Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in ragnar1787's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, September 16th, 2010
10:35 pm	Slàinte! "The proper drinking of Scotch whisky is more than indulgence: it is a toast to civilization, a tribute to the continuity of culture, a manifesto of man's determination to use the resources of nature to refresh mind and body and enjoy to the full the senses with which he has been endowed." -- David Daiches, Scotch Whisky: Its Past and Present (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 8th, 2009
1:13 pm	WWII Russian Drinking Game "While they gulped down their drinks, I secretly poured mine over the floor behind me. After a warning, the light went out and immediately as many shots rang out as there were men in the room. The bullets were fired at the ceiling to indicate the beginning of the game. At once the room became silent. All you could hear in the darkness was some furniture being pushed about. This 'silence' lasted about five minutes. Nobody could decide to begin the game. Finally, from the direction of the sideboard, a voice shouted the first 'cu-ckoo.' I felt pretty sure it was the young officer who had first suggested the game. The word was barely out of his mouth when a dozen bullets crashed into the cupboard. In answer, I heard him roar with laughter, promptly followed by the same voice yelling 'cu-ckoo' from another corner of the room. Once more the revolvers opened up and again his laughter rang out. Suddenly 'cu-ckoo' was shouted by someone else, this time right beside me. Instinctively, I pressed myself to the floor. Most of the bullets spattered against the wall above me, but one ricocheted off it and whistled past my ear. I felt instantly sober. Remembering the sideboard -- a solid, heavy piece of furniture whose lower shelves were stacked with bags of flour -- I began crawling in that direction. The game was now at its height, 'cu-ckoos' and bullets flashing from every corner of the room. Reaching the sideboard, I managed to squeeze myself safely behind it. Having made sure that the sacks of flour were properly protecting my body, I carefully stuck out my head and yelled 'cu-ckoo.' The moment I withdrew my head, the sideboard shuddered and splintered from the barrage of bullets. Some of them, missing the sacks and my body, pierced the wood and landed with a dead thud against the wall. No, I thought to myself, I will never play this game again." (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
9:11 pm	(Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
11:08 pm	Favorite Albums of the Twenty-Oughts (just in case we don’t make it) 1. Beach House – Beach House (2006) Placing Beach House’s debut in the top spot was the easiest decision to make when forming this list. The decade has seen a number of great releases, but none as enchanting as Beach House. In parts and as a whole, the work is deeply personal and feels as private as a secret diary; listening to it is having someone share her intimate self with you. Lyrically, the content is largely elusive until many close listens. But being unable to decipher Victoria Legrand’s words only adds to the album’s aura of foggy mystery. Musically, the album is a haunted baroque music-box heard through the lush filter of an opiate dream. Beach House is not to be missed. 2. Feels – Animal Collective (2005) Of all the albums of the 2000s, this is the one that best helps me feel happy. Its waterfall of sound captures the sunny naïveté of childhood, even (or especially) when it ventures into percussive mania. But this is childhood as seen through the lens of maturity. The mood is cheerful, but there is an awareness – even a fixation – on mortality. 'Banshee Beat' is hands-down my favorite song of the decade. And without ‘Bees’ human life would perish. If Feels is right for you, you’ll need to play it often, and you’ll like to play it often. 3. Mclusky Do Dallas – Mclusky (2002) One of my favorite concert memories is of a buddy and me getting forcibly ejected from a show put on by this rambunctious Welsh trio. I’ve gotten the boot before, but it never was or never could be as fitting as having it happen at a Mclusky concert. Do Dallas is the band simultaneously at their most rowdy and their most catchy, but it will not – I repeat not – work as background music. Play this album only if you wanna have fun, and wanna have fun with guys having fun having fun. 4. It Was Hot, We Stayed In The Water – Microphones (2000) Why is this album so overlooked? I can’t figure it out, especially considering the amount of attention still given to its follow-up, The Glow, Pt. 2. Whatever the reasons, It Was Hot contains some of the most heartfelt music and emotionally uncensored vocals ever to vibrate through the air. Its effectiveness comes in part from contrast: it stays so restrained at times, that its eruptions of sound are made that much more powerful; moreover, the brutal fuzz of the instruments only accentuates the tenderness of the singing. 5. Kid A – Radiohead (2000) No list pretending to represent the 2000s’ best releases would be complete without Kid A… so I would have left it off out of spite if it wasn’t so damn excellent. In truth, Radiohead’s masterpiece helped me get through a hard period in my life. And now that times are better, it hasn’t lost any of its power. Unlike every other album by the band, there is not a single misstep on Kid A. I don’t know how many times I’ve restarted the album after only a few seconds, just to hear the opening keyboard line again. Still, it’s most satisfying letting all 50 minutes play uninterrupted. Being alone in a cold world never felt so warm. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
