2. The Notekillers record (re)release show - At a bar I go to all the time anyway. No excuse.
3. Village Voice Siren Fest IV - Out-of-town friend-of-a-friend drama hijacked my ride. Not really my fault.
4. Being too cool to go to Lollapalooza - Damnit, I was too cool, but they went and robbed me of my opportunity to dis them.
5. Being too cool to go see the old, fat, Pixies - Turns out I was not too cool to skip this. It did provide one true highlight, though. See below.
6. MF Doom live. Twice. - I showed up late when he opened for Kweli and punked out when he headlined. The 'wah, I'm old and lame and have to go to work in the morning' excuse. Pathetic.
7. Black Star live - Yeah, I don't really feel too bad about this one. Maybe if they were actually working on a record or something. I've heard the hits enough.

• McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #13
• Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Letham
• Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
• RefWorks
• Madvillain

The Rosenbach Company: A Tragicomedy by artist Ben Katchor and composer Mark Mulcahy - A rock opera performed recital style in front of projected watercolors. The true story of legendary rare book dealer brothers.

At the Pixies... During "Debaser", in an ecstatic moment of shared passion, the two Jersey boys sitting to my right inadvertently came out of the closet, much to the surprise of the one guy's date.

Telling the new job I could start in 3 weeks. Giving the old job 2 weeks notice. Spending the intervening week holed up with a fat stash and the Freaks and Geeks box. Seriously, everyone should try this.

And A Special Shout-Out to The Philadelphia Independent
For the last three or four years, Philadelphia has been lucky enough to play host to a genuinely wonderful periodical. An enormous broadsheet ("Too Big to Read on the Subway" it's masthead proudly declares) with a sharp graphic sense heavily indebted to late 19th century newspapers as well as to other contemporary revivalists of the style (ahem, chris ware), the Independent offers the usual ziney mix of fiction, journalism, comics, and games of whimsy all executed with an uncommon level of skill, artistry, and joy. Unfortunately, the current issue (still available at your finer newsstands and honor boxes) is the end of the run. Let us pause a moment and give thanks that there was, for a while, a publication that still gave a shit.

	Newsom plays the harp like she was finger picking two guitars.

CocoRosie "La Maison de Mon Reve" - I hate to use the term, but it's lo-fi recordings of the kind that Lou Barlow and Eric's Trip perfected. Musically it's folky with bits of hip-hop (some beats, though never looped)

Joanna Newsom "Milk-Eyed Mender" - Harpist who plays the harp like she was finger picking two guitars. I love her voice but there are those who hate it. It's too bad cause her songs are something special.

Dillinger Escape Plan "Miss Machine" - So loud, so intense. The collective fear of every grandparent currently alive. Even too much for angry high school outcasts.

Animal Collective "Sung Tongs" - The album opens with two of the most original and best songs of the year, "Leaf House" and "Who Would Win a Rabbit". Like the Beach Boys "Party" and "Smiley Smile" cut together.

Dizzee Rascal "Showtime" - Just as a reminder "Boy In Da Corner" came out last year. I can't say it's better but it's just as good and even more importantly, a progression.

The Animal Collective album opens with two of the most original and best songs of the year...

Secret Machines "Now Here Is Nowhere"- Spacious then dense and with drums recorded like they were meant for a zeppelin album. Reminds me of Pink Floyd but sound nothing like them.

Fiery Furnaces "Blueberry Boat" - Long songs with lot's of changes and lots of cheap sounding synths. I hated it at first but couldn't get the desire to hear "Quay Cur" out of my head, so I finally bought it and listened to the album on repeat for four days.

Jay-Z / Dangermouse "The Grey Album" - Despite the novelty of the concept the album is a classic. Maybe the most well crafted beats since "Paul's Boutique".

The Walkmen "The Rat" - The album is really good but "The Rat" is the only song to stand up to the greats on this list. As a single though it eclipses most everything that came out this year.

	"Smile" should have been the biggest disappointment in rock history... but ends up a miracle.

Brian Wilson "Presents Smile" - How often do you hear and album and think "this may be the greatest album ever released"? Should have been the biggest disappointment in rock history as Brian decided to re-record the whole thing, but ends up a miracle.

Modest Mouse "Good News For People Who Love Bad News" - I gave up after the disaster of "The Moon And Antarctica". Happily someone smartly got rid of Brian Deck and Modest Mouse is back.

