Brent and I bought each other co-operative videogames for Christmas.
I think that's really adorable.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Updates
We've got a hard drive failure, and I've currently got it slaved and copying to an external to reboot a new internal arriving from Western Digital (hopefully) by the end of the week.
After that, some restructuring. I'm getting rid of most of my things. DVDs and books and comics are all on the chopping block as I weed the clutter out of my life. So many things, comics especially, I purchase only to read or view once, and then they sit on a shelf or in a box taking up space. The stack grows by the day and contains tons of trade paperbacks and DVDs right now. If there's something of mine you want, let me know. I'll probably let it go.
The reason for all of this is because I simply own too much. I want to reduce my possessions to two cardboard boxes for easy storage. This will make travel a lot easier, and will, more importantly, make the idea of buying more things seem abhorrent. In turn, I'll theoretically be saving more money, and have a much more minimalistic living space.
To clarify:
The previous comic I posted was a Rainbow Six Vegas reference, by the way. Wherein a Mexican paramilitary group invades Vegas and you're part of an international terrorist-hunting taskforce that has to take them out. But we decided it would be more fun to think of what Bill O'Reilly's fantasies would be playing that game. That, combined with a lack of context make it seem like the main character is racist. I would propose that isn't so. He's merely a warhawk. Which may be equally sad.
After that, some restructuring. I'm getting rid of most of my things. DVDs and books and comics are all on the chopping block as I weed the clutter out of my life. So many things, comics especially, I purchase only to read or view once, and then they sit on a shelf or in a box taking up space. The stack grows by the day and contains tons of trade paperbacks and DVDs right now. If there's something of mine you want, let me know. I'll probably let it go.
The reason for all of this is because I simply own too much. I want to reduce my possessions to two cardboard boxes for easy storage. This will make travel a lot easier, and will, more importantly, make the idea of buying more things seem abhorrent. In turn, I'll theoretically be saving more money, and have a much more minimalistic living space.
To clarify:
The previous comic I posted was a Rainbow Six Vegas reference, by the way. Wherein a Mexican paramilitary group invades Vegas and you're part of an international terrorist-hunting taskforce that has to take them out. But we decided it would be more fun to think of what Bill O'Reilly's fantasies would be playing that game. That, combined with a lack of context make it seem like the main character is racist. I would propose that isn't so. He's merely a warhawk. Which may be equally sad.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Uncomfortable Conversatons Vol. 2,173
He's not really racist folks, honest. He thinks some Sith are just as nice as white folks, granted they keep to themselves and don't use their Force powers in public, where decent God-fearing Americans could see them.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday News Day
All comics are cross-posted on the website www.poorlydrawnshark.com, just launched by my friend Dave Moss. I'm not sure when they go live, as I'm alternating weeks, but this is going to be my new regularly updated project for awhile - a comic every other week. You'll notice that most of them star Corey Hudson and myself.
I hope you enjoy them - I'll be posting a round-up of comics already released (most of them already on this blog) and a round-up of my favorite Elephant Words pieces I finished. I wrote on the site for a year, and have over 52 short stories, some of which I'm really proud of.
I hope you enjoy them - I'll be posting a round-up of comics already released (most of them already on this blog) and a round-up of my favorite Elephant Words pieces I finished. I wrote on the site for a year, and have over 52 short stories, some of which I'm really proud of.
Never Google These Terms
Click to the immediate right of the panel to advance.
Those of you who don't get this are the lucky ones. The rest of us envy the dead.
Mirror's Edge
I'm running through an office building, frantically pounding up the staircase. I burst out of the fire exit only door, labeled to discourage its use, and as my eyes adjust to the overwhelming brightness that is the sky that high up, I see a man with a gun. He's already drawn it and it's pointed at me, and he's close enough he won't miss.
I can hear my heart beating in my ears, and I act out of instinct, pushing him backwards over the railing. We're at least 15 stories up.
This incident happens in the first third of Mirror's Edge, and is not a scripted event. Unable to control my panic, I send a man, likely one who has a family, and is working a low-wage security job to buy medicine for them as news reports on every screen trumpet the arrival of a new strain of bird flu to the city, to his death. From then on, I am haunted.
