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"You can't say no in December..."

2005 == the year where I had a blog! As in, for real! [1]

And so I actually posted a lot this year, starting in around August or so. 72 posts this year (again, all but 3 of them since August), as compared to 7 in 2004, 14 in 2003, &c. [2]

But if there's ever been a type of post that I'm consistent about, it's the year-end wrap-up/favorites post (c.f. 2004, & 2003). I love reading them (I've already read a bunch this year, on other people's blogs—in fact, I feel like I'm reading more this year than usual). And I even like writing them, because I love that combined feeling of sadness & hope that the EOY always brings.

So, to the favorites of 2005!

Favorite Songs

I've spent way too much time on creating this list—much more than you'd think by looking at it—& its size has varied greatly, from about 28 songs now down to half that size. Not all of the songs have "listen" links alongside, because some artists just don't want you to hear even samples of their music without paying for it. Or, at least, they seem to want to make it prohibitively difficult. [3]

So then, in no order other than alphabetical, & without any useful commentary alongside [4]:

• The Ark, "This Piece of Poetry is Meant to Do Harm" (listen)
• The Clientele, "Since K Got Over Me" (listen)
• Dios Malos, "Feels Good Being Somebody" (listen)
• The Fiery Furnaces, "Evergreen"
• Fiona Apple, "Red Red Red"
• Girls Aloud, "Models"
• Hey Willpower, "Hundredaire" (listen)
• Jamie Lidell, "When I Come Back Around" (listen)
• Maxi Geil! & Playcolt, "Making Love in the Sunshine" (listen)
• M.I.A., "10 Dollar"
• Spoon, "The Beast and Dragon, Adored" (listen)
• Sufjan Stevens, "Chicago" (listen)
• Sugababes, "Push the Button"

Favorite Awesomely Amazing Song Cycle!

R. Kelly, Trapped in the Closet (more)

Favorite Unexpected Reissue

Jean Claude Vannier, L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches (more)

Favorite Thing about 2005

Friends, having such & spending time with, which it seems like we did more of this year. [5]

Favorite Search Terms that led people to my blog

These are from just one day last week, when I chanced to look at my stats!

I'm unashamedly proud of this list, mostly because they're like a reward for me: I've always wanted the sort of blog that would lead to search terms like this. I've helpfully linked each of the search terms to the post that they lead to.

• cat glover
• clinton kelly gay
• criss angel
• mindfreak
• songs on degrassi tng
• anti clay aiken boards
• selena and chris
• alan partridge abba medley
• crack den

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[1] Well, hopefully, the first of many such.

[2] One of the greatest things about having a blog, I'm now finding, is that I actually have posts to refer to in this post. Which is just so meta, really, but to me it's all new & amazing, because I have actually produced content this year (i.e., written content, as opposed to just code).

[3] Of course, it doesn't escape my notice that it's the indie bands, generally, who've got the best (official) arrangements for fans to listen to their music.

& the reason I've not linked to the Fiery Furnaces site is that it's so fucking inscrutable that I can't even figure out where the songs are. But I have to say, these videos are just so relentlessly charming that it makes me forget about their frustrating web site, & love them once again.

[4] I actually tried writing something about each of these songs, because personally I like reading commentary. I started by aiming for a couple of sentences, which didn't really work, partly because I've just gotten over the work involved in writing such treatises in my set of holiday mix posts. I must say, I've really got a huge amount of respect for music bloggers who can write about music every day. It's fucking exhausting.

So anyway, I then tried describing each song w/ just a single adverb-adjective combination. I even loosened the rules here rather severely, such that neither the adverb nor the adjective needed to be real words. E.g. "authentically timberlake-esque".

But that was even more difficult, because it seems it's even more difficult for me to be succinct—I suppose I'm naturally discursive, though you'd not know it to talk with me. So, I gave up on the commentary.

[5] Yes, I'm a sentimental & sappy fucker, but you must've known that by now.

Reading is fun!

