My albums of the year

Rather than thinking about this for too long and making ‘cool’ choices, I used my Last.fm stats and copy pasted my 10 most played albums of the last 6 months. I think they’re all released in 2009, except Eden Ahbez’s Eden Island, which is from the 70’s, I think.


1. The Airborne Toxic Event – The Airborne Toxic Event
2. A Mountain Of One – Institute of Joy
3. M83 – Saturdays = Youth
4. Eden Ahbez – Eden’s Island
5. Moderat – Moderat (Deluxe Edition)
6. Darker My Love – 2
7. Reverend and The Makers – A French Kiss In The Chaos
8. The Black Atlantic – Reverence For Fallen Trees
9. U2 – No Line on the Horizon
10. TV on the Radio – Dear Science

It’s been a long time since my top 10 list was dominated by ‘new’ artists.

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Despite his reputation as a libertine, Cave is in reality much more a Puritan: rather than being a celebratory, central force of human existence, sex is a terrifying, insatiable hunger that must be bitterly struggled against. Submitting to it, which means submitting to a woman, leads inevitably to ruination.
Former fan tears Nick Cave apart. She has a point.

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Empire Magzine - The 20th Birthday Portfolio

Moviestars photographed, referencing their famous roles

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thedutchables: A frikandel (plural frikandellen) is a Dutch snack, a sort of minced-meat hot dog, developed in 1959. It is a long, skinless, dark-coloured sausage that is eaten warm. Unlike other sausages, a frikandel is deep-fried. Sometimes it is served on a bun, and is then called broodje frikandel. It is usually served with tomato ketchup, curry ketchup and/or mayonnaise. A frikandel with mayonnaise, tomato ketchup or curry ketchup and chopped onion makes a frikandel speciaal. The frikandel speciaal usually has a deep cut in the middle to provide room for the chopped onions and the sauces. For best results, the cut is made before frying the frikandel. I never ate one until I was in college. And never after that.

thedutchables:

A frikandel (plural frikandellen) is a Dutch snack, a sort of minced-meat hot dog, developed in 1959.

It is a long, skinless, dark-coloured sausage that is eaten warm. Unlike other sausages, a frikandel is deep-fried. Sometimes it is served on a bun, and is then called broodje frikandel.

It is usually served with tomato ketchup, curry ketchup and/or mayonnaise. A frikandel with mayonnaise, tomato ketchup or curry ketchup and chopped onion makes a frikandel speciaal. The frikandel speciaal usually has a deep cut in the middle to provide room for the chopped onions and the sauces. For best results, the cut is made before frying the frikandel.



I never ate one until I was in college. And never after that.

10 notes

An interlude, here. Back in 1992, when TMJ was still a going concern and even the label thought maybe we’d join the hallowed company of recouped bands one day, Warner made a $10,000 accounting error on our statement (in their favor, naturally). When I caught this mistake, and brought it to the attention of someone with the power to correct it, he wasn’t just befuddled by my anger – he laughed at it. “$10,000 is nothing!” he chuckled.

If you’re like most people – especially people in unrecouped bands – “nothing” is not a word you ever use in conjunction with a figure like “$10,000,” but he seemed oblivious to that. “It’s a rounding error. It happens all the time. Why are you so worked up?”

My Hilarious Warner Bros. Royalty Statement

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Christmas according to Warhol

Handdrawn christmas images from the days that Andy Warhol still did commercial illustrations for clients such as Tiffany & Co.

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Did you know everything’s made of pig?

Christien Meindertsma’s fascinating talk at TEDxAmsterdam is based on her book PIG 05049, that documents an astounding array of products with different parts of an anonymous pig called PIG 05049..

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‘Toen ik Jacques Brel voor het eerst zag, hier in het Concertgebouw, wist ik niet wat ik meemaakte. Die performance! Ik heb daarna veel van ‘m overgenomen: niet wachten op applaus, gewoon doorgaan; de kracht, de potentie. Het vurige hebben we gemeen, maar het sociale engagement ken ik niet. Brel was ook een echte knokker, dat ben ik niet. Hij kwam uit een heel burgerlijk milieu, ook nog eens aan de Vlaamse kant. Hij had iets om zich tegen af te zetten, ergerde zich ziek aan van alles en nog wat. Ik heb me nooit zo geërgerd, kon alles doen wat ik wou. Ik ben een keer aan hem voorgesteld. Hij zat er heel verwezen bij, na een ongelooflijk concert. Ik werd naar voren geduwd, en iemand zei: Il chant aussi. Dat was ik dan. Dat was alles. Hij hield er ook niet zo van, om na een concert nog allerlei mensen te ontmoeten.’

Ramses Shaffy, on meeting Jacques Brel.

Quick ‘n dirty translation:

‘When I first saw Jacques Brel, here in the Amsterdam Concert Hall, I couldn’t believe it. His performance! I stole a lot from him: to not wait for applause, to just go on, his power, his force. We have something fiery in common, but I don’t have his social concience. Brel was a real fighter, I’m not. He came from a middle class family, and Flemish too. He had something to react against, he was fed up with so much. I was never that angry, because I was always allowed to do whatever I wanted. One time I was introduced to him. He was sitting there, spaced out after an incredible concert. I was pushed to the front and someone said “he sings too”. That was me. And that was all. He didn’t like it that much, meeting loads of people after a concert.”

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Some more footage of Ramses Shaffy, who died today. He was Polish/Egyptian, born in France, but grew up with foster parents in The Netherlands.

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Dutch singer, actor, painter, poet Ramses Shaffy died in Amsterdam today. He was 76 years old and one of my childhood heroes. This was one of his hits, lyrics by my uncle Herman Pieter de Boer.

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