3:06 am	Tops of 2000s (apologies to the rest of '09) 6. Vision Creation Newsun – Boredoms (2001) The tribal music spawned from a self-contained glass-domed terraform sanctuary-of-life spinning through deep space… transmitted to Earth through a vortex. 7. Blacklisted – Neko Case (2002) You will like this album. It doesn’t matter who you are: you’ll find a reason of your own. The likeliest bet is that you’ll fall for Neko’s voice, which ranges from sugary to ghostly. But it’s unusual for someone blessed with such a lovely voice to also be among the most talented of songwriters. You’re bound to immediately enjoy some of the songs on Blacklisted, and perhaps all of them eventually. But even if you learn every note and word, you’ll have a helluva time dividing her songs into “happy” and “sad” or “bright” and “dark,” because on this album one is almost always the other. 8. Devotion – Beach House (2008) This album is a treasure chest containing the strongest songs that Beach House have yet pressed to vinyl. No songs on Beach House succeed on their own like ‘Gila’ and ‘Heart of Chambers’ do here. Devotion radiates a relaxed happiness that isn’t present on the duo’s debut. It’s easy to notice a sense of deep daydreaming in ‘Turtle Island’ and sleepwalking in ‘You Came To Me.’ And there’s so much hope even in what on the surface seem to be songs of loss, such as the irresistibly moving ‘D.A.R.L.I.N.G.’ 9. Since I Left You – Avalanches (2000) If there is one album in the history of music that is geniusly put together, this is it. The Avalanches’ groove-heavy collage of samples never fails to take me on a sonic pleasure cruise. To some extent, breaking this album into songs is only a labeling convenience: Like an adventure, Since I Left You cannot be divided beyond 1. 10. The Tyranny of Distance – Ted Leo & The Pharmacists (2001) Normally meaty, muscular guitars go hand in hand with rough, noisy songs. That stereotype is shattered on The Tyranny of Distance, which is above all a graceful and sensitive celebration of life. This music takes joy to new heights, and it won’t leave you behind when it takes flight. (Comment on this)
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
10:03 pm	Tops of 2000s (4 of 6) 11. Internal Wrangler – Clinic (2000) Combining words from three of this album’s song titles perfectly describes its dominant sound: Voodoo Death Stomp. If that doesn’t appeal to you, rest assured that every song that falls into the opposing category will softly steal your heart: ‘Earth Angel’ ‘Distortions’ & ‘Goodnight Georgie.’ But those are just two extremes of the rainbow, and Clinic doesn’t miss a color. Over its half-an-hour runtime, Internal Wrangler whirls you through every room in the psychedelic pleasurehouse. 12. Turn On The Bright Lights – Interpol (2002) Turn On The Bright Lights is one of those rare albums where any of its songs could be your personal favorite, and mine has changed again and again. The music soars to stunning heights (the climax of ‘PDA’), touches reluctant cynicism (‘NYC’), and softy turns within (‘Hands Away’)… it even rocks with knives out (‘Roland’). 13. Bang Bang Rock & Roll – Art Brut (2005) This stellar debut from the British 5-piece covers a lot of topics: impotence, art museums, bar fights, moving to L.A., monetary inflation, and very fast scooters, among other things. With that in mind, it’s amazing how well the thing gels as an album. The unusual tongue-in-cheek humor helps make Bang Bang Rock & Roll so much more than just a great power pop album. But it is irony! It is rock and roll!! 14. Roots & Crowns – Califone (2006) Although Califone’s electronic/musique-concrete elements can’t go unnoticed on Quicksand/Cradlesnakes, on Roots & Crowns they are no longer primarily detached from the proper songs, resulting in a more satisfying album. The standout tracks are the handful written by the band in collaboration: ‘Black Metal Valentine’ ‘Sunday Noises’ ‘A Chinese Actor’ and ‘Pink & Sour’. But the horn-hooked ‘Spider’s House’ and the Psychic TV cover ‘The Orchids’ show there are exceptions to the rule. 15. Read & Burn 01, 02, & 03 – Wire (2002, 2002, 2007) These trailblazers of punk (and beyond) are roughly twice the age of most other musicians on this list, but you wouldn’t know it from the energy and ingenuity on display throughout their Read & Burn series. The first two EPs update Wire’s tightly-geared straight-ahead noisy side. Five years later the blokes got to releasing Read & Burn 03, a four-song change-of-direction that reaches a long arm down from the clouds, inviting us all to lazily ride a floating white puff. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