Yesterday, I finished Neal Stephenson's The System of the World, which is the last book in his Baroque Trilogy, the first book of which—Quicksilver—I started sometime earlier this year.

Which, among other things, means that: at least it didn't take me more than a year to finish this colossal series. Overall, an amazing set of books: hilariously funny, great characters, frustratingly slow at times, &c.—but overall so, so worth it, throughout & in the end.

And there's this passage that I really liked. I don't know why, exactly, because it's not exactly central to the story or anything—I just liked the way it sounded:

Therefore, go ye out into the Rumbo, the Spinning-Ken, to Old Nass, go to the Boozing-kens of Hockley-in-the-Hole and the Cases at the low end of the Mount, go to the Goat in Long-lane, the Dogg in Fleet Street, and the Black-boy in Newtenhouse-Lane, and drink—but not too much—and buy drinks—but never too many—for any flash culls you spy there, and acquire transitory knowledge, and return to my ken and relate to me what you have learnt.

From Neal Stephenson's The System of the World, p. 156

"Keep messin' with my family and you're through!"

This morning, I received an email message that made me very, very happy:

You have received this confirmation subscription email because your address has been submitted to be on the Kevin Federline Mailing List. To confirm your subscription and officially join this list, click on the URL below or copy this URL into your browser.

I don't actually remember signing up to be on the list, but I'm sure I did, back when I was playing the sample of "Y'all Ain't Ready" over & over.

And so now, happy day! Kevin's web site has launched!

Oh, shit! Best Flash intro EVAR! [1]

[1] BTW, the saddest thing of all about the Flash movie (besides the poorly-sychronized music, and the black-on-white text that looks like it was made in Paint Shop Pro, and the teal fade-in drop shadow under "I'm coming... 2006!"): the movie isn't even hosted on his own server! It's on britneyspears.com!

"Got a fist of pure emotion, got a head of shattered dreams..."

Track 10: Take That, "Back For Good"

Okay, so when I mentioned in my introduction post that some songs weren't specifically "about" Christmas, "Back For Good" is what I meant. As far as I know, it's not about Christmas. Not at all, actually.

Or, well—is it? Because would it really be such a staple of Christmas parties, even in television & films, if it didn't subconsciously reflect some sort of Christmas spirit?

Anyway, I've written about "Back For Good" before, but I'm taking this opportunity to elevate it in my personal pantheon from "somewhat guilty pleasure" to "perfect end to a holiday mix." Gary, Robbie et al: consider yourselves elevated.

But so, "Back For Good." Here's the thing: it's perfect pop, & the perfect song to end a holiday mix, or a movie, or a television special. But more specifically, it's the perfect soundtrack to a last dance, wherein you summon the courage to dance with whoever you've been watching all night. [1]

It's a new year soon, after all.

Buy Nobody Else.

[1] Yes, I am sadly under the influence of the (always surprisingly sentimental) The Office Special.

"Can't make it all alone, I built my dreams around you..."

Track 9: The Pogues, "Fairytale of New York"

It starts out as a pretty straightforward drunken Pogues anthem—"it was Christmas eve babe / in the drunk tank". There's something very sad & final about the end of the year, isn't there? I've been certainly feeling it the last couple of days—an increased feeling of nostalgia, heightened sentimentality, etc, as the days grow to a state of overcast darkness in the early afternoon. [1]

And that's what "Fairytale of New York" reminds me of, at first. Except that, after the first verse, it speeds up a bit, & then it's got Kirsty MacColl singing as well, and so it sounds a bit more... personal, & hopeful. That is, it's no longer just a drunken Shane singing to himself at the bar at 3am, because at least this time, he's got someone to sing with.

And for me it's that juxtaposition, the sadness against the hope, the re-evaluation of everything you've done—"I couldn't been someone / well, so, could anyone"—that defines the end of the year, and in a way is why I really like this song as a penultimate [2] track.

Tomorrow, the finale (I know you're eagerly awaiting it!).

Buy If I Should Fall From Grace with God.

