Music According to Cody: Best of '09

It's that time!
Here's my most favourit albums released this year:

10: Various Artists- War Child Presents: Heroes- It's a benefit compilation where the famous artists (Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, The Ramones, Bruce Springsteen, etc.) choose which upcoming artist (Beck, Duffy, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Hold Steady, etc.) will cover their song. Plenty of fun, and worth both the listen & buy (money is donated to War Child).

9. Modest Mouse- No-One's First, and You're Next- Despite being an EP, Modest Mouse's latest release is strong enough to belong on the list. It consists of unreleased tracks and b-sides from Good News for People Who Love Bad News and We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.

8. Dan Mangan- Nice, Nice, Very Nice- It's Dan Mangan's best album yet. "Robots", my most favourite song of album, is backed by other lively folk-rock songs like "Road Regrets" and "Some People", while delivering a soft side with "Tina's Glorious Comeback" and "The Indie Queens Are Waiting".

7. Shout Out Out Out Out- Reintigration Time- The electro-rock heroes of Edmonton deliver an even greater album the second time around. With a unique sound, goofy-named songs ("Guilt Trips Sink Ships"), and Edmonton's own Cadence Weapon featured on a track, it's one of Edmonton's best albums.

6. Them Crooked Vultures- Them Crooked Vultures- To make a supergroup like this, you just need to combine one third Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), one third Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana), and one third John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), and broil. It's fun, harsh, and most definitely well-done.

5. K'naan- Troubadour- This is the second major album from the Toronto-based rapper, and he's proving that he's just getting better. This album features a wider motley crew of collaborations, notably Mos Def, Damien Marley, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, and Kirk Hammet of Metallica.

4. Band of Skulls- Baby Darling Doll Face Honey- It's just the first album from this rock trio, and you can already see that they know what they're doing. If you're looking for a good listen from a new band, this is what I'd recommend.

3. Peter Bjorn & John- Living Thing- I loved this album since I first heard it, and it's never left my iPod since I got it. "Nothing to Worry About" is one of the best songs I've heard this year, and the rest of the album does not let down.

2. The Burning Hell- Baby- It's an album of equal parts wit and talent, and definitely deserves to be listened to and loved. It fills my need for dark humour and ukuleles.

1. Christian Hansen & The Autistics- Power Leopard- The debut album from the Edmontonian electro-dance-pop band has been undecidedly my most favourite album of this year since I first picked it up. They named their album after a beer, which in turn was named because the brewer thought those were the best words ever. The album is filled with catchy, danceable songs, and is far from politically correct; songs about child slavery, masturbation, child-molesting priests, and a ménage á trois gone wrong often strays from PC. By far my most favourite, CHECK IT OUT!

So what's your pick?

Favourite Films Of 2009

This year had a freaking metric crapton of movies released, so it's hard to narrow down my top 10 favourite.

10. Watchmen
9. The Hangover
8. Star Trek
7. Coraline
6. District 9
5. Away We Go
4. Sherlock Holmes
3. Avatar
2. Inglourious Basterds
1. Zombieland

These are the leftovers, ones I'd recommend to see:

Taken
Observe & Report
Terminator Salvation
Up
The Hurt Locker
Public Enemies
Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince
Funny People
Extract
The Men Who Stare At Goats
2012
I Love You, Man

Sleep Tonight

Hey,

Been busy with school lately, prolly not gonna update this too often till i have extra time. Also I created a new emoticon: ID

It's a really happy Geordie Laforge.

Aaaaand sleep now.

Great talking with you!

Yet Another Movie

S0, I just recently caved and bought Episode IV-VI of Star Wars, considering I haven't watched one through since before I was eight. Since then I have become a major sci-fi geek, absorbing all I can get. But there is one thing that pisses me off.

Fucking George Lucas.

I mean, he developed a series that rivals Star Trek, and for that he's not too bad of a guy. There's three things that are unforgivable: the newest trilogy. The more I watch them, the less I like them. They leave little to the imagination, which I think is a retarded thing for a sci-fi movie to do. Before you could imagine what happened in Episodes I-III, but now we know, thanks to three awfully-written movies. At best, they are three hollywoodized (to the extreme) films with awful dialogue. At worst, they have Jar Jar Binks.