1:57 am	the Twenty-Oughts (cont.) 16. Anonymity Is The New Fame – Frankel (2009) With a keen sense of dynamics, a gift for songcraft, and a voice as delicate as an airborne soap bubble, Michael Orendy – who is responsible for most every sound on Anonymity – is a one-man construction crew. The songs blessed with soaring climaxes (particularly ‘Weather Balloon’) are breathtaking, but the ones without them are equally stunning (the unsettling ‘Ticket Machine’ among them). Although the music is unquestionably sincere, don’t take it at face value: Nothing is quite what it seems, and the lilting tunes will leave you unaware that you’ve just explored the dark side of optimism. 17. Hercules & Love Affair – Hercules & Love Affair (2008) Hercules & Love Affair is so much dancey fun! But that’s not to say it’s shallow. A rotating cast of male and female vocalists keep the mood constantly fresh, which only helps the already-superb songwriting and grooves. Plus, nothing in the history of music is as fun to sing as Antony’s “Cannot be be! be! be! your half a wife/ Cannot hold! hold! hold! ho-old half a life.” This is the best album under the DFA banner, and it puts the entire genre of disco to shame (or does it raise it up to glory?). 18. And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out – Yo La Tengo (2000) This album, in competition with Painful as the band’s greatest, exhibits a strange range… more in mood than in sound. Its songs can be somber ruminations or sunny excursions. Either way, there is an elegant simplicity throughout. And Then Nothing will not shock you, but it will more than likely win you over. Sweet despair and knowing surrender, Yo La Tengo drip an unflinching sappiness that would cause other bands to blush and stick their heads in the sand. 19. Sung Tongs – Animal Collective (2004) I remember the first time I heard ‘Leaf House’: it was as if someone had opened a door to another dimension. There were spirals and fountains of color. And it’s probably the most “normal” song on Sung Tongs! The whole album, if we can generalize about it at all, is a strum-happy campfire hallucination, a game of hide-and-seek on summer vacation. Two or three of its songs have always gotten on my nerves and I don’t see that changing. That the album still ranks among the best of the decade speaks to the quality of the other nine songs… although some of those would likely irritate you. 20. Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By – Lovage (2001) There really isn’t anything I could say that would adequately describe this album, let alone express how awesome and idiosyncratic it is. Veteran hip-hop producer Dan The Automator is running the show, but the recurring voices of Mike Patton and Jennifer Charles have a dominion of their own. Romance is the predominant topic, but there’s a tendency towards hedonism and vaguely humorous pessimism. And this description is already a failure. (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 14th, 2009
2:06 am	Tops of 2000s (2 of 6) 21. Person Pitch – Panda Bear (2007) Some people crave peace and quiet. Personally, I tend to opt for peace and music, and it’s those times when I pull out Person Pitch. It’s an album that’s happy in its solitude, that paces itself to perfection. A funny thing about the set is that it’s entirely different beasts when played at day and at night. Sunlight brings something bouncy and triumphant out of the same songs that feel contemplative and subdued in the dark. 22. All Hour Cymbals – Yeasayer (2007) Yeasayer’s only album to date is a hard album to write about and an easy one to listen to. Its excesses are its strengths, and it hides excesses within more excesses. There’s a hint of Eastern mystical euphoria and a great sense of openness, yet these songs are deliberate and elaborate, welcoming structure while destroying the feeling of structure. If you explore music by downloading songs, ‘Sunrise’ ‘2080’ ‘Wait For The Wintertime’ and ‘Many Waves’ are more than worth the keystrokes. 23. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand (2004) I listened to this album a lot when it first came out, but eventually stopped spinning it at all. Upon revisiting it, there was no question that it had aged well. Playing it will put extra pep in a room full of friends or turn a quiet night into a dance-party-for-one. Franz Ferdinand is THE pop album from this decade that will keep its potency as long as people are willing to give it a listen. Ich heisse super fantastische!! 24. Echoes – Rapture (2003) Of all the albums to make this list, Echoes might be the most representative of the decade’s music. It’s hard to say why, but it could be because the album is so multi-spirited. Or it could be that whether it’s romping or romancing or despairing, nothing about it attempts to be any less superficial than it is. Or it could be that even with all the keyboards and dance-floor sensibilities, there is still no way you can call the Rapture anything other than a rock band. 25. Yearbook 1 – Studio (2007) There is something decadent about this music, something too pleasurable. It’s as if the Durutti Column joined forces with Liquid Liquid. This collection of Studio’s 2007 releases is tailor-made for those of us who like to sit down when we listen to dance music. Solid Good Times. (Comment on this)
