iPod Top 100: 2019

1. “Red Bull & Hennessy” – Jenny Lewis
2. “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” – Lana Del Rey
3. “What Have You Done for Me Lately?” – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
4. “Old Town Road (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus) [Remix]” – Lil Nas X
5. “bad guy” – Billie Eilish
6. “Younger” – The Mountain Goats
7. “What’s Up Danger” – Blackway & Black Caviar
8. “Gotta Get to Know Ya” – Seratones
9. “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” – The Bob Seger System
10. “Doin’ Time” – Lana Del Rey
11. “Change” – Mavis Staples
12. “Final Form” – Sampa the Great
13. “Holy Roller” – Emily Wolfe
14. “Lo/Hi” – The Black Keys
15. “Son of a Lovin’ Man” – Buchanan Brothers
16. “Pretty” – Ingrid Michaelson
17. “Grendel’s Mother” – The Mountain Goats
18. “Ashamed” – Omar Apollo
19. “Treat Her Right” – Roy Head & The Traits
20. “Los Angeles” – X
21. “Celebrity Skin” – Hole
22. “Game of Thrones” – Los Straitjackets
23. “Eia La” – Barefoot Natives
24. “Connection” – Elastica
25. “What You Need” – INXS

Books read, 2019

Jan. 15: White Butterfly
March 3: Ready Player One
March 23: Sourcery
April 27: Starship Titanic
April 29: The Martian
May 30: Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry
May 30: Wyrd Sisters
Aug. 7: Warriors & Weapons
Aug. 15: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Aug. 22: Monsters & Creatures
Aug. 26: Expiration Date
Sept. 5: Harry Potter: A History of Magic
Sept. 24: Pyramids
Oct. 6: Black Betty
Oct. 27: Horror Stories
Nov. 27: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Nov. 30: Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana
Dec. 10: His Majesty’s Dragon
Dec. 28: Dungeons & Tombs

I’ve been slogging through a novel by one of my favorite authors for the last few months. I love his work, and want to love this one, but it’s the kind of piece that reads like it’s something the writer is in love with, and can’t be dissuaded from. We’ll see if I make it through it in 2020.

The goal for 2020 is 20 books.

My most-popular stories of 2019

For all you metrics nerds, I’m looking at total engagement minutes.

1. Scandia fun park in Ontario sold, will not reopen as an amusement park

2. Gov. Newsom visits Ridgecrest after declaring state of emergency after 2 major earthquakes

3. Los Osos High band teacher dies by suicide after learning of police investigation, officials say

4. Los Osos High band teacher accused of soliciting sexually explicit photos, videos from students

5. Student dies 9 days after campus attack at Moreno Valley Landmark Middle School

6. Expert for La Verne school’s legal team says 12-year-old special needs student was willing participant in sexual abuse

7. Life is tough in Trona – and a pair of earthquakes just made it tougher

8. Family of Diego, boy who died after Landmark Middle School assault, takes legal action; says he was bullied

9. Moreno Valley OKs marijuana dispensary over objections from landlord, neighbors

10. Upland mom accused of killing 1 child, tossing another from a second-story landing, pleads not guilty

Not a barrel of laughs in 2019. Here’s hoping 2020 turns out better.

iPod Top 100: 2018

The name makes increasingly less sense as time goes on, and iPods join Walkmen as museum pieces, but the name is traditional at this point.

1. “Glue Sniffer” – Daddy Issues
2. “Make Me Feel” – Janelle Monáe
3. “Best Friend” – Sofi Tukker
4. “When the Tequila Runs Out” – Dawes
5. “Lucky Penny” – JD McPherson
6. “Hope the High Road” – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
7. “Wild and Reckless” – Blitzen Trapper
8. “Bikini” – Caroline Rose
9. “Kill of the Night” – Gin Wigmore
10. “Oldest Surfer on the Beach” – Jimmy Buffett
11. “Sweet Child O’ Mine” – Metalachi
12. “Island Song” – Adventure Time and Ashley Ericksson
13. “Hunt You Down” – The Hit House
14. “Flower of the Universe” – Sade
15. “Today is the Day” – The Eels
16. “Run to Your Mama” – Goat
17. “California Love” – 2Pac
18. “You Will Be Free” – The Thermals
19. “Matador” – The Buttertones
20. “Jenny Loves the Sun” – Dead Coast
21. “Bomb (Girly-Sound Version)” – Liz Phair
22. “Livin’ On a Prayer” – Metalachi
23. “Kelp Monster” – Babewatch
24. “Swedish Fish” – Bombón
25. “Suckerfish (Girly-Sound Version)” – Liz Phair

(more…)

My most popular stories of 2018

These are the stories readers engaged with the most in 2018, according to Parse.ly, which is the software that the Southern California News Group uses to track reader engagement.

Once again, they’re mostly bad news. We write good news stories, but it’s the grim stuff that gets the most eyeballs, for multiple reasons.

10. Victorville prison where immigrant detainees held built atop toxic Superfund site

9. San Bernardino County settles for $390,000 with families of girls arrested to ‘teach them a lesson’

8. Why 7 Rialto Unified teachers were reported to credentialing authority over past 5 years

7. Lawsuit claims Moreno Valley Unified officials, PTA leaders tried to cover up sexual assault of special-needs third-grader

6. Police records: Upland council candidate Rudy Zuñiga is Vagos outlaw motorcycle gang member

5. Physical abuse, inappropriate contact get 3 Apple Valley Unified teachers reported to state credentialing authority

4. 4 Rancho Cucamonga students have committed suicide since start of school year

3. Artificial turf fields are failing across Southern California, costing millions. Here’s why.

2. Chino church mourns after pastor’s suicide

1. Parents in Perris torture case charged, plead not guilty; DA says kids were beaten, allowed one shower a year

Journalists generally shy away from stories about suicide, due to the very real, if somewhat surprising (at least to me), threat of suicide contagion. But the situation in Rancho Cucamonga, and then Chino, was so serious and already the topic of rumor and speculation that we felt we had to tackle it, both to put the actual facts out there as well as provide context and resources.

I’m pretty proud of the results. And I plan to return to the topic again in 2019, with a somewhat ambitious, months-in-the-making follow-up on the issue. Stay tuned.