Technoslacker

Best Albums of 2008

2008-12-29T14:41:00.000-08:00

Chad's 2008 Top 25 Albums

1. TV on The Radio - Dear Science
2. Black Keys - Attack & Release
3. Kings of Leon - Only By the Night
4. Dr. Dog - Fate
5. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
6. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
7. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
8. Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
9. Man Man - Rabbit Habits
10. Kate Nash - Made of Bricks
11. Ryan Adams - Cardinology
12. Beck - Modern Guilt
13. Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
14. Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
15. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
16. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
17. Portugal The Man - Censored Colors
18. Dodos - The Visiter
19. Eagles of Death Metal - Heart On
20. Mason Jennings - In The Ever
21. Ben Folds -
22. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
23. Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious
24. Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts
25. Hot Chip - Made In The Dark
26. Weezer - The Red Album

Cooper Sand-Diving at the beach

2008-12-29T14:37:00.000-08:00

Findley!

2008-05-13T09:38:00.001-07:00

You go boy!

Places I have been

2008-03-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

Paris, France

Naples, Italy

Porto, Portugal

Castries, St. Lucia

Cruz Bay, St. John

Christiansted, St. Croix

Key West, FL, USA

Create your own travel map or travel blog

Visit TripAdvisor.com

Books I have read

2006-12-29T19:53:00.000-08:00

Shelfari has added this cool blog tool that enables you to display your bookshelf. Below is mine. I have read all this books. I think you need the most recent version of Flash to view it though.

Best Albums of 2006

2006-12-09T10:38:00.000-08:00

Here are my top 16 albums (plus some extras):

1 Drams - Jubilee Drive
2 Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
3 Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
4 M. Ward - Post War
5 Decemberists - Crane Wife
6 TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
7 Sunset Rubdown - Shutup I am Dreaming
8 Bottle Rockets - Zoysia
9 The Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops
10 Wussy - Funeral Dress
11 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
12 Wolfmother - Wolfmother
13 Raconteurs Broken Boy Soldiers
14 Drive by Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse
15 Pink Mountaintops - Axis of Evol
16 Golden Smog - Another Fine Day

Best Live Album:
1 My Morning Jacket - Okonokos
2 Wilco - Kicking Television - Live in Chicago
3 Bright Eyes - Motion Sickness

Best EP:
Okkervil River - Overboard & Down EP

Best Album Title:
Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and Will Beat Your Ass

Best of the Rest (alpha order):
Amos Lee - Supply and Demand
Annuals - Be He Me
Beck - The Information
Ben Harper - Both Sides of the Gun
Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
Eef Barzelay - Bitter Honey
Gomez - How we Operate
Loose Fur - Born Again in the USA
Mason Jennings - Boneclouds
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Oh No! Oh My! - Oh No! Oh My!
Panic! At the Disco - A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam
Richard_Buckner-Meadow
Rocky Votolato-Makers
Shawn Mullins - 9th Ward Pickin' Parlor
The Killers - Sam's Town
The Long Winters - Putting the Days to Bed
The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
The Rapture - Pieces of People we Love
The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth
The Zutons - Tired of Hanging Around

Edit 12/29/2006:
The Cold War Kids and Oakley Hall should be added to the lists above.

US Virgin Island Photos

2006-02-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to view our US Virgin Island photos (I just threw them all out there). There are quite a few and it may take a little while to load, so be patient. The first part of the pictures are from St. Croix, then onto St. John, and finally at our resort in St. Thomas.

View photos

Top 50 Music Albums of 2005

2005-12-06T19:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know you all have been waiting for this, so here it is, a few days early. Post some feedback and let me know what you love/hate and what I missed. I was too lazy to link each of the albums to amazon or to the band site. Too much effort.

1 Bright Eyes -- I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
2 Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah -- Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah
3 My Morning Jacket -- Z
4 Mike Doughty -- Haughty Melodic
5 Spoon -- Gimme Friction
6 Kings of Leon -- Aha Shake Heartbreak
7 Black Mountain -- Black Mountain
8 Martha Wainwright -- Martha Wainwright
9 Sons and Daughters -- The Love Cup
10 Clem Snide -- End of Love
11 The White Stripes -- Get Behind Me Satan
12 The Sun -- Blame it on the Youth
13 The New Pornographers -- Twin Cinema
14 The Magic Numbers -- The Magic Numbers
15 Mountain Goats -- The Sunset Tree
16 Tim Booth -- Bone
17 Wolf Parade -- Apologies to the Queen Mary
18 The Ponys -- Celebration Castle
19 The Decemberists -- Picaresque
20 Beck -- Guero
21 Kaiser Chiefs -- Employment
22 Ok Go -- Oh No
23 Deathray Davies -- The Kick and the Snare
24 The Silver Jews -- Tanglewood Numbers
25 Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation -- Mighty Rearranger
26 Ben Folds -- Songs For Silverman
27 The Eels -- Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
28 Dios (Malos) -- Dios (Malos)
29 Supergrass -- Road to Rouen
30 The Hold Steady -- Separation Sunday
31 Radar Brothers -- The Fallen Leaf Pages
32 Deadly Snakes -- Porcella
33 Bright Eyes -- Digital Ash, Digital Urn
34 Bruce Springsteen -- Devils and Dust
35 Franz Ferdinand -- You Could Have it So Much Better
36 Bloc Party -- Silent Alarm
37 Art Brut -- Bang Bang Rock and Roll
38 Richard Buckner & Jon Langford -- Sir Dark Invader vs the Fanglord
39 Okkervil River -- Black Sheep Boy
40 Death Cab For Cutie -- Plans
41 Dressy Bessy -- Electrified
42 Oasis -- Don't Believe the Truth
43 Langhorne Slim -- When The Sun's Gone Down
44 Louis XIV -- The Best Little Secrets are Kept
45 Nic Armstrong -- The Greatest White Liar
46 Caesars -- Paper Tigers
47 Paul McCartney -- Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
48 Moby -- Hotel
49 Raveonettes -- Pretty In Black
50 Son Volt -- Okemah and the Melody of Riot