Mirror's Edge plays like a first-person shooter, but may be the first game in that genre (if it is even in that genre, as it plays more like a platformer wearing an FPS skin) that not only allows, but encourages you to be a pacifist. You don't start equipped with a gun. If you want one, you can get up close and personal with somebody aiming one at your face and take it from them. Naturally, this is dangerous, not to mention time-consuming, both liable to get you killed in a world that you need to keep moving through at breakneck speed. Even if you do take a weapon, pointing and firing costs precious seconds, and it's often best to just throw it away.
How many other games depend on you taking weapons away from people and then not using them? Aside from sports games, which are still all about domination, since when has a game not required murder? Since when has escape and freedom been such a crucial part of play?
I resolve at that moment not to kill anyone else for the rest of the game. It makes the game more difficult at times, easier at others, but it forces me to consider every action. In Call of Duty, I don't even track my ammo, spraying it at enemies without any consideration of what it's doing. Rainbow Six Vegas forces me to conserve my ammo, and stands apart from the crowd as less a war-game and more an accurate simulation of the horrors of being shot by small pieces of metal traveling at high velocities. Both of them still require murder. Even Mario demands I headstomp Goombas.
Non-puzzle games aside, what other games have you seen this trend in? Is the idea of domination so entrenched in the concept of play that this is almost a fluke? Does that explain the low-sales on one of the most innovative and challenging games of last year?
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Aftermath
Learned a valuable lesson about using an image URL that's locked behind a specific account on a website. Apologies to everybody who saw a broken photo.
Click for larger rendering of the time LeDonne and I killed and ate two peace-loving crustaceans.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Comic-Con Roundup
Hey gang, drove down to San Diego this weekend for Comic-Con cause I have excellent friends who hooked me up with a professional's badge. While I just did Saturday (I had work Friday, and promised not one, but two ladies drinks on Sunday) I had an excellent time and met a lot of great people.
For some reason, I have a strange fear of talking to comics celebrities. This is not the case with what most people would consider "real" celebrities. When working in NYC, I hung out with Patton Oswalt and Newsradio creator Paul Simms for an hour backstage at an event, and it was awesome. We chatted hardcore videogames and comics the whole time, and I felt at home. Faced with the prospect of talking to an artist or comics writer, however, I turn into a quivering pile of jelly.
I think part of this stems from the idea I can reconcile in my head that a normal celebrity is one of many facets going into creating a product, and there are many just as important people you never see, and while there are invisible important people in comics, the majority of the work is done by one or two person teams. This incredible amount of output is staggering and intimidating.
I overcame this fear today, thanks in part to the overall Canadian charm of Jeff Lemire, who just released The Nobody through Vertigo and has a really unique looking series, Sweet tooth coming out in September. I had a virgin sketchbook I bought back before NYCC 2008 and never used, and opened it up in front of him.
"Sorry to ask you to be uncharacteristic, but I want you to draw the happiest thing you can think of," I said, reassuring myself I didn't sound like the fan currently harping Jill Thompson one seat over, laughing a chattering Salacious Crumb laugh at everything that came out of her mouth. While that pony-tailed fan began to tell her it was so cool she was in The Invisibles (as a character model for Ragged Robin) and lamented how the mainstream "just doesn't get Grant Morrison yet, but they will," Jeff had sketched this totally awesome portrait of the main character from The Nobody for me:
He says he's smiling under the bandages, we just can't see. The thought balloon was to clear up any confusion.
The yes-man in front of Jill (who won an Eisner last night, congratulations!) had disappeared, and I asked her to repeat the experiment, drawing the happiest thing she could think of. She immediately set to work, obviously having spent most of the day wishing she could witness this:
Finally, I wandered over to the Image booth and found a man speaking in a British accent that wasn't put on with a Doctor Who outfit that morning. Kieron Gillen, author of Phonogram, was manning his corner of the world with brave support from a friend. I purchased the trade of Phonogram (since I refuse to loan the singles to people anymore) which Kieron offered to sign just as Jamie McKelvie showed up. I knew it was him immediately. Part of it was the way he sat in the chair labeled "Jamie McKelvie" but a large bit was also the fact that he looks like he drew himself. I mean that as a compliment, to both him and his art.
