"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.

[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.

Stupidfool.org

From pork to Prince to Project Runway.

December 31, 2005