Pavement "All My Friends" - Finally we get a studio version of this song. I do not understand how this never made it onto an album or ep. It's one of their best songs.

ALSO:

Ellen Allien "Remix Collection" (old stuff though my intro to her work so.), Madvillian "Madvillainy", Murs "3:16", Vetiver "s/t", Casino vs. Japan "Hitori + Kaiso" (another collection but again, my intro)

HALO 2 - The whole reason we had a 2004.

"I (Heart) Huckabees" - Despite some difference of opinion this movie stands alongside the greats "The Big Lebowski" and "Rushmore" as an equal.

"Eternal Sunshine Of The SpotlessMind" - The movie I was waiting for.

DUDE, I saw a guy driving a cadillac CTS today. He was old and had a gray goatee and he looked like he belonged behind the wheel. You are far too young to be thinking of buying one of these. You don't even like playing golf.

If you're concerned about what a girl's going to think of you when you tell her what you drive, I think you should look at something aside from that wanna-be Dov Charney shit machine.

		1.) For example, you could stay American, go for the brand name and get something fun like the new Mustangs:

2.) Girls also like Jaguars. This is a proven fact. Maybe they think the car has a British accent or something? The XJS is the nicest one ever made, though a bit of a gas-guzzler.

		3.) What about Audi? Smart girls love Audis and the A4 is very nice for an entry-level car. I think the convertible A4 is outstanding:

4.) Also Audi has a new model arriving soon - the A3 if you're into sport hatchbacks. It's supposed to be fantastic.

		5.) Truth be told, I see you more as a vintage guy. I mean, shit, that piece of crap minivan you drove was ancient history on wheels. Since you don't seem to fear owning something used, why not go for a true classic - the BMW 3.0 csi? It's one of the sexiest cars ever made.

6.) I know that Dodge isn't exactly the kind of name you're looking for, but if you want to get some respect on the road for the minimum price possible, the SRT-4 is something to check out:

		7.) Maybe you're nervous about checking out Japanese cars because you think girls don't appreciate them, but Lexus seems to be an acceptable brand and the IS300 is really sleek.

8.) Another Japanese contender is the Mitsubishi Evo - either the MR or RS would be really nice. Yeah you won't get much approval from the really vain girls, but you'll get major props from the ones with massive acrylic fingernails who get off on riding alongside guys who flaunt public safety laws.

		9.) Consider this - getting a beater like this M3 and turning it into an art car!

10.) What if you go for the girl who gets turned on by a guy who has big plans for the future? Nothing says 'forward thinking' like the hybrid Prius. Sure it's ugly as sin but there's nothing pretty about pollution, my friend.

1. Transmission. Very important.
2. Rear sway bar. Made a big difference in corners.
3. K&N air filter. I get better gas mileage now.
4. Front hood shock. Now I don't need a broom to keep my hood up.
5. Ansa Muffler. cheap + chrome tips.
6. Oxygen sensor. To pass the smog test.
7. Wiper blades. Came in handy.
8. Fuel Filter. Now I've got that going for me.
9. Oil Filter. Bought a couple of these.
10. Front sway bar. Didn't fit.

ON THE TECHNOLOGICAL FRONT...

1. Archos AV400 series.
2. ATI TV All-In-Wonder Card.
3. D-Link DI-624 AirPlus Xtreme G Wireless Router
4. IR Blaster
5. LG Cell Phone - whattya think i took the picture of monkey liu with?

Fishing in Northwest Arkansas. "The fish are so plentiful that they jump right into the boat. I caught this one with my bare hands."

MY FAVORITE TV MOMENTS...

6. Buffy - Seasons 6+7 on DVD
7. Angel - Season 5
8. Curb Your Enthusiasm - Season 4
9. 24 - Seasons 1-3
10. Da Ali G Show - Season 2

MY FAVORITE MOVIES OF 2004...

11. Napoleon Dynamite
12. Control Room
13. Ong Bak
14. The Incredibles
15. Shaun of the Dead
16. The Grudge
17. Spider-Man 2
18. Super Size Me
19. Ninja Checkmate
20. Lone Wolf and Cub Series
21. 7 Grandmasters - monkey liu

	Grandmaster Monkey Liu

BEST AND WORST MOMENTS IN SPORTS...

