Stupidfool.org

Dean Martin - Houston (Year 1965)

via www.youtube.com

So, so wonderful.

The Thrill

Joe Posnanski's Best Players in Baseball (from 1970-2009, based on Win Shares, via David) confirmed my childhood belief that Will Clark was the best player in baseball for a couple of years.

My reasons for his best-player status may not be as statistically valid, but they include: Clark homered in his first major league at bat, off of Nolan Ryan; and, as was pointed out in the comments, his 1989 NLCS grand slam against Greg Maddux was, well, thrilling:

Up. Down. Like a jump rope.

Christopher Weingarten on Blue October's truly awful "Jump Rope":

Seriously the song is like watching Marley And Me in three minutes and chasing it down by eating a "Hang In There" poster smeared with Valentine's Day chocolate from 1996.

Probably the funniest song review I've ever read, of one of the worst songs I've ever heard (from the F2K series).

Stagger Lee

via www.youtube.com

This is mesmerizing (and, as a reminder, what a brilliant song, too).

Speaking of algae

via The Big Picture's 2009 in photos

Omega

The deal with fish oil, I found out, is that a considerable portion of it comes from a creature upon which the entire Atlantic coastal ecosystem relies, a big-headed, smelly, foot-long member of the herring family called menhaden, which a recent book identifies in its title as “The Most Important Fish in the Sea.”

via www.nytimes.com

I wish this Times article would've ended here, because I like thinking about this proud & helpful fish.

But instead, no. Why is the ocean always so depressing?

Mastodon: "Divinations"

Speaking of metal, here's Mastodon's video for "Divinations". The video's kind of ridiculous, yes, but the song's huge & fun (I just wish there were more banjo).

Anvil

"Why am I your fall guy, constantfuckingly?" a plaintive Reiner asks, amid the angry fallout of a recording session. "Because I love you," Lips replies, quite without embarrassment or doubt. I have noticed something similar in the bond between Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt, of the British group Status Quo, and we should celebrate the way in which pairs of aging rockers tend to wind up like lovely, crumbling old married couples, with each one finishing the other’s sentences and pining when he has to go away.

via www.newyorker.com

Anvil! The Story of Anvil was one of the loveliest movies I've seen in a while. Highly recommended if you like to watch good people doing things they love.

Gaga

I'm glad for the costumery (as pop-star uniform goes, it beats bellybutton rings), and I like some of the choruses, but I am still unsmitten with the whole cloth of Lady Gaga's songs.

via www.saidthegramophone.com

That's Said the Gramophone about Lady Gaga (in the context of the inclusion of Kid Cudi's "Make Her Say" on their best songs of 2009 list). I'm in the same camp: I like Lady Gaga as an idea, and I think she's good (or, at least, interesting) for pop music, but I can't really get behind the songs.

The KLF, on the other hand...

Battles: "Atlas"

Thank you, shuffle, for bringing "Atlas" back to me this morning. This song is the best. (If you doubt me, just watch the build from 3:30 to 5:45.)