iPod Top 100: 2017

Because the unexamined musical taste is not worth indulging.

And yes, a lot of stuff off of soundtracks this year, along with stuff I was listening to on KROQ when I moved to Los Angeles 20 years ago this past August. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

I hope there will be more looking forward musically in 2018, rather than looking back.

1. “Love Is” – Dude York
2. “You’ll Never Walk Alone” – Dropkick Murphys
3. “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” – Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
4. “Talk to Me” – Run the Jewels
5. “I Love Seattle” – Tacocat
6. “Nowhere to Run” – Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
7. “Big Time” – Peter Gabriel
8. “Fight the Power” – Public Enemy
9. “The Power” – Sweet Spirit
10. “Love” – Lana Del Rey
11. “Add It Up” – Violent Femmes
12. “Little Blue World” – Jeremy Messersmith
13. “Morning Glory (iTunes Live: London Festival)” – Oasis
14. “Everywhere” – Ex Hex
15. “Gamma Knife” – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
16. “Cigarettes & Alcohol” – Oasis
17. “Fox on the Run” – The Sweet
18. “Blister in the Sun” – Violent Femmes
19. “Der Kommissar” – After the Fire
20. “Immigrant Song” – Led Zeppelin
21. “Don’t Look Back in Anger” – Oasis
22. “Baby Driver” – Simon & Garfunkel
23. “Hazy Shade of Winter” – The Bangles
24. “The End of Things” – Bob Mould
25. “Nightmare” – Bruise Violet

(more…)

Books read, 2017

In 2017, I did something I haven’t done since 2013, which was abandon an unreadable book. Despite that, I easily beat my goal of reading 17 books over the course of the year, in part because my fifth grader and I started our own book club, to help him reach his reading goals in school.

Ironically, A Wrinkle in Time is an easier read, according to the Accelerated Reader website than the Warcraft and Minecraft novels we read, despite being much meatier in all the most important ways. And yes, he and I will be there opening weekend for the movie this spring, so we can play compare and contrast with the book.

This year’s goal is 18 books. I had never intended to have these synch up with the calendar year, but that’s an easy way to remember the goal, I suppose. (It’s going to be grim in 2100, though.)

1. Jan 20: World of Warcraft: The Official Cookbook
2. Jan 23: Razor Girl
3. Feb. 13: The Color of Magic
4. Feb. 17: The Pirate Planet
5. March 1: Devil in a Blue Dress
6. March 27: The Light Fantastic
7. May 2: World of Warcraft: Chronicle 1
8. May 27: Norse Mythology
9. June 29: The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump
10. July 9: Glory Road
11. July 21: World of Warcraft: Chronicle 2
12. July 25: Keep Mars Weird (abandoned)
13. Sept. 4: Treasure Island
14. Oct. 16: The Swords of Lankhmar
15. Oct. 30: World of Warcraft: Traveler
16. Oct. 31: Disney Pirates: The Definitive Collector’s Anthology
17. Nov. 6: Equal Rites
18. Dec. 3: Minecraft: The Island
19. Dec. 14: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
20. Dec. 14: A Wrinkle in Time