adrian is rad

I just posted five times. You weren’t ready for it, I know. You have got to steel yourself for stuff like that! Steel yourself!.

Also, I cut the palm of my hand today scaling a fence (legally!). The skin is really thick there. Now, lacerated. It’s fine, just a bit strange.

[this is possibly the first of a series of ‘vinyl gems’, songs that are weird or wonderful and can only be found on vinyl records]

This is a total gem that the station’s music library. It’s from the b-side of “All the Umbrellas in London”, one of the best Magnetic Fields songs out there.

This song is just crazy and weird.

I’ll give on one reason to take a listen to this and it’s the only reason you’re going to need: the chorus is “We are the rats in the garbage of the Western world…so let’s dance!“.

Magnetic Fields – Rats in the Garbage of the Western World (mp3)

I’ve been considering, trying to decide whether to do the Alcatraz swim again. It’s early next June.

There’s also this event two weeks later. It’s a swim-heavy triathlon, so that plays to my strengths that and 13 miles of biking (even hilly) I could do today, but the running would take a lot of preparation.

I don’t know if you have been there lately, but Trader Joe’s is overflowing with German Christmas sweets these days. I picked up some Pfeffernüsse the other day and they’re almost all gone. Delicious and fairly cheap!

Today I noticed that they have Lebkuchen and Stollen as well. I also picked up a gingerbread house kit, which I’m going to make with Judit on Monday.

I also have been absolutely ecstatic to open the little doors of my advent calendar these past two days (though as we all know Advent only starts on Sunday (which is still tomorrow to me)). Today chocolate treat was an aeroplane! What’s tomorrow’s going to be??

I’ve owned the first three and tried the last two at work the other day for a couple hours each. These are all pretty pricey.

1. Sennheiser HD600 open a classic and a benchmark. some of the brightest and clearest sound I’ve heard from a headphone. absolutely flat, though: you hear what’s in the music and it makes nothing sound prittier; if the music sound crappy, these won’t fix it. great for monitoring music while mixing or the like (but bad for recording because open headphones can bleed to the mic). modular cable a plus. openness can be annoying if you want outside sounds to be blocked out. fairly comfortable, can be worn hours at a time.
2. Beyerdynamic DT990 open great sounding, slightly bassy, still very clear. great everyday headphones. the ones with the velour earpads are super comfortable, possibly my favorite in terms of comfort level
3. Beyerdynamic DT770 closed like a closed version of the 990s. Not quite as clear but still sound very clear and nice. slightly bassy. similarly comfortable to the 990s.
4. Technics RP-DH1200 closed fairly clear but muddy sound. fairly bassy and optomized for a louder sound that I’d like. the force both down and in is too high so they’re fairly uncomfortable for longer periods of time. solid construction. Modular cable a plus.
5. Audio Techics ATH-AD900 open Fairly clear sound, but not as bright as the HD600s (probably not as good of a high-end response). Large earpieces that sit too low and the force from the headband is too light.

Overall, I’d say the HD600s are the best sounding, but the DT990s are my favorite everday headphone for comfort and listenability.

A couple weeks ago, I finished Body Piercing Saved My Life by Andrew Beaujon (named after the “clever” shirt.) (Amazon, , one review, two mp3–blog like posts by the author about Christian music)

It’s a look at Christian Rock, capital C, capital R, by an outsider. Beaujon is a writer for Spin so he comes from the mainstream rock criticism side of things. I’ve never been really involved in the scene he talks about although I stood at the edge of it a couple years, so I’m a bit of an outsider to it as well. (Which reminds me of a post about an article of the same topic and perspective…)

He spends chapters looking at aspects and events in the Christian music world. He looks at particular bands and people as well as other cultural forces like Mars Hill Church and Tooth and Nail Records. There are various people that come off earnestly and then there are some more slimey people. I’d heard some negative things about T&N (that they don’t give their bands a fair shake) and they were sort of confirmed in this book.

Perhaps my favorite section is the chapter about David Bazan (at the time of the interviews, still in Pedro the Lion). Where a lot of interviewees seem to sidestep questions that might result in controversial answers, Bazan seems to take any and all questions head on without flinching. Sufjan denied the interview request, apparently, so there’s only a brief section on him, which was a bit disappointing.

Overall, it’s an interesting, informative and well-written book about a large cultural phenomenon (Christian records easily outsell jazz records currently). I’d recommend it if you are curious about the scene or genre.

I’ve since moved on to the Dave Eggers editted The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004.