Random Thoughts

on food - I ate some incredibly tasty sage cheddar from Bravo farms recently. The sage really added a whole new depth of flavor to what would have been a pretty darn good sharp cheddar. Remember not to overlook herb and spice enhanced cheeses!

on recorded music - 'Chores,' 'For Reverend Green,' and 'Fireworks,' or songs 3, 4 and 5 on Animal Collective's latest album Strawberry Jam, are my favorites on the record and maybe in their entire output as of yet. They really bring to mind the type of indie music the band must have been listening to in their high school years. Though these are very accessible pop songs, there is just enough AC weirdness (screams, unpredictable structural changes) intricate vocal harmony and strong sense of dynamics to mark them as AC tunes. Check it out.

on music videos at the gym - Please, please, Gold's club network programmers, stop playing those god awful hi-energy remixes of Message in a Bottle, Bam Bam (really you producers need to leave this track alone already, there's no improving on Sister Nancy and Tenor Saw's versions), and any other one-time hit song re-mixed in clubland. This whole corny club re-mix thing is like the very worst of disco; here's to a very sudden death to hi energy' music or whatever you want to call it.

on 'If I was a rich man' re-mixes - How does a song from the early 1900's Russia, yiddish inspired Fiddler on the Roof musical become a dancehall hit by Lady Saw, and later covered by Eve and Gwen Stefani? I'll tell you how - it's got a great little hook! If you want to earn lots of cash, then write some hooks and get yourself linked with some hip-hop and R&B artists. We need a fresh crop of hook writers out there - Kanye, Neptunes, Nate Dogg, etc. have all delivered in the past, but I think their proverbial hook well may be running dry. Once you have succeeded and are charging $1M per hook, just don't turn out like this guy. I'm deeply embarrassed for him.

on people I know in the military - I just saw one of my best friends from growing up, who recently finished basic training for officers. His rank is captain and he is an army psychologist. As such he is known as the 'head shrinker.' Definitely one of the few people I know who is serving in the military, in what I would say is a very personal, humanistic and noble type of service as army psychologist. You're parents aren't the only ones who are proud of you Breity! See you soon in Tacoma, or SF.