Jamie was doing sketches for $20 and I knew this would be money well-spent. I asked him to draw whatever he thought was the happiest thing in the world. Thus began a nice twenty-minute brainstorming session about what would make Jamie happy. He decided a sleeping Jamie would be boring, and a big pile of money was too easy a sketch. As Kieron and I talked about Phonogram and comics and his upcoming projects (they're all NDA, so I learned nothing beyond, "They exist. My girlfriend quite likes one of them.") Jamie settled upon an idea. He began sketching while glancing up at the two of us deep in our discussion.
Jamie was exceedingly proud of his work:
Jamie apologized for turning my sketchbook into his power-fantasy and told me to have the sketch for free, but it's one of my favorite sketches ever!
Kieron asked me to post it on the internet so if he ends up dead of an axe wound, we'll have an evidence trail this was pre-meditated. There's a picture of me, the sketch and Kieron, but it's on Jamie's iPhone, so I can only hope it turns up on the interwebs. Jamie?
I also got a signed copy of Scalped Volume 1, because I thought Andrew Adams stole my copy... and I'm always looking for an excuse to throw money at Jason Aaron as a way of saying, "Thank you for creating Scalped. It is the greatest thing mankind has achieved."
In additon to all that, I handed out a bunch of Reed Gunther stuff! As you may or may not know, Reed Gunther is written by my good friend Shane, and drawn by his brother Chris. It's a cowboy riding a bear. That's a high-concept logline Michael Bay would and has killed for.
One of those Reed Gunther books went to Jamie McKelvie as a thanks for the sketch, and a few more found their ways into the hands of people I thought would get a kick out of them, including a ten-year old. I wasn't being nice, I was building the marketbase! That kid's gonna want issue #2, and Shane'll be there to sell it to them! I'm so glad D.A.R.E. taught me how a successful business operates!
Thanks to Reed Gunther, I got to meet Pascal Campion, and realized that he should be fighting crime. I imagine he could walk up to a robbery in progress and hand them this print at which point they'd stop and apologize:
All in all an excellent trip - Lots of fun, and now lots of sleeping.
For some reason, I have a strange fear of talking to comics celebrities. This is not the case with what most people would consider "real" celebrities. When working in NYC, I hung out with Patton Oswalt and Newsradio creator Paul Simms for an hour backstage at an event, and it was awesome. We chatted hardcore videogames and comics the whole time, and I felt at home. Faced with the prospect of talking to an artist or comics writer, however, I turn into a quivering pile of jelly.
I think part of this stems from the idea I can reconcile in my head that a normal celebrity is one of many facets going into creating a product, and there are many just as important people you never see, and while there are invisible important people in comics, the majority of the work is done by one or two person teams. This incredible amount of output is staggering and intimidating.
I overcame this fear today, thanks in part to the overall Canadian charm of Jeff Lemire, who just released The Nobody through Vertigo and has a really unique looking series, Sweet tooth coming out in September. I had a virgin sketchbook I bought back before NYCC 2008 and never used, and opened it up in front of him.
"Sorry to ask you to be uncharacteristic, but I want you to draw the happiest thing you can think of," I said, reassuring myself I didn't sound like the fan currently harping Jill Thompson one seat over, laughing a chattering Salacious Crumb laugh at everything that came out of her mouth. While that pony-tailed fan began to tell her it was so cool she was in The Invisibles (as a character model for Ragged Robin) and lamented how the mainstream "just doesn't get Grant Morrison yet, but they will," Jeff had sketched this totally awesome portrait of the main character from The Nobody for me:
He says he's smiling under the bandages, we just can't see. The thought balloon was to clear up any confusion.
The yes-man in front of Jill (who won an Eisner last night, congratulations!) had disappeared, and I asked her to repeat the experiment, drawing the happiest thing she could think of. She immediately set to work, obviously having spent most of the day wishing she could witness this:
Finally, I wandered over to the Image booth and found a man speaking in a British accent that wasn't put on with a Doctor Who outfit that morning. Kieron Gillen, author of Phonogram, was manning his corner of the world with brave support from a friend. I purchased the trade of Phonogram (since I refuse to loan the singles to people anymore) which Kieron offered to sign just as Jamie McKelvie showed up. I knew it was him immediately. Part of it was the way he sat in the chair labeled "Jamie McKelvie" but a large bit was also the fact that he looks like he drew himself. I mean that as a compliment, to both him and his art.
