Top 20 Albums of the Aughts (so far): Honorable Mentions

Okay, here are the "Honorable Mentions" for my Top 20 list:

"Across the Universe" soundtrack (2007)

Amy Winehouse "Back to Black" (2007)

Arcade Fire "Neon Bible" (2007)

Chemical Brothers "Push the Button" (2005)

Coldplay "Parachutes" (2000)

Damien Rice "O" (2003)

Derek Webb "Mockingbird" (2005)

Feist "The Reminder" (2007)

Gwen Stefani "The Sweet Escape" (2006)

Jack Johnson "In Between Dreams" (2005)

"Lost In Translation" soundtrack (2003)

Madonna "Music" (2000)

Matt Kearney "Nothing Left to Lose" (2006)

Mute Math [self-titled] (2006)

"Once" soundtrack (2007)

Scissor Sisters (2004)

Radiohead "Amnesiac" (2001)

Radiohead "Kid A" (2000)

Weezer "Green Album" (2001)

Weezer "Red Album" (2008)

So there you have it. 40 of my favorites. The only reason these didn't make the "Top 20" are because they are more a collection of songs I like than an album I want to sit down and listen to start-to-finish. They're good... they're just missing an ingredient that would propel them to the top of the list.

Thoughts?

A Promise to Jen

"I know a man...
And he's old at thirty-three
No one wants to be
Old at thirty-three
Your disposition sours
Like a lemon on a tree
Don't let it happen to you
And I won't let it happen to me

Be my life's companion
Tnd you'll never grow old
I'll love you so much
That you'll never grow old
Love and youth and happiness
Are yours to have and hold
Be my life's companion
And you'll never grow old!"

- from "Be My Life's Companion"
as performed by Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong

Top 20 Albums of the Aughts (so far)

After a conversation with my friend David about the new Coldplay album, and where it would fall in my list of favorite albums of this decade (and apparently it wouldn't make his list at all), I decided to put together a list of my favorites.

Here it is, listed in alphabetical order:

Air "Talkie Walkie" (2004)

Band of Horses "Cease to Begin" (2007)

Beck "Sea Change" (2002)

Beck "Guero" (2005)

Coldplay "Viva la Vida" (2008)

Coldplay "A Rush of Blood to the Head" (2002)

Danger Mouse "The Gray Album"

Death Cab for Cutie "Plans" (2005)

The Flaming Lips "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots" (2002)

Gorillaz "Demon Days" (2005)

Madonna "The Confessions Tour (Live)" (2007)

"Moulin Rouge" soundtrack (2001)

No Doubt "Rock Steady" (2001)

The Postal Service "Give Up" (2003)

Red Hot Chili Peppers "Stadium Arcadium" (2006)

U2 "All That You Can't Leave Behind" (2000)

U2 "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" (2004)

White Stripes "Elephant" (2003)

White Stripes "Icky Thump" (2007)

White Stripes "White Blood Cells" (2002)

I'm following up with a list of "Honorable Mentions", but this is where it stands now.

Thoughts?

What is it about Walt?

Lots of friends have been amused and curious about my love of Disney. And it runs deep. I'm a stockholder (okay, I own a SINGLE share, but I do own stock), I make frequent trips to the parks, and even lived in Orlando for a short while to be close to the Walt Disney World Resort.

But my love of the Mouse has it's limits... there's a lot of stuff out there with the Disney "brand" on it that isn't worth even noticing. I'm appaled by the cheesy Disney animated sequels that can be found crammed into bins at your local Wal-Mart and the hawking of Princess stuff at every Disney Store in the nation.

My interest has always been in Disney as a "name", not a "brand". The name of a man whose films, TV shows and parks that were (and are) hallmarks of quality.

I simply love the works of art created by Walt Disney and his staff of artists so many years ago. The films, the parks that he developed and inspired. And I even enjoy the QUALITY films and parks the Disney artists have created in the years since his death (and yes, that includes Pixar, which is run more like Walt's studio than the Disney Company is currently operated).

Earlier this year, on a blog that I frequent, Honor Hunter (no relation) put into words the way that I and thousands of others have been enamored by a simple guy from the midwest who, quite simply, did the impossible.