Friday, June 12th, 2009
8:35 pm	Favorite Albums of the Twenty-Oughts (just in case we don’t make it) 26. As Heard On Radio Soulwax, Pt. 1 – 2 Many DJ’s (2002) I’m sure I’m not alone in never even hearing of a mash-up before the 2000s began. But for better or worse, that has changed. Without 2 Many DJ’s, we could remove “better or” from the previous sentence. As Heard On Radio Soulwax, Pt. 1 teaches us that ‘Genie in a Bottle’ can be superimposed on top of the Strokes’ ‘Hard To Explain,’ as well as Destiny’s Child on ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’ Only, for the result to be flawless instead of hideous, these two Belgian brothers have to be on the controls. 27. The Argument – Fugazi (2001) The Argument marked the end of the road for Fugazi, but – more importantly – it remains their best full album. Normally when I disagree with a band with prominent politics, it’s in spite of the fact. Fugazi are a strange reversal of this rule. Their swansong shows the band in their best possible light, with their excesses pulled in to serve the purpose of the song. ‘Ex-Spectator’ is the best-executed song Fugazi recorded since their first EPs. ‘The Kill’ is the slowest anthemic song I know. And there’s no reluctance to embrace delicious backing vocals and clean guitars. 28. Quicksand/Cradlesnakes – Califone (2003) Pull the mattress out the window and get ready to feel like you were born and raised in Kentucky. There are no shoelaces on this album’s shoes, and likely no underwear beneath its jeans. ‘Horoscopic Amputation Honey’ has the most pleasing paired chords in recent memory. ‘Your Golden Ass’ is the ominous Appalachian guitar stomp of apocalyptic paranoia. Califone proves that we all need more Red Red Meat in our musical diets. 29. Change – Dismemberment Plan (2001) “I’m an Old Testament type of guy/ I like my coffee black/ and my parole denied/ yeah.” Hard-edged and soft-in-the-center. A letter of resignation in neon lights. This album pulls at me from different directions, and not gently. And plus it sounds great: sharp shimmering guitars sparkling over a deep-bass bounce. For all but masochistic occasions, Change is the better choice than Emergency & I… in addition to it being actually recommendable. 30. Magnolia Electric Co. – Songs: Ohia (2003) Songs: Ohia’s final LP is a wise old owl of an album. The music feels so natural and the lyrics so vivid, they seem to have existed before being written. And you’ll be hard-pressed to find more earnest singing. It’s no wonder then that the result is so stirring. Understanding that there’s no malice in the lyrics “I’ll streak his blood across my beak/ dust my feathers with his ash” gets you close to the heart of the album. Still, “The real truth about it is/ no one gets it right/ The real truth about it is/ we’re all supposed to try.” (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 20th, 2009
4:47 pm	public service message "Here's my license..." (via T-Bomb Moneypiles) (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
9:21 pm	Thoreau "Nature is right, but man is straight. She erects no beams, she slants no rafters, and yet she builds stronger and truer than he. Everywhere she preaches not abstract but practical truth -- She is no beauty at her toilet, but her cheek is flushed with exercise. The moss grows over her triangles. Unlike the man of science she teaches that skeletons are only good to wear the flesh, and make fast the sinews to -- that better is the man than his bones." (December 15, 1840) "Men have a strange taste for death who prefer to go to museums to behold the cast off garments of life -- rather than handle the life itself. Where is the proper Herbarium -- the cabinet of shells -- the museum of skeletons but in the meadow -- where the flower bloomed -- or by the sea-side where tide cast up the fish -- or on the hills where the beast laid down his life. Where the skeleton of the traveller reposes in the grass there may it profitably be studied. What right has mortal man to parade any skeleton on its legs when once the gods have unloosed its sinews -- what right to imitate heaven with his wires -- or to stuff the body with sawdust -- which nature has decreed shall return to dust again?" (September 29, 1843) "The eye which can appreciate the naked and absolute beauty of a scientific truth is far more rare than that which is attracted by a moral one. Few detect the morality in the former, or the science in the latter." "[M]an's ignorance sometimes is not only useful but beautiful while his knowledge is oftentimes worse than useless beside being ugly." (February 9, 1851) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
8:51 pm	“I want a Big O!” (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 13th, 2008
8:51 pm	(4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