Jamie was doing sketches for $20 and I knew this would be money well-spent. I asked him to draw whatever he thought was the happiest thing in the world. Thus began a nice twenty-minute brainstorming session about what would make Jamie happy. He decided a sleeping Jamie would be boring, and a big pile of money was too easy a sketch. As Kieron and I talked about Phonogram and comics and his upcoming projects (they're all NDA, so I learned nothing beyond, "They exist. My girlfriend quite likes one of them.") Jamie settled upon an idea. He began sketching while glancing up at the two of us deep in our discussion.
Jamie was exceedingly proud of his work:
Jamie apologized for turning my sketchbook into his power-fantasy and told me to have the sketch for free, but it's one of my favorite sketches ever!
Kieron asked me to post it on the internet so if he ends up dead of an axe wound, we'll have an evidence trail this was pre-meditated. There's a picture of me, the sketch and Kieron, but it's on Jamie's iPhone, so I can only hope it turns up on the interwebs. Jamie?
I also got a signed copy of Scalped Volume 1, because I thought Andrew Adams stole my copy... and I'm always looking for an excuse to throw money at Jason Aaron as a way of saying, "Thank you for creating Scalped. It is the greatest thing mankind has achieved."
In additon to all that, I handed out a bunch of Reed Gunther stuff! As you may or may not know, Reed Gunther is written by my good friend Shane, and drawn by his brother Chris. It's a cowboy riding a bear. That's a high-concept logline Michael Bay would and has killed for.
One of those Reed Gunther books went to Jamie McKelvie as a thanks for the sketch, and a few more found their ways into the hands of people I thought would get a kick out of them, including a ten-year old. I wasn't being nice, I was building the marketbase! That kid's gonna want issue #2, and Shane'll be there to sell it to them! I'm so glad D.A.R.E. taught me how a successful business operates!
Thanks to Reed Gunther, I got to meet Pascal Campion, and realized that he should be fighting crime. I imagine he could walk up to a robbery in progress and hand them this print at which point they'd stop and apologize:
All in all an excellent trip - Lots of fun, and now lots of sleeping.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Fact: You Are Amazing
I just wanted to say thank you to everybody who contributed to the classroom projects at donorschoose.org over the past week. Together, with me matching your donations, we raised $190 for several classrooms - three of which completed their funding at your hands! Two of those were looking for video cameras to allow students to learn film production and help them on writing assignments. Another classroom got a document projector to assist students in visual learning!
THANK YOU LETTERS FROM THE TEACHERS:
"A huge thanks to all of you for donating to this project. Because of your generosity my students will continue to grow into better and more excited writers. Seeing and hearing their excitement when I let them know the great news was amazing. They are already thinking of their next great idea to write about. Again, please know how much I appreciate your support of my students and their writing success."
"Thank you for your generous support and contributions to our student-produced television project! The camera and media that your donations provide will be used by a group of students who have shown tremendous initiative and creativity-- they've already produced several short videos using low-resolution cameras, and I'm very excited to see the work they'll do with this upgraded equipment.
These students took it upon themselves to form an extracurricular group, meeting after school to shoot, edit and assemble their videos. In a low-income, urban setting like ours, the importance of extra-curricular activities cannot be stressed enough. With your support, these students will be able to take a project they love, which they created, to the next level.
With gratitude,
Mr. K."
"Thank you all so much for your donations. Because of your generosity, my classroom will now be equipped with a document camera. My students will greatly benefit from this. Having a document camera in our classroom will allow me to project anything from worksheets, to 3-D objects, to a computer screen. This will allow me to turn anything into a large visual aid. Since most of my students are visual learners, a document camera is a necessary tool for their learning.
My students and I are extremely grateful and excited! I appreciate the support that you have all shown in my students' learning and in their futures. Great things are being done through Donors Choose, and this is just one of them.
With gratitude,
Ms. L."
