Ianhank’s Weblog

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I was thoroughly pleased by this year in music. What I wasn’t pleased in was the way said music was rated at the end of the year in the top albums. Sooooo, I would like to voice my own opinion on  what I believe to be the top 20 albums of 2008. I hope you can agree:

20. She & Him: Volume One

19. Gnarls Barkley: The Odd Couple

18. Clark: Turning Dragon

17. High Places: High Places / 03/07-09/07

16. Air France: No Way Down

15. Marnie Stern: This is It and I am It and You are It and so is That and He is It and She is It and It is It and That is That

14. The Hold Steady: Constructive Summer

13. Atlas Sound: Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel

12. Department of Eagles: In Ear Park

11. Fucked Up: The Chemistry of Common Life

10. Titus Andronicus: The Airing of Grievances

9. No Age: Nouns

8. Portishead: Third

7. Cut Copy: In Ghost Colours 

6. Lil’ Wayne: Tha Carter III

5. Bonnie “Prince” Billy: Lie Down in the Light

4. TV On The Radio: Dear Science,

3. Deerhunter: Microcastle

2. Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes / Sun Giant EP

1. Hercules and Love Affair: Hercules and Love Affair 

Many will disagree with my choice for the album of the year, but I haven’t listened to anything that funky since the 70’s. 

First week of college. huzzah!

But seriously, it has been quite a wild ride. It’s a little bit like camp (but considering the fact that I went to an all boy’s camp for three years, there is a larger contingency of these “female” types). *note: the parentheses will keep coming. Orientation week featured such acts as “Lube it Up!” a sex-talk with an emphasis on how to use condoms and other contraceptives in creative ways (saran wrap included). Hilarity. Other funsies came from Frank Warren, the creator and curator of the phenomenon known as Post Secret. Intense. Frank asked us to step up and tell our own secrets to our “friends” which we had known for a whopping three days.

Which brings me to my anecdote: a good friend of mine wishes to send in a secret: I downloaded a Dave Matthews Band Album and listened to the whole thing…and I enjoyed it. I hope he/she does not get angry with me for blogging about his/her secret, but I’m sorry. I must.

I tried not to judge him but it is just so hard in a circumstance like this one. Especially when I am enjoying my first weeks of hopefully a full four year college experience at the birthplace of liberal that is Sarah Lawrence College (it. is. awesome.). I’m not the only music snob here! It’s great to see a guy walking across the lawn wearing a Panda Bear t-shirt, and not be the only one who recognizes who Panda Bear is. I love this place.

Well, then. ‘Tis time to sign off for I must join my fellow classmates in the works of William Faulkner. ah, southern literature.

Firstly, and foremostly, (yes, I know it’s not a word) I am Ian. I am hip like the wordpress tells me because I now have a blog. I hope that works for introductions because I don’t really want to go through the whole “my life story” thing…I’m like my friend Andrew Danger (promotion, Andy! (I think his blog is cowboykiller.wordpress.com)). I like parentheses. I will get to everything else later.

But for now, let’s talk about fakers.

i.e. Brett Favre and Lance Armstrong. What fuckers, right? 

If you don’t know about either of these guys then you are slightly out of the loop (you may as well lie down in a dumpster to be taken away by the next trash man willing).

Both of these super-human athletes are kind of a big deal. Brett is currently playing for the New York Jets, which is strange because he should be playing for the fucking Green Bay Packers. The reason being of course, the fact that he decided to pull out of the vagina that is NFL Football a tad to early, only to realize that the tingly feeling he was experiencing was not his load about to be released, but the desire to graze his hands against the taint of some three hundred pound center just one last time.

Lance Armstrong, on the other hand, has been the Maillot Jaune of the greatest, most physically testing athletic competition in all of man-kind (I’m a cyclist and biased). The Tour de France has intense physical consequences, and to win in any circumstance is great, but to win after having brain, lung, and testicular cancer is an even greater accomplishment. Too bad Lance is an asshole. Yes, an asshole. He has made it very clear to all other competitors that he is the best, and he has no problem flaunting that claim. He is one of those celebrity types that really has a knack for making everyone hate him for what he says. I understand where he is coming from, but seriously, have some humility. I personally think he is scared, and if his return to the professional cycling world is shrouded with a right-off-the-bat defeat, that would be absolutely hilarious. 

FUCK YOU, Lance. Never really liked the guy anyway, even when he was on top.

I can kind of see where Brett Favre is coming from, but I do not see why Lance Armstrong wants to re-prove that he is the best. It’s not like he is trying to show the world he has balls because its quite obvious that h-oh right, that cancer thing.