to worry about though.

This is supposed to scare me?

Isn't this the point, really?

Shouldn't people illegally detained be let free to be on the streets? I thought that was a good thing! Not that most of the people in Guantanamo will ever be allowed across the border into the US anyway. Of course, maybe there are more US citizens there who will indeed be free on the streets of the US, where they belong.

04 July 2008 Meme

Toasttagged all Americans who read his blog to pass on this meme. Technically I am an American so I’ll do it; but, my self identity doesn’t really include being a part of a tribe called “America”. I rather consider myself a member of the human race, not a patriotic member of some political entity that is actually harmful to the world at this time.

Are you "proud to be an American"?
No. I’m often happy I was lucky enough to be born in such a wealthy country with a fair number of good laws and an excellent Constitution.

Favorite Founding Father?
Ben Franklin. I’d really love to get totally stoned with him and see what makes him say “Whoa!”.

Favorite president?
Its a tie between George Washington and FDR. George because he stepped down. FDR because he was a visionary who could actually put strategy into action.

Biggest "Patriotic Moment"?
Tough one. I don’t really feel any sense of patriotism most times. Probably the time when Carter asked us all to put on a sweater rather than cranking up the heat in order to save fuel.

Favorite patriotic song?
Easy. It happened only once, during Gulf War I. Neil Young took out his trademark big MF’n microphone and tied a giant yellow ribbon on it. He then played the Star Spangled Banner. Well done, brother.

Favorite American cuisine?
Baked potato. Smother it in butter like you’re trying to drown it. Second only to barbecue ribs.

Happiest political moment of your life?
When Al Gore decided to abandon political office (at least temporarily) because it got in the way of actually getting shit done.

Best fireworks display you've ever seen?
Have to admit, “Shock and Awe” over Baghdad. Those rockets were real. That’s what fireworks are supposed to represent anyway, so why not go for the real thing. Can’t really say I enjoyed seeing it, though. Too much blood behind the darkness.

America's gift to the world?
I’ll crib Toast’s answer: Our loud, brash, crass and obnoxious culture. I look at the caricature of the "Ugly American" and I see a happy "Fuck You" to tradition and restraint, and it makes me smile.

Favorite Bill of Rights right?
Number one. Hence my freedom to actually say I think the United States of America really should end as a sovereign entity along with all other nation states.

Favorite American Holiday?
Law Day, May 1. Its such a blatant misfire of an attempt to ignore workers days across the civilized world. The irony is delicious.

Favorite D.C. monument?
Vietnam War Memorial. The big black wall. It really is the most moving monument I’ve ever seen. The history of it, the countless names, the reflection, the color and texture, the flowers occasionally placed along it, so much combines into an incredibly moving experience. In some sense it reminds me of the Taj Mahal, though they are of a very different caliber.

Your dream for America's future?
That the nation state of the United States of America give up much of its sovereignty in favor of a world wide constitutional confederacy. Ideally we wake up from our bond of ignorance and religion voluntarily, apologize to the rest of the world for our evil aggression, strip the executive branch from the government (or at least most of its powers) and join the growing confederacies of Asia and Europe. Realistically, the best I can hope for is that the coming economic disaster doesn’t end in violence and we join a growing world wide constitutional confederacy.