Again, thank you to those who donated or passed on the link or emailed people. You can still donate at Donors Choose but my finances are tapped out for the foreseeable future, so I can't match donations anymore (they're tax-deductible, by the way, in case that motivates you!). I've been sleeping on the floor for five months, and am going to buy a bed with my next paycheck, because my back is finally starting to complain.
These guys need $140 more to realize their goals. If you can give even a dollar, I would adore you forever.
THANK YOU LETTERS FROM THE TEACHERS:
"A huge thanks to all of you for donating to this project. Because of your generosity my students will continue to grow into better and more excited writers. Seeing and hearing their excitement when I let them know the great news was amazing. They are already thinking of their next great idea to write about. Again, please know how much I appreciate your support of my students and their writing success."
"Thank you for your generous support and contributions to our student-produced television project! The camera and media that your donations provide will be used by a group of students who have shown tremendous initiative and creativity-- they've already produced several short videos using low-resolution cameras, and I'm very excited to see the work they'll do with this upgraded equipment.
These students took it upon themselves to form an extracurricular group, meeting after school to shoot, edit and assemble their videos. In a low-income, urban setting like ours, the importance of extra-curricular activities cannot be stressed enough. With your support, these students will be able to take a project they love, which they created, to the next level.
With gratitude,
Mr. K."
"Thank you all so much for your donations. Because of your generosity, my classroom will now be equipped with a document camera. My students will greatly benefit from this. Having a document camera in our classroom will allow me to project anything from worksheets, to 3-D objects, to a computer screen. This will allow me to turn anything into a large visual aid. Since most of my students are visual learners, a document camera is a necessary tool for their learning.
My students and I are extremely grateful and excited! I appreciate the support that you have all shown in my students' learning and in their futures. Great things are being done through Donors Choose, and this is just one of them.
With gratitude,
Ms. L."
Again, thank you to those who donated or passed on the link or emailed people. You can still donate at Donors Choose but my finances are tapped out for the foreseeable future, so I can't match donations anymore (they're tax-deductible, by the way, in case that motivates you!). I've been sleeping on the floor for five months, and am going to buy a bed with my next paycheck, because my back is finally starting to complain.
These guys need $140 more to realize their goals. If you can give even a dollar, I would adore you forever.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Most Important Thing I've Ever Written
MORE UPDATES!
UPDATE: You guys cleared out this entire charity's needs in less than four hours. I was going to match and donate after dinner, but the donations are now closed for this particular charity. Here's what we're going to do: At the time I made the offer to match donations, they needed $190. If we were going to fill that together, you needed to donate $95, and I would match $95. Since I didn't get my opportunity to donate, BECAUSE YOU GUYS ARE WAY TOO AMAZING, I'll be matching donations until I hit the $95 dollar limit for ANY classroom project you choose on the donorschoose website. I'll be posting updates on here, Facebook and Twitter (username: thoughtmecca) as to each classroom I donate to, and a countdown of what's left to donate.
Here's the list of classrooms you can choose from: You can search by amount needed to complete, region, subject, or grade level. Once you make your donation, forward me your receipt at: donations@matthartwell.com.
If you were to choose something media-based, as my original donation was, I'd be thrilled, and you can read my reasons for that below, but I will match any donation in any subject until I hit that $95 mark. If you guys keep donating after that, keep forwarding me your email addresses and the reason you chose the classroom you did, and I will post it here, to spread awareness of the project's you've chosen.
Donate $5 instead of eating out tonight! - Dave Metzger: Donation to Students "FLIP" For Writing!
This way you can't spend that money on beer. - Carly Bales: Donation to Student-Made Televison!
Joanne Hartwell: Projected Success!
Amount remaining for me to donate: $38
Taking a cue from John Rogers: If you like what you read here and on Elephant Words, donate to support a cause I believe in, and if you loathe it and everything I stand for, donations are a great way to bankrupt this kid out of $95.