Some Pics

2005-11-03T18:16:00.000-08:00

First, here are a few pics in a PDF slideshow. These pics are from about 5-6 weekends ago at the lake when Findley flew into town.

Emily and I spent the last two weekends getting our SCUBA certification. Two full weekends. What a whip, but we have it and now can go diving in Key West this month and the US Virgin Islands in February (two trips we had planned a while back).

My sister is looking for a job in Atlanta, so if anyone has any contacts there let me know.

CDs in heavy rotation over the last two months:
Black Mountain
Slobberbone
Bottle Rockets
My Morning Jacket
Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah
Mason Jennings
The Sun
The Magic Numbers
Silver Jews
Deadly Snakes

OK GO - A Million Ways

2005-08-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

So I was out at Yahoo's music video site to check out the Deathray Davies (a Dallas band) new video and ran into the new OK GO video. It is genius. One take and the camera is just set down like something my buddies and I would do. Excellent stuff.

Here is a link to the page it is on, not sure how to link directly to the video. Anyway check it out and let me know what you think. The White Stripes new video is out there as well. It is the best song on their new CD and probably the best song of the year thus far.

The Gourds, The Bottle Rockets, and The Drams at the Granada in Dallas
I attended this excellent alt-country show last Friday night with my buddy Tony (Tony moved from Scotland to Dallas "for the music"). I was impressed with each of the bands. They were all great. The Drams, Brent Best's (of Slobberbone) new band, had a similar sound to his former band. I meant to try to buy some of their material before I left the show but drank a bit too much to remember that. I had recently started listening to the Gourds and the Bottle Rockets, but hadn't heard anything from the Drams. If you get a chance to see any of these bands you need to check them out.

Wiffleball 2005 - Philadelphia

2005-08-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

Yes, another post. It has only taken me nearly two months. I flew up to Philadelphia the first weekend of this month to hang out with my friends, drink beer, and play in Wasser's wiffleball tournament. I was there for less than 48 hours but it was great to see everyone. I quickly (yes, I am fairly lazy as you can note the time between posts) threw together these pictures for viewing on the site and didn't rename any of the files. Click here or on the photo to view the photos from this fairly tame weekend.

Also, Skorpil asked me to post a link to his site.

If you are looking for web maintenance check out Responsive Inc.

Texas Rangers Opening Day

2005-06-25T19:22:00.000-07:00

Has it really been 3 weeks since I said I would start posting photos that I haven't posted? I have no idea what I have been doing. Playing poker, playing soccer, working, and hanging out at the lake. My mom is in town for the weekend.

Anyway, here is the first batch of photos I will post. These will probably be in different formats as we go, but for the first I have created a video file (.wmv). This is a collection of the past three Texas Ranger Opening Day tailgate parties(2003-2005). These parties typically begin at 8:00am for a 1:00pm first pitch and end about 2-3 hours after the game.

Here is the file: Rangers Opening Day

I will attempt to get some more collections out in the near future. So stay tuned.

FEEDBACKDALLAS.COM

2005-06-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

FEEDBACK DALLAS

It has been quite a while since I have posted anything but want to hype a new forum I am trying to get started here in Dallas called FeedbackDallas.com.

FEEDBACK DALLAS

After owning a house for over 5 years I have finally gotten sick of playing Yellow Page roulette with home services. I have had the hardest time finding reliable people to do certain services around the house. One of my few successes is my lawn/landscape guy. He is great. 5+ years of excellent service.

Anyway, I figured I would attempt to start this forum to help myself and everyone that uses find/avoid particular companies to provide services around the home. The site is in it's infancy. Check it out and leave some feedback.

-------------

For those that keep checking in looking for updates, sorry. However, I promise some pictures soon of some recent trips and outings. It may be a few days, but I will get them up. Thanks for stopping by.