Here's the link to the article:
Blue Sky Disney: Progressland article

-chad

"it pays to read your email", or "how I got married"

So I haven't updated this blog in about a month. And that's only with one post. Don't exactly have a good track record going for me, do I?

Anyways, I came to the conclusion that I'm gonna write this blog to catch up old friends who I haven't had a chance to talk to in awhile and I can bore them with long stories via my blog instead of in person. But I don't consider the next little tale to be a boring one. In fact, it's the one that has had the biggest impact on my life, well, ever. And it all started two years ago tomorrow...

I did what everyone has probably done at one point or another, whether they are willing to admit it or now. I signed up for a MySpace account. Why? Can't exactly remember. Probably because everyone else is doing it, and it's less painful than following everyone over a cliff.

Along with a description of myself, I had to put a picture. I remember not wanting to post a picture of myself on my profile (which is weird looking back on it because I had just lost 70 lbs. and was not disgusted with my appearance for the first time in a decade). Instead, I posted a picture of a Starbucks cup with my name written on it.

I got this particular Starbucks cup while walking one morning. Me and my former roommate, David Price, used to get up and walk from our apartment at the Villager near 440 in a 5-mile loop every morning as part of the aforementioned weight-loss regimen. About 1/3 of the way through the walk was a Starbucks where I would stop and get a skinny vanilla latte or something like that (I know, drinking a latte while exercising seems absurd, but this was usually about 6:15 am, and I needed the boost). I was always stuck carrying an empty cup on the return trip to the apartment, so one morning, I decided to impale it on top of an iron fence behind the Regions Bank in Hillsboro Village. And there it stayed for over a year-through rain, sleet and snow (I still have the cup, by the way. Found it shortly after someone removed it one day and I had to keep it, for sentimental value).

So where was I... my profile picture! It was the cup that had my weathered name on it, and my preference of drink indicated on the side. I started the MySpace account and had my friends on there. It was mainly to stay in touch with friends from far-away places, and possibly network for my career. I remember specifically thinking it was NOT FOR A RELATIONSHIP. I had ended a relationship a couple of months prior (great gal, but it just wasn't meant to be). Before that I had been in a relationship that can only be described as "EPIC FAIL". So dating was the last thing on my mind.

Well, one day I came home from work. I checked my MySpace account and saw an email from a cute girl entitled "Like the profile". I was intrigued, to say the least! I liked my profile too! So we had something in common! Anxiously, I opened the email, and it said:

"Well hi Chad! I never email people on myspace.....normally I just check it everyday to see if anyone has asked to be my friend. You know..it's a great place to develop deep friendships (sense the sarcasm?). But....I like your profile. I can relate to what you are saying about being bored. I feel like I just went through a major phase of "boredom" and "what's the point of everything". While I was feeling that way, I was coming up with all these things I wanted to do and saving money to do them....and then all of a sudden I became content again. Weird how that works.

I like the starbucks cup profile pic.

Anyway....if you are bored.....feel free to email me back.

Jen"

So I was duly intrigued, and far from bored after reading her email. Here's someone who felt like they could relate to me after reading my profile? THAT profile?!? Immediately, I read her profile, looked at her photos and wanted to know more about this beautiful woman who wrote me out of the blue. I finally decided the only way to know more about her was to do the obvious and write her back... I don't remember what all I said (and MySpace deleted the response... sigh. Hopefully Jen has it). I do remember making some comment about trying to prove that MySpace could be for more than seducing 14-year old girls to move to the Middle East. It was coherent enough that Jen ACTUALLY WROTE BACK.

And no one could've been more surprised than me.

After a couple of months of talking on MySpace every day, I actually got up the nerve to meet her for coffee at Bongo Java (I know... two months? I'm so brave!). We had never spoken on the phone, never saw but a few photos of each other. We met that night it was great. We talked for a very long time, even though the temperature was SO HOT. As the night ended, I told her I wanted to see her again, and so it started. And before too long, I knew she was the one.

We were engaged just a few months later on December 21, 2006.

So, if you're reading out there, Jen - thank you for being brave enough to write to a total stranger and start what is the greatest adventure of my life, two years ago. And thank you for the friends who never gave up hoping and praying that I would finally meet my soul mate. I'm glad to tell you that your prayers were answered.

-chadley

Gelato Combo of the Day

Whole Foods gelato combo: chocolate + mint

Just okay... 6 out of 10

Today's