Felt/Nixon

In recognition of Mark Felt. Here's hoping there will always be Deep Throats, and reporters to talk to them.

If nothing else for journalism, I got to talk to Ben Bradlee* in an elevator in the hotel used to spy on the Watergate, see Woodward and Bernstein speak twice, once with Ben Bradlee, and interview a guy who worked side-by-side with Deep Throat. Brushes with history are acceptable at this point.

But after the newspaper confirmed the story late Tuesday afternoon, DeLoach said he had no indication that the man who for many years occupied the office next to him was the source who helped topple President Richard Nixon.

"Under no circumstances in my opinion would he do something like this," DeLoach said of Felt before the Post's confirmation.

* What a terrible lede. Please fire this kid.

Top Ten Lists 2008: Music and Movies

Everyone's been bitching about how very "meh" a year 2008 was for music, and I am forced to agree. I think it was a long-tail year: lots of interesting new artists and quirky new sounds that caught the attention well-tuned ears throughout the intertubes, but not too many knockout champions or shoe-ins for No. 1. Idolator sums it up in reviewing Pitchfork's list today, which placed Fleet Foxes in the No. 1 spot:

I will just chalk its absurdly high placement up to "yet another reason why this year needs to be put out to pasture ASAP.

There's a bit of variation on most of the lists this year, save for a few staples. But there is something that needs to be said, so I'm going to say it: TV on the Radio can eat my ass. They're just okay . Got it? They're certainly not the new goddamned Radiohead where they can do no wrong.
Rolling Stone, Spin, and everyone else who fawned over Dear Science and Return to Cookie Mountain: please let's all just relax, take a breath, have a Fresca, and calm down. Hell, I liked "Dear Science," and the band is fine with me overall, especially if you're into listening to songs that sound like they're the intro to other songs and you like staying rivetted to the speakers as you keep waiting for the damn thing to kick in already.
They can be just okay. We forgot somewhere along the way that bands are allowed to be decent musicians without either being the second coming of Hipster Jesus or a tragedy to all sounds ever made that warrants cutting off your ears and shutting down iTunes.

That said, here's my completely unscientific, unreliable, poorly vetted, terribly thought out and ultimately indefensible list.


10.MGMT - Oracular Spectacular*










9. Lupe Fiasco - The Cool











8. Fleet Foxes - s/t











7. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III










6. Bitzen Trapper - Furr










5. Okkervil River - Stand Ins










4 Santogold - s/t










3. She and Him - Vol. 1











2. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours








1. Vampire Weekend - s/t

I was reluctant to put VW at the top of the list, but it's hard not to argue that it's the most innovative album that came out this year, with afro-pop sounds and undeniably catchy rhythms that managed to maintain replay value even in the face of all the hype. The [ed not: as I'm typing this, they started playing Mansard Roof at Gorilla Coffee in Park Slope. Point illustrated] album is summery party music for the neo-Paul Simon set, and I don't see any problem with that. Also, the Columbia boys are helping to stem our nation's tragic dearth of songs about esoteric punctuation terms, and I think we should be grateful.

*Also hesitant to put this on the list since we all got it back in 07, but I guess we aren't counting non-Radiohead digital releases yet.

Movies- In which I realize I didn't see nearly enough good movies this year:

1. The Dark Knight
2. Wall -E
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
5 Iron Man
6. Frost/Nixon
7. Pineapple Express
8. Cloverfield
9. Zack and Miri Make a Porno

I was really tempted to call Wall-E the best movie of the year. It certainly was the most endearing love story movie since Before Sunset, and it didn't even have any damned speaking for half the film. But Dark Knight was just too jawesome to deny.


[RELATED: here's the column I wrote last year about the rules for making a top 10 list. Follow it or be subject to weeks of angry sneering glances shrouded in ironic mustache coming at you from under American Apparel hoodies.]

Big city, small town: photos from a NYC snow day

I never would have guessed how much four years in the South would completely renew my childlike glee at a big snow storm. OK, so I had off today anyway, and should have been doing other work like figuring out my life and preventing homelessness and all that minor nonsense, but there's still that part of me that can't resist screaming "SNOWDAYSNOWDAYNOSCHOOLNOSCHOOLNOSCHOOL!" and running out into the streets. So here's what New York looked like today, with surprises along the way:

30 rock:

Saw a dude proposed in the middle of the ice rink:

she said yes, obvs

Torrential snow pour:

Underground snowfall at Newkirk station:

Outside our front door:

Down Westminster St.:

Christmas trees in Park Slope:

And, of course, the weirdest part of the day, completely randomly running into WSAV reporter and Beaufort County resident Holly Bounds on 5th Ave. this afternoon.

Her and her husband are here on vacation this weekend. This all reinforces my theory about New York: Big city, small town.

It's a city of 8.2 million, but the amount of random run-ins and such I've already seen in New York City makes it seem like friggin Mayberry. Case in point: I met Barry Schwartz for dinner last September when I was home in Jersey for a little while. Walking down the street, we ran into the intern friend of J. Cribbs from the Roanoke Times, who just happened to be passing by. Then last month, I told Robin and her roommate I met someone who works for Family Circle. "Oh Jane?" her roommate said. "Yeah, I know Jane."