22. St. Louis Cardinals
23. St. Louis Rams

TRAVELING IN 2004...

24. Hunting and Fishing in Northwest Arkansas
25. Weddings - from the East Coast to the Midwest back to the West Coast

Saturday, May 29. I was in Portland, Oregon to attend a wedding the next day. For some reason, I ended up taking a random, booze-saturated limousine ride for 3 hours with 3 friends and 3 strangers. There was champagne, Sparks, and a 40 of Schlitz Bull Ice involved. Afterwards, I ran afoul of raw oysters and almost got kicked out of the Mark Spencer Hotel. In my defense, I was mostly guilty by association. Plus, the hotel had thin walls.

My goal for 2004 was to leave my job, which I did on Thursday, December 23.

• Blood Farmers: Permanent Brain Damage
• Circus vs. Andre Afram Asmar: Gawd Bless the Faceless Cowards
• Awol One: Self-Titled
• The Electric Wizard: We Live
• Shapeshifters: The Shapeshifters Was Here

• Release of crucial Simpsons DVDs
• Taking Math 138 at Harvard
• Red Sox FINALLY win the World Series, while I was living in Boston, no less!

I arrived at a summer housewarming party an hour drive from where I lived, only to discover that my car's radiator sprung a leak. I dropped my car off at a reputable repair shop nearby, proceeded to get drunk, and got a ride home. The only problem was when I got home and realized that I had forgotten to leave my car key with the repair shop. DOH!

We'll miss you Russ.

RIP

• Russ Meyer
• Rodney Dangerfield
• Russell Jones (Ol' Dirty Bastard)
• Ray Charles
• Rick James

The Arcade Fire Funeral
A big win for the nerds! For their debut (on admirably humanist Merge Records), the Arcade Fire dug deep inside themselves to create a hermetic and paranoiac personal world, and then recorded it to share. I wish them well and hope that the early accolades don’t overburden them. Record of the year.

MF DOOM
2003 was the year of Madlib, who deftly passed the baton to Doom early in 2004 on their bugged-out collaboration, Madvillainy. Doom made good on the promise of that early-in-the-year highlight by increasing his already manic production pace, following up Madvillainy with a 2^nd rap-for-hire Viktor Vaugn disc, his solid solo disc MM..Food, updates of his Metal Fingers Presents Special Herb & Spices series and a memorable guest shot on De La Soul’s The Grind Date. Behind the mic or in the lab, Doom is control.

Jean Grae
We’ve been fans of Jean since she went by the name What? What?, and though she still hasn’t released that classic album she’s surely got in her, it was great to see her name showing up all over in 2004. Her record This Week demonstrated that she’s fierce on the mic, worthy production (as on the 9^th Wonder produced joint “Don’t Rush Me”) or no, Okayplayer embraced her and the Roots and Talib Kweli both invited her to spit on their releases. And what’s this about her album Jeanius being the dopest record you aren’t supposed to have heard yet? With Jean Grae, the best is yet to come.

Arrested Development
Before this post-sitcom’s late 2003 debut, most folks would have been hard pressed to even remember who Jason Bateman was; now my girlfriend is in love with him. ‘Ensemble cast family sitcom’ is technically accurate but terribly inadequate to describe the only non-syndicated network show that I bother to watch (ok, ok, I watch King of the Hill and Fear Factor, but both most often in reruns). Funny stuff.

Babel Vol. 1 by David B.
This lavish, full-color oversize comic from French cartoonist David B. is a real treat. As in his magnificent Epileptic, David B. examines his childhood, exploring the intersection of personal/family symbolism and social influences. Here, the organizing principle is his recollections of recurring dreams featuring a shadowy figure known as ‘The King of the World’. B.’s intensely subjective artwork blurs the distinction between fantasy and reality, creating a world in which the familiar and commonplace is imbued with a shadowy power and deep mysteriousness.

Ghostface The Pretty Tony Album, Unreleased Pretty Toney Outtakes and Theodore Unit 718
The era of the album as a definitive document is ended; the fluid, immaterial work-in-progress as digital information now rules. Consider: the Beatles franchise is pumped for money with the release of new mixes of classic material, bootleg remixes of pop albums surface and are cease-and-desisted into renown, and albums are routinely leaked to the internet before their release date, often in rough mixes or with provisional tracklists.