[1] I believe it's my right to get all fucking maudlin in December. It's the season for it!

[2] I'm trying to use more 4-syllable-and-above words to increase my Flesch-Kincaid score. I'm a little bit embarrassed of my 4th-grade writing level.

"And when that blue heartache starts hurting..."

Track 8: Low, "Blue Christmas"

Jesus, this song is depressing. It's Christmas for the suicidal!

A cover of an old Elvis tune, but slower, sadder, & less joyful than any other Christmas song, ever. This is from Low's Christmas EP from a couple of years ago, which in and of itself is kind of an odd idea: having managed to depress their entire fanbase—or, at least, attracted an already-depressed set of fans—are Low trying to make every other Christmas-celebrating person miserable as well?

That said, their version of "Blue Christmas" sounds every bit as gorgeous & depressing as a Patsy Cline track like "I Fall to Pieces," but with that recognizable Low spirit, in that:

It's really pretty, which is good! But it makes you want to die, which is bad.

Buy Christmas.

"U R the 1 that makes my love shout..."

Track 7: Prince, "Another Lonely Christmas"

Wherein we hear the tale of our narrator's lover, who had the audacity 2 leave him [1] on Christmas day.

This was a b-side to "I Would Die 4 U" from Purple Rain, and it sounds like it, all the way down to that fading synthesizer at the end. It's a gorgeous ballad that's as big & melodramatic as, say, "Darling Nikki" or "The Beautiful Ones" (to name an applicable few). It's so good.

"Banana daiquiri," though?

Every Christmas night 4 7 years now
I drink banana daiquiris 'til I'm blind

I don't know if I'd've imagined Prince a banana dacquiri man.

Buy the The Hits/The B-Sides.

[1] Well... 2 die.

"All they could see was a girl holdin' a pistol on Claus..."

Track 6: De La Soul, "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa"

This is from De La Soul's second album, De La Soul is Dead, wherein they shocked fans & critics alike with their newer, darker themes.

Synopsis of this track: everyone loves Millie's father, Dylan (sp? maybe Dillon? Lyrics sites, consistency, please!).

He's the coolest dad EVAR, including the fact that he's a social worker helping out your narrator, and plus he's all dressing up in Santa suits at Macy's round Christmas time. And that's just cool [1].

But in reality, when Dylan gets home, he's molesting & beating Millie. And Millie, for her part, is getting damn fed up. And so finally, Millie gets a gun & takes some drastic action. Oh shit!

What happened to the fucking daisies, De La?

Buy De La Soul is Dead.

[1] I guess?

"This ain't no holiday..."

Track 5: Pixies, "Holiday Song"

You think you're going home for a nice, peaceful holiday with the family, and then...

Honestly, I don't know what Frank Black is on about half the time. And frankly, I don't even know if this song is about holidays, or Christmas.

It does appear to be about incest, for what it's worth, which—admittedly—isn't generally associated with Christmas. But I recognize that tone, Frank Black: you sound like someone fed up with your family. That family that's telling you that you're just not good enough, and asking you how you've disappointed them this year, &c.

Well, so, the message, from me to you: don't sleep with your sister, & don't let your family fuck up your holidays this year. Merry Christmas!

Buy Come on Pilgrim.

"Pause underneath the mistletoe leaf, and you're not here..."

Track 4: The Darkness, "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)"

Enough of the petulant whining about your daddy & your awful Christmas, Sufjan! Let's hear some fucking RAWK!

And, yes: The Darkness abide.

A Christmas tune by The Darkness makes perfect sense, because they're nothing if not the perfect pop band—sure, they happen to feature loud guitars, and dress in tight unitards like a hair metal band, but they're just pop artists at heart! This is sort of an amazingly bouncy power ballad, highlighting Justin Hawkin's amazing falsetto.

As an aside, I really love the domain name of The Darkness' web site: thedarknessrock.com. It's as if they want to quell any doubt: "Do The Darkness rock? Well, they must, because their website says they do!"