And to think people are scared of New York City.

Sparks is gone, but the after taste is with us forever

In tribute to Sparks, and the only person in the world I know who will care, Jeff Barnes.

Under the settlement, MillerCoors agreed to end certain marketing strategies that the attorneys general contend appealed to underage youth. It will remove content on the Sparks Web site that the attorneys general said "looks like it was created by a college freshman." The company also will eliminate images that imply energy or power, such as the battery-themed symbols on Sparks cans.

The images didn't imply energy; they shoved it down your goddamn throat with bleeding fist full of nails.

Sparks -- For when Red Bull isn't enough and it's too far a drive to your meth dealer.

Best non-Jeff Barnes Sparks memory: John chugging a can of it with no hands at Mellow Mushroom trivia night on Hilton Head so we could save $5 on a $60 tab. He lost a photo finish, but it was totally worth it. He died later that night.

There's a late night bar dare waiting for you in heaven, Sparks.

Cobble Hill tea shop Bedazzled by Orlando Jones

I'm in the Tea Lounge on Court St. right now where the counter dude is talking about how Orlando Jones came in yesterday. He recounted the following conversation, as overheard by me:

Employee: Dude, should I know you?
OJ: I don't know, should you?
Employee: Dude, I think I know you from somewhere.
OJ: Yeah, we used to date
Employee: I really recognize you. Are you famous?
OJ: I don't know, am I?

Then the two employees launched an extended conversation about Orlando's D-list celebrity status (I think he's a C at least people, c'mon) and the movie Evolution, which, as you will recall, was unmemorable save for the glorious return to the limelight for Michael "Donkey Lips" Bower, who was last previously spotted in a contestant pool on Singled Out in 1995 (true story).

Was Orlando Jones here for the filming of the special Drumline episode of Gossip Girl? No, he was just going to see a movie at the cinema across the street, according to the employee. His choices were: Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, Rachel Getting Married or Bolt.

On a related note, I had pomegranate-flavored 7-up with Seagram's 7 on Saturday night. I don't remember anything being wrong with regular 7-up, but pomegranate up yours was acceptable.


[Hey, apparently Orlando Jones went to College of Charleston but didn't get a degree. Who knew?]

A NYC newspaper iPod battle

An analysis of iPod art used in New York City area newspapers today to illustrate the Gov. David Patterson's proposed major tax increases, which include a 4 percent so-called "iTunes Tax" on videos or music downloaded from the internet.

1) New York Post: Jack Johnson's "Sleep Through the Static"



2) Newsday: U2's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," specifically the track "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own"




3) New York Daily News: Hot Chip's "The Warning"

:


Also, 4) New York Times: A engaging picture of Barack Obama and Joe Biden in an early education classroom.

The following can be inferred from each selection:
1) The graphics editor at the New York Post, a mid-30s tech-savvy person merely trying to get by in the print business until the economy rebounds, grabbed her iPod, hit shuffle and took a picture of the first item that came up in time to meet deadline.
2) A news editor at Newsday had a brainstorm for a front-page graphic after seeing the tax story come across the wire. But after about 50 minutes of arguments, the rest of the staff was able to talk him out of using an image of a unspooled and tangled analog tape. With deadline fast approaching, he Googled "pop music pods" and copied the first non-Britney-Spears-stomach picture that came up.
3) "Hey intern! Give me your damn iPod for a minute."



And the winner is......
The Daily News.


Bonus: Listen to Hot Chip's "Over and Over,"and watch an, um, interesting video here.

OMFG: Gossip Girl spotted in Brooklyn

Walking around Court Street yesterday before work, I kept seeing these large, rather fancy looking trailers lining the streets. At first I thought it was portable bathrooms for a nearby construction project, but then I noticed they were lining several blocks. Other guesses were that they were some sort of blood mobile, or maybe a portable STD clinic for the homeless, or perhaps, since they had fancy wooden doors attached at the entrances, some sort of roving home goods show of kitchen fixtures, Formica counter tops and bathroom sealants. I was tempted to walk in one to see what sort of public offerings were inside, but I'm still deferential to my limited knowledge of the machinations of the city. For all I know, those trailers were no big deal, no one in the neighborhood even notices them any more, and they just come by every week to offer free lube in preparation for the upcoming subway fare hike stiffie.

Way off. Turns out, they're filming Gossip Girl in the nabe this week. I stumbled across the scoop on Cobble Hill Blog. Here's some of their pictures:


This would be much more interesting if I A) had any idea who any of the people on Gossip Girl were; or 2) knew anything in the world about the show other than it seems to be another example of our culture's maddening idolatry of the lives of wealthy, spoiled douchebags and douchebaggettes.*

Here's a completely out-of-context quote I just found online:
Chuck: Archibald. Isn't it about time you ended this bromance? What happens at Yale stays at Yale.
Nate: [to Dan] Hey man, let's go.

Meeting Justin Long was way cooler.




*I'm curious -- can anyone who watches this tell me how this stacks up on the brain activity scale against the Laguna Beach/The Hills crap?