ORIGINAL POST AS FOLLOWS:
Hey everybody,
I'm a recent college graduate just starting to work in Hollywood, and it's pretty awesome. I wouldn't be here, however, if I hadn't had an early exposure to film and television production. Most of this I received at the hands of truly dedicated teachers, as well as a slew of opportunities from my parents. The children at William Perry Elementary don't have these same opportunities. They attend school in a High Poverty area, and almost all of the students are dependent on the free lunch program just to ensure they receive adequate nutrition. While some people may scoff at the idea of donating video cameras as charity, I implore you not to pass up this chance to help shape a child's future. They will never be able to afford SR1 cameras or Final Cut Pro editing software, much less the computers to run it on, but a pair of FLIP camcorders, in addition to being perfectly rugged for their age group, allows anybody to learn the art of filmmaking. If even ONE child has a spark of creativity ignited because of the projects they use these cameras for, then it will be worth it. Because I believe so much in this, I am going to ask you to forward your receipt to me, and I will match any donations you make, dollar for dollar until their goal is met.
Click this link to donate and for further information!
Thank you for your time,
Matthew Hartwell
donations@matthartwell.com
UPDATE: You guys cleared out this entire charity's needs in less than four hours. I was going to match and donate after dinner, but the donations are now closed for this particular charity. Here's what we're going to do: At the time I made the offer to match donations, they needed $190. If we were going to fill that together, you needed to donate $95, and I would match $95. Since I didn't get my opportunity to donate, BECAUSE YOU GUYS ARE WAY TOO AMAZING, I'll be matching donations until I hit the $95 dollar limit for ANY classroom project you choose on the donorschoose website. I'll be posting updates on here, Facebook and Twitter (username: thoughtmecca) as to each classroom I donate to, and a countdown of what's left to donate.
Here's the list of classrooms you can choose from: You can search by amount needed to complete, region, subject, or grade level. Once you make your donation, forward me your receipt at: donations@matthartwell.com.
If you were to choose something media-based, as my original donation was, I'd be thrilled, and you can read my reasons for that below, but I will match any donation in any subject until I hit that $95 mark. If you guys keep donating after that, keep forwarding me your email addresses and the reason you chose the classroom you did, and I will post it here, to spread awareness of the project's you've chosen.
Donate $5 instead of eating out tonight! - Dave Metzger: Donation to Students "FLIP" For Writing!
This way you can't spend that money on beer. - Carly Bales: Donation to Student-Made Televison!
Joanne Hartwell: Projected Success!
Amount remaining for me to donate: $38
Taking a cue from John Rogers: If you like what you read here and on Elephant Words, donate to support a cause I believe in, and if you loathe it and everything I stand for, donations are a great way to bankrupt this kid out of $95.
ORIGINAL POST AS FOLLOWS:
Hey everybody,
I'm a recent college graduate just starting to work in Hollywood, and it's pretty awesome. I wouldn't be here, however, if I hadn't had an early exposure to film and television production. Most of this I received at the hands of truly dedicated teachers, as well as a slew of opportunities from my parents. The children at William Perry Elementary don't have these same opportunities. They attend school in a High Poverty area, and almost all of the students are dependent on the free lunch program just to ensure they receive adequate nutrition. While some people may scoff at the idea of donating video cameras as charity, I implore you not to pass up this chance to help shape a child's future. They will never be able to afford SR1 cameras or Final Cut Pro editing software, much less the computers to run it on, but a pair of FLIP camcorders, in addition to being perfectly rugged for their age group, allows anybody to learn the art of filmmaking. If even ONE child has a spark of creativity ignited because of the projects they use these cameras for, then it will be worth it. Because I believe so much in this, I am going to ask you to forward your receipt to me, and I will match any donations you make, dollar for dollar until their goal is met.
Click this link to donate and for further information!
Thank you for your time,
Matthew Hartwell
donations@matthartwell.com
Monday, March 2, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Albums of 2008 - Hartwell Edition
While I am not extremely musically inclined myself, aside from my aspirations to be the world's greatest/least prolific hip-hop MC, I do enjoy music from every genre, as long as it fulfills my requirement of being amazing.
As such, I often wait for Elliott Sussman and Kieron Gillen to post their tops of the year, and then I promptly buy them and enjoy letting them do the hard work of sifting through the noise. This ties into my philosophy of media curation, and the need to not experience everything. This year, however, I discovered a lot of music on my own that I particularly enjoyed, so without further ado, here's my top ten albums of 2008.