Consummate professional mc and superhero Tony Starks, aka Ghostface (Killah) may never again convince a label to let him release an album that is worthy of his talent, but as the internet-circulated unofficial version of his Pretty Toney album amply demonstrates, the problem is not with what Ghost is cooking up. Some of the prime leftovers from the Pretty Toney sessions, with other material, later showed up on the surprisingly-worth-buying posse disc Theodore Unit. Ghost even recorded an anticipatory eulogy to ODB (rip) on “Holla”. Go ahead and assemble your own top-shelf record out of these.

B.’s intensely subjective artwork blurs the distinction between fantasy and reality.

Richard Pryor Show DVD reissue
Deemed way too Black for network tv when it was aired in the late 70s, watching the half-hour special and four episodes that were produced today is revelatory. Not just a fucking funny show, but an attempt to give voice to an excluded people, The Richard Pryor show is one of a kind. The unedited DVD bonus material, offering a glimpse into the struggle Pryor and the show’s writers (including Paul Mooney) faced to get their material on the air, is pure gold.

Kramers Ergot 5
2004’s edition of this annual, immense comics anthology is essential reading. A year’s worth of publishing in one volume, KE5 offers the work of over a dozen established and emerging cartoonists, including Mark Bell, Chris Ware, paper rad, Gary Panter, Anders Brekhus Nilsen and more, more, more.

The Ex Turn
Venerable Dutch collective the Ex has somehow managed to remain recognizable without becoming clichéd or dull over the course of their 20 year recording career; the double album Turn is as good as anything they have ever released. Wisely choosing to stick with engineer Steve Albini, the Ex continue to kick up a racket on behalf of the have-nots. Their music is the sound of people playing in the ruins of today while remaining resolutely focused on their vision of an emancipated tomorrow.

Dollar DVDs!
I discovered Dollar DVDs at the Family Dollar store in Buffalo; I assume they are around at similar stores. Clearly exploiting public domain and international copyright loopholes, this no-frills, packaged in paper sleeves, can’t-possibly-get-any-cheaper line of DVDs has something to please everyone. Hitchcock films from the 20s (including the fab The Lady Vanishes), random Sonny Chiba and Jackie Chan films, Fleischer Superman cartoons, something titled Seven Lucky Ninja Kids, Vincent Price in House on a Haunted Hill, Larry the Lamb in Toy Town Adventures, collections of Chaplin shorts and all kinds of other crap. Though some of the offerings are virtually unwatchable (the Asian films especially), the picture and audio quality were generally much better than I expected.

Interpol Antics
If the amount of times I listened to a record has any positive correlation with its inclusion on this list, then Antics earned its place. Essentially a remake of their debut Turn on the Bright Lights, but more precise, Antics is the product of a band who knows itself.

• Murs "Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition"
• Jaylib "Champion Sound"
• Kool Keith & Kutmasta Kurt "Diesel Truckers"
• Fanny Pack "So Stylistic" (2003)
• Wilco "A Ghost is Born"
• Azita "Life on The Fly" LP
• Dizzee Rascal "Showtime"
• De La Soul "The Grind Date"
• Edo G feat. Pete Rock "My Own Worst Enemy"
• Gift of Gab "Fourth Dimensional Rocketships"
• Justus League "Just Us - Vol. 9"
• MF DOOM "MM Food"
• Vast Aire "Look Mom No Hands"
• Zion I "Family Business"
• Grip Grand "Poppin Pockets (feat. AG)" 12"
• Foreign Exchange "Connected"
• Skillz "I Ain't Mad No More" (2002)
• Spitkicker, Inc "The Next Spit, Vol. 3 (Hosted by MF DOOM)"
• The Chicharones (Josh Martinez & Sleep) "Boss Hogs" EP (2003)

• Tha Dogg Pound "Dogg Food" LP (1995)
• Asher D & Daddy Freddy "Ragamuffin Hip Hop" (1988)

• Dub (King Tubby, Scientist, Augustus Pablo, etc.)
• The Buzzcocks

• Sideways
• Super Size Me
• The Incredibles
• House of Flying Daggers
• Kill Bill: Vol. 2
• Napoleon Dynamite
• Ong-Bak (2003)
• House of Games (1987)
• Night Shift (1982)
• After Hours (1985)