3:09 am	I selected the above from a link via TheAgitator a.k.a. Radley Balko (good for so much more than government horror stories), whose company I enjoyed this past weekend for the first time since Summer '04. At one point, our rooftop conversation circle included Balko, Reason editor-in-chief Matt Welch, and libertarian-outreach hero Drew Carey. Needless to say it was invigorating! (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 30th, 2008
6:53 pm	By far the funniest Reason.tv video yet Where's My Bailout? A rescue plan for the rest of us. (Comment on this)
Friday, October 3rd, 2008
7:13 pm	Feel bad about laughing (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
10:42 am	Monday night Yesterday, my sister and Arune drove down from Fresno to visit me in L.A. I had a slew of downtown bars lined up for the evening, all near the 7th Street metro station. So after we dined outdoors on salami-pastrami-melted-pepperjack bagel sandwiches with my departing neighbor, we took to the sewers. 20 minutes later we were on the roof of the Standard, drinking mojitos on a canvas water-mattress in the bowels of a metal mushroom, looking up at the stars and even taller skyscrapers. But everything gets old after a while, so we made our way back down to street level, heading towards that fine whiskey bar, Seven Grand (located off of 7th & Grand). Unfortunately, my drinking partners' flip-flops ensured that we didn't get further than the doorman. Moving down the Post-it note, we decided on Hank's Bar (one of the last dive bars remaining in downtown). Tequila for my sis, Jack and Coke for Arune, and Woodford for me. And after some courtesy cheese-blasted popcorn, we still had time for one more joint before sliding back down the sewers to Los Feliz. Naturally we chose the Golden Gopher, reputed by a reliable source to be a USC hotspot. Approaching on the sidewalk, there was no doorman, and then once inside, no bartender.. for a good block of minutes (group weedsmoke is my theory). Once that situation was reversed, we order shots of Don Julio anejo down the line, put em where they could do some good, and headed towards the underground. 5 miles later, we were walking down Vermont towards Franklin, passing Cafe Figaro, which is actually more of a restaurant-bar than a cafe. I had seen Wally was 'tending earlier in the night, and although officially business hours had expired, we sat down at the handpounded solid zinc bartop and Wally got to mixing. I quietly commented to my sister that Kiefer Sutherland was sitting at one of the tables outside, and she didn't quite believe me, so I told her to go out there, where Arune was on the phone. When she came back a few minutes later, she had her camera out, and showed me her brand new snap of her and the heroic Jack Bauer. When Jack/Kiefer came inside the restaurant to piss, he stopped at our portion of the zinc real estate, chatted for a spell, and ordered a round for us on him. And that Kronenbourg was my last drink of the night. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, August 29th, 2008
10:48 am	Two quotes from 'The Denial of Death' by Ernest Becker "Excreting is the curse that threatens madness because it shows man his abject finitude, his physicalness, the likely unreality of his hopes and dreams. But even more immediately, it represents man's utter bafflement at the sheer non-sense of creation: to fashion the sublime miracle of the human face, the mysterium tremendum of radiant feminine beauty, the veritable goddesses that beautiful women are; to bring this out of nothing, out of the void, and make it shine in noonday; to take such a miracle and put miracles again within it, deep in the mystery of eyes that peer out--the eye that gave even the dry Darwin a chill: to do all this, and to combine it with an anus that shits! It is too much. Nature mocks us, and poets live in torture." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "It is easier to lay down light burdens than heavy ones." (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, August 22nd, 2008
3:29 pm	"When admirers of Ayn Rand seek my services professionally, they often come with the secret hope, rarely acknowledged in words, that with Nathaniel Branden they will at last become the masters of repression needed to fulfill the dream of becoming an ideal Objectivist. When I tell them, usually fairly early in our relationship, that one of their chief problems is that they are out of touch with their feelings and emotions, cut off from them and oblivious, and that they need to learn how to listen more to their inner signals, to listen to their emotions, they often exhibit a glazed shock and disorientation. I guess I should admit that seeing their reaction is a real pleasure to me, one of the special treats of my profession you might say, and I do hope you will understand that I am acknowledging this with complete affection and good will and without any intention of sarcasm. The truth is, seeing their confusion and dismay, that it’s hard to keep from smiling a little." -- Nathaniel Branden, "The Benefits and Hazards of the Philosophy of Ayn Rand" (Comment on this)
1:15 pm	Buttman on Reason.tv (3 Comments |Comment on this)