10. 808s and Heartbreak by Kanye West - Really, what can I say about Kanye that hasn't been said better elsewhere by people with an ear for it? Let's try: Kanye West reminds me of my favorite brewery, Dogfish Head Brewing. While my favorite beers are not necessarily Dogfish beers, and I don't absolutely adore everything Dogfish puts out (in fact, some things, Midas Touch or the song Drunk and Hot Girls, I deplore), I relish the fact that they're consistently trying new things. Whereas Dogfish has scientists analyze pottery shards to reverse engineer a 3,000 year old recipe for a drink, Kanye turns into an auto-tuned electronic-soul crooner. Dogfish puts out a 90 minute IPA and then tops it with a 120, and Kanye releases Graduation to crown his Late Registration success. This willingness to perpetually redefine and reinvent adds a level of freshness that the rest of the hip-hop/craft brewing world needs to pay attention to.
9. Vampire Weekend – This self-titled debut has a unique steel drum fun sound, and unabashed pop frivolity mixed with strangely high-brow topics, though it never approaches them on the level they deserve. This disc is great for popping in the car player when you’re feeling a bit down, as its bouncy aura will have you tapping your foot on the gas pedal.
8. The Devil, You + Me by The Notwist – I’ve been in love with The Notwist for a number of years now, and this disc is their best effort since Neon Golden. Simple and sad, this album creates an atmosphere for you to visit.
7. Canopy Glow by Anathallo – This is just gorgeous.
6. Partie Traumatic by Black Kids – Another great party-pop album, this one has so much upbeat, you can’t feel depressed listening to it, even if the subject matter itself seems kind of melancholy at times. Definitely worth a listen, this came to my attention through the single which was featured on iTunes as a free download a few months back.
5. Funplex by The B-52s – A seventeen year silence can be viewed as more of an incubation period, as the B-52s return to treat your party to a hurricane of classic B-52 mentality fused with a blend of everything they’ve encountered over the years. Electronica influences meet kitsch pop in a fusion of ridiculous joy.
4. Dear Science by TV On The Radio – Pop meets soul meets rock in this absolutely fantastic follow-up to Return To Cookie Mountain. There are several songs on here I would have paid the full album price for, and the entire thing flows so effortlessly even if songs don’t sound anything alike from one track to the next. This is a stunning effort, and TV On The Radio’s best to date.
3. Alopecia by Why? – One of my favorite artists, Why? has finally topped Oaklandazulasylum with this record. Having reinvented himself from hip-hop to indie rock a few albums back, this is a breathtaking merger of the two selves. Fatalist Palmistry is the most overly poppy song on here, until you listen to the words. The whole album seems to be a focused meditation on death, but without all the baggage that would normally imply. I listened to this album exclusively throughout March.
2. Ruth by Elliott Sussman – Elliott’s first full-length release from Blackberry Studios, Ruth is a celebration of and farewell letter to Mount Washington and the years he lived there on Ruth Street. The whole thing has a sort of infectious pride for where you’re from, even if it doesn’t happen to be Pittsburgh. Between singing of his love for springtime or his disdain for sad, self-pitying singer/songwriters, Elliott has crafted a 1920s, smalltown folk gem that feels as modern as anything else on this list. My number one song of the year is the hidden track off of this spectacular release.
1. TV Loves You Back by The Restiform Bodies – I was really worried I was going to hate this album, Restiform Bodies Anticon debut, since I’ve been waiting almost 8 years for it, and my expectations had grown steadily with every nugget they let trickle out in the meantime. Fortunately for clichés, this not only meets my wholly unrealistic expectations, it blows them away. Taking hip-hop where it needs to go next has long been the province of artists on the Anticon label, but Restiform Bodies has proven themselves the Tony Stark of rap with this release. They’re consistently fifteen minutes ahead of everybody else, and since nobody is there yet, they don’t have anyone to have beef with. They take that surplus energy most rappers spend inflating their egos and apply it to tackling the bigger themes in life in the most honest ways imaginable, never resorting to lecturing their audience, as they don’t know the answers either. More albums need to be driven by this beautiful marriage of curiosity and creativity.
As such, I often wait for Elliott Sussman and Kieron Gillen to post their tops of the year, and then I promptly buy them and enjoy letting them do the hard work of sifting through the noise. This ties into my philosophy of media curation, and the need to not experience everything. This year, however, I discovered a lot of music on my own that I particularly enjoyed, so without further ado, here's my top ten albums of 2008.