Elavator Music

2005-02-16T20:38:00.000-08:00

We just returned from our lovely vacation in Turks and Caicos. Anyway, while catching up on my email I ran across this link from Skorpil.

Check it out here.

For My Wife

2005-01-28T12:20:00.000-08:00

I believe this is what Emily fantasizes about daily on her way home from work.

Chick Road Rage - 7mb

Clem Snide - Tour Dates

2005-01-18T07:12:00.000-08:00

Clem snide have a new album out February 22nd and have announced the first leg of their tour with a stop in Dallas on March 16th right before SXSW.

Clem Snide - Tour Dates

THE LIST - 2004 50 Best Albums of the Year

2004-12-09T19:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, I took the easy way out. Instead of linking each of these albums manually I used Amazon to create these lists. Much easier. The first list includes the top 25 and the second includes 26-50. Without further ado:

The List 1-25

The List 26-50

I would like to mention several critically acclaimed albums that are just pure crap. One is Animal Collective - Sung Tongs. This album makes no sense to me and is very irritating. Not really any songs here just some samples that somebody put together. Whatever. Second is Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender. This one is like an irritating little 11 year old girl singing and dragging her nails across a chalkboard. The third and final album that has been hailed by many as a top three album of the year is Brian Wilson's Smile. Although this album is not crap and is actually very good at certain points, it is way way overrated.

All in all this year's releases were probably the best in some time. The sheer quantity of good albums made it hard to want to put them down and listen to something new. And of course I am sure I forgot an album or two and there will be many more that deserver to be on the list that I haven't listened to yet. So if you know of anything I missed, let me know.

Cooper - The new pup

2004-12-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we adopted (rescued) an 8 month old lab/golden retriever mix named Cooper. Because Guiness is quite the "alpha" dog, we had to find a fairly submissive brother for her and Cooper is almost beyond submissive at times. He still flaunts his puppy clumbsiness and hasn't had an accident since arriving. So all is good in puppyland. Below are a few pics.

The Weakerthans

2004-11-09T11:18:00.000-08:00

CBC RADIO 3 / 1.6 / January 3-9, 2003

Since the Weakerthans will be in Dallas (Gypsy Tea Room) this evening here is a link to a stripped down solo session with lead singer John Samson. It sounds really great. Check it out. You have to click on the link to the John K. Samson Session. See you at the show.

Austin City Limits - ACL on PBS - TV Schedule

2004-11-08T11:35:00.000-08:00

Austin City Limits - ACL on PBS - TV Schedule

Some great bands are going to be on ACL over the next two months including Polyphonic Spree, Flaming Lips, The Shins, Wiclo and Bright Eyes.

Christmas Summit of 2003

2004-10-11T14:53:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to post this on the site for some time because it was the funniest thing I had read in quite some time. I guess it hits home a bit if you know what I mean. Freaking hilarious. Anyway, my great friend Steve Kenney wrote this a while back and it was produced for a series of comedy sketches in Chicago. It is a short 3 minute read so take a look at The Christmas Summit of 2003.

My current favorite song

2004-09-29T17:07:00.000-07:00

My favorite song at the moment is called "Johnny Cash" (watch the video) by a band called Sons and Daughters. This one sounds great played really loud. I have only heard a few of their songs, but I like what I am hearing. They are another band from Glasgow which is becoming a hot-new-band locale.

I have also been listening quite a bit of The Blind Boys of Alabama since I saw them play at the ACL Festival. Check them out by listening to some samples at Amazon. They also just released an album with Ben Harper called - Their Will Be Light.

This guy is my new hero

2004-09-27T23:02:00.000-07:00

Check out You Have Bad Taste In Music. This guy has got it going on. He is my new hero. You probably need a pretty fast connection to watch this stuff.

The Benefactor

2004-09-16T17:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Mark Cuban, I think it is great that you put together a television show to give away money. On your blog you claim that The Benefactor is "Great TV" and engaging television. You say that there are great twists. Well, I hope you are correct as you know what is going to happen, but I have seen the first episode and was very turned off. I mean, WTF were you thinking having them play Jenga. Jenga? What in the world? If that is your idea of a twist then I will be tuning out. But before I do I will give your show one more chance because I think you are a cool guy. I will watch the second episode, but if things don't improve I will be turning on the television when MNF begins.

Austin City Limits Music Festival
The ACL festival begins tomorrow so I will be leaving Dallas early in the morning to catch The Killers at 1:00pm. Many fine acts to choose from. Hopefully i will see a few of you there.

Funny stuff

2004-08-29T16:53:00.000-07:00

I was reading rolling stone and ran across an ad for t-shirts. So I checked their website out and actually purchased a shirt. The have some of the funniest t-shirts I have seen in my life. No Joke. Anyway, go to tshirthell.com to check them out. When I have a kid I will dress him with some of the T's in the baby hell section.