What could he do to (possibly) correct this mistake? Well, he could give up on the strict copyright control on movies. If others had a chance to continue the story, the franchise could expand and we wouldn't have to listen to that filth he calls dialogue. Then I might be able to enjoy some more movies.

Just something to think about.

That Will Be 2009

So now we have come across to our impending doom. No, it is not Scott Baio and/or Gargamel (with that combination we will be doomed). It is an army that will obliterate us, or enslave us. That's right, the motherfucking robots.

Robots have been interpreted in stories for a long time. Going back in history, they range from modern forms (nanobot hives, artificial intelligence), to even, if you wanted to, mechanized golems (or other such inanimate objects possessed by an entity). Usually it is used to serve as a cautionary warning, allowing the reader to see what it is like to be on the opposing side of a nearly unstoppable force, one that has no ethics or weaknesses, often nothing short of total obliteration. It also often caused by human folly, the opening of a pandora's box (if you will).

In modern times, the stories of robotic takeover has increased. Most notable is the Terminator series, where out of human foolishness robots gained control of space and time. Shit. Other less known interpretations is the song "Citizens of Tomorrow," which warns the past of of the soon to come (oh shit) robotic enslavement of the human race. Soon we will all be robot slaves, and will explode from heart chips.

Which I wouldn't mind, compared to what Japan would do if it ruled everything.

Ciao

Ch-Check It Out

So as per part of my spiffed-up blog, I added a new column for stuff I've checked out recently and like. I'll update weekly if I find anything worth mentioning, and also tell you a bit about the listed items; here's my first selection!

Books: Blindness by José Saramago

-When a number of people begin to mysteriously go blind, the government fears an epidemic and quarantines the stricken. With no help from the outside world, the quarantined must discover how to survive without what we take for granted, and just what truly separates humans from animals. It centers around a lady who is mysteriously immune, yet followed her husband to quarantine.

Saramago has won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and a movie starring Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover, and Gael García Bernal.

Movies: Groundhog Day

-Starring Bill Murray as self-absorbed weatherman Phil, who reluctantly is returning to Punxsutawney, PA for his third annual report on the Groundhog Day festivities there. When he wakes up the next morning, though, he finds he is doomed to repeat this holiday in his own personal hell again and again.

Hilarity and sadness ensue (it is Bill Murray after all), and Phil is forced to see there is more angles to life than just himself. (PS- Punxsutawney, to my regrets, is a real place and really hard to spell; the Groundhog Day festivities featured in the movie do actually happen annually.)

Music: Rocket by Primitive Radio Gods

-It's not a surprise you might have heard of these guys, though it is quite sad; Primitive Radio Gods' big hit Rocket is a great album. Hailing from Santa Barbara, CA, USA, these chicos deal out some of that Alt Rock that the 90's were great for. The song that got them famous, Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand, is a great shoegazer and was a hit in the 90's and featured on Jim Carrey's The Cable Guy. That's about the extent of their popularity, but the rest is worth checking out.

That's about all for today, I'll see you in the future?

Ciao

-PS, check this out.

I've Been Downhearted, Baby

Think long, what goes on, passenger seat, old apartment. C'mon Girl, so much for everyone. Magnetic north, statues; Good Love Is On The Way.

Thought I might as well start with that, though it was fairly spontaneous. Spontaneity is fun, and my latest motto has been "If it's at least worth doing, better do it in excess," so you might as well do that with everything.

Come back to bed, nautical disaster. If you want it, bomb the world. God made the automobile. Caught in a jar, wake up. Back in the good old world, supposed to be, feel the heat. Digital glue, I can't sleep, all night.

We sure seem to think we know a lot about this. We seem to think that we're heading somewhere, yet we can't really tell if it's up. We call it truth and fact but it's all naïve in a hundred years. This planet is flat, now it's spherical, the galaxy is going around us, no it isn't, you're wrong, we are going around in it. Is it possible to make a final decision on everything?

The rising, dirty and true, stand up. Dead horse, who are you. Cat and mouse, end of the road. Tell sally, down to california, bring the boys back home.

Truth be told, I don't really want what you're giving me. In the end, your words won't matter. They won't affect me, I'll go with what I want, I don't care if its good or bad. At least you not liking it means it's all the more mine.

Friendly advice, no such thing.

Ciao.