10. 808s and Heartbreak by Kanye West - Really, what can I say about Kanye that hasn't been said better elsewhere by people with an ear for it? Let's try: Kanye West reminds me of my favorite brewery, Dogfish Head Brewing. While my favorite beers are not necessarily Dogfish beers, and I don't absolutely adore everything Dogfish puts out (in fact, some things, Midas Touch or the song Drunk and Hot Girls, I deplore), I relish the fact that they're consistently trying new things. Whereas Dogfish has scientists analyze pottery shards to reverse engineer a 3,000 year old recipe for a drink, Kanye turns into an auto-tuned electronic-soul crooner. Dogfish puts out a 90 minute IPA and then tops it with a 120, and Kanye releases Graduation to crown his Late Registration success. This willingness to perpetually redefine and reinvent adds a level of freshness that the rest of the hip-hop/craft brewing world needs to pay attention to.
9. Vampire Weekend – This self-titled debut has a unique steel drum fun sound, and unabashed pop frivolity mixed with strangely high-brow topics, though it never approaches them on the level they deserve. This disc is great for popping in the car player when you’re feeling a bit down, as its bouncy aura will have you tapping your foot on the gas pedal.
8. The Devil, You + Me by The Notwist – I’ve been in love with The Notwist for a number of years now, and this disc is their best effort since Neon Golden. Simple and sad, this album creates an atmosphere for you to visit.
7. Canopy Glow by Anathallo – This is just gorgeous.
6. Partie Traumatic by Black Kids – Another great party-pop album, this one has so much upbeat, you can’t feel depressed listening to it, even if the subject matter itself seems kind of melancholy at times. Definitely worth a listen, this came to my attention through the single which was featured on iTunes as a free download a few months back.
5. Funplex by The B-52s – A seventeen year silence can be viewed as more of an incubation period, as the B-52s return to treat your party to a hurricane of classic B-52 mentality fused with a blend of everything they’ve encountered over the years. Electronica influences meet kitsch pop in a fusion of ridiculous joy.
4. Dear Science by TV On The Radio – Pop meets soul meets rock in this absolutely fantastic follow-up to Return To Cookie Mountain. There are several songs on here I would have paid the full album price for, and the entire thing flows so effortlessly even if songs don’t sound anything alike from one track to the next. This is a stunning effort, and TV On The Radio’s best to date.
3. Alopecia by Why? – One of my favorite artists, Why? has finally topped Oaklandazulasylum with this record. Having reinvented himself from hip-hop to indie rock a few albums back, this is a breathtaking merger of the two selves. Fatalist Palmistry is the most overly poppy song on here, until you listen to the words. The whole album seems to be a focused meditation on death, but without all the baggage that would normally imply. I listened to this album exclusively throughout March.
2. Ruth by Elliott Sussman – Elliott’s first full-length release from Blackberry Studios, Ruth is a celebration of and farewell letter to Mount Washington and the years he lived there on Ruth Street. The whole thing has a sort of infectious pride for where you’re from, even if it doesn’t happen to be Pittsburgh. Between singing of his love for springtime or his disdain for sad, self-pitying singer/songwriters, Elliott has crafted a 1920s, smalltown folk gem that feels as modern as anything else on this list. My number one song of the year is the hidden track off of this spectacular release.
1. TV Loves You Back by The Restiform Bodies – I was really worried I was going to hate this album, Restiform Bodies Anticon debut, since I’ve been waiting almost 8 years for it, and my expectations had grown steadily with every nugget they let trickle out in the meantime. Fortunately for clichés, this not only meets my wholly unrealistic expectations, it blows them away. Taking hip-hop where it needs to go next has long been the province of artists on the Anticon label, but Restiform Bodies has proven themselves the Tony Stark of rap with this release. They’re consistently fifteen minutes ahead of everybody else, and since nobody is there yet, they don’t have anyone to have beef with. They take that surplus energy most rappers spend inflating their egos and apply it to tackling the bigger themes in life in the most honest ways imaginable, never resorting to lecturing their audience, as they don’t know the answers either. More albums need to be driven by this beautiful marriage of curiosity and creativity.
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