Author: josh

My Five-star Songs

I just made a quick list of all my five-star songs in iTunes and sorted them by play count. Note, these are only the number of times I’ve played these songs since Spring of 2006 (when I lost all my previous metadata). Still, this probably is a pretty good reflection of my favorite 100 songs, even if the ordering may be a bit off. (The fact that there are exactly 100 is coincidence.) Enjoy. Discuss. For bonus points, criticize my devil-may-care choice of a <ul> instead of a <table>.

They’re listed like this: Song Title / Artist Name / Play Count

  • Cubicle / Rinôçérôse / 34
  • From the Morning / Nick Drake / 31
  • Comfort Eagle / Cake / 28
  • Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger / Daft Punk / 28
  • Pink Moon / Nick Drake / 28
  • Qué Onda Guero / Beck / 27
  • Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois / Sufjan Stevens / 27
  • Digital Love / Daft Punk / 24
  • Place to Be / Nick Drake / 24
  • E-Pro / Beck / 23
  • Future / Cut Copy / 23
  