RKNet Blog... Thing

In this mix, for your listening pleasure, I thought I’d slow things down, and stretch things out a little. Kind of get you all in the mood for some late night philosophy and spooning. I’m too cheap to ply all of you with booze so I thought I’d make you a mix tape, kind of give you a little something to ruminate on before I discuss the merits of an open view of love in this century and bum drinks off you all night. Hope that’s cool, ’cause we’re totally friends right broham?

Anyway, the background image for this tape is Sisters G from Gatochy’s flickr stream. I can think of no nicer image to go with the theme of “everything is better in pairs”. Except for maybe some extra-adorable mittens, but it’s Spring now and no more of THAT! Anyway, for the sake of not writing all over the lovely ladies’ faces, I just titled the tape “Pairs”.

Pairs are exactly what you’ll get on this tape. Let’s explore the contents, shall we?

1. Jesus and Mary Chain - April Skies
• I listened to this song the other day on the way to work and it improved my mood like nothing else could at that very moment. Music to soothe the savage neurotic.
2. Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands
• The second J&MC track is one of my favorites. “I wanna move, I wanna go, oh I wanna go, do-do-de-do-do-doo…”
3. Donovan - There is a Mountain
• Heard this on the radio the other night and thought “WOW, Donovan was on a lot of drugs“. Pure listening enjoyment, here.
4. Donovan - Epistle to Dippy
• I went with one I’m unfamiliar with, to avoid the folly of ignoring deep tracks. It’s got a bit of a Velvet Underground feel. Check the pedigree though!
5. Jonathan Richman - Satisfied Mind
• I chose this track because it’s a classic (1955 by Porter Wagoner), and Richman’s treatment of it is a great introduction to his style.
6. Jonathan Richman - Springtime in New York
• Truth be told, all I can think of when I read this is Stephen King’s The Wastelands. It’s all those dreams about NYC they have.
7. Cocorosie - By Your Side
• Takes a helluva woman to offer to wear someone’s black eyes. I love the way they layer sounds.
8. Cocorosie - Butterscotch
• Why DOES butterscotch taste so good? Dig the sweet singing and electronic rooster noises.
9. Harry Nilsson - You’re Breaking My Heart
• The guy who wrote “one is the lonliest number” says fuck. Several times. AWESOME.
10. Harry Nilsson - Moonbeam Song
• From the sounds of this song, you can see where he fits with Richman and Donovan. Rich metaphor paired with a bare-hearted, literal approach combine for maximum enjoyment.
11. Jeff Tweedy - California Stars
• Just Jeff and the guitar singing a lovely tune from Mermaid Avenue that was originally penned by Woody Guthrie.
12. Wilco - Jesus, Etc.
• Rounding out this mix is Jeff with the rest of his usual band, Wilco, in a tune off of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The opening violin reminds me of Yoshi’s Island.

I hope you all enjoy this! What are some of your favorite pairs of songs?

April Fools’ Day, one of the most loathsome and wasteful days the calendar year has to offer, has come and gone. Most everyone seems to have survived, thankfully.

DeviantArt, known for being a haven of artists producing works ranging from hackle-raising (no pun intended) furry fan art to really good photography, decided to celebrate this traditional day of asshattery by pranking all of its users. The accomplished this feat, not by Rickrolling everybody and their brother, but by taking care of exposing the masses to another already-mostly-expired internet meme.

For the duration of April first, all DeviantArt user pics were changed to a looping animated gif of a Mudkip, which displayed the phrase “so I heard you like mudkips??”. (Well, more or less anyway.)

A lot of people seemed to be under the impression that DeviantArt had been “hacked” by 4chan. A lot of other people didn’t seem to mind at all. Indeed some even seemed to embrace the siren song of the anime rendition of an axolotl forever om nom nom nom-ing in their profiles and various visited pages.

It was of course only a joke and DeviantArt returned everyone’s avatars to normal when it was April 2nd. April Fools’ Day was pretty uneventful for yours truly, I think I would have liked to have had a little omigod hax! rather than an entire day of waiting for someone to do something awful to me. Anybody out there get meme bashed or otherwise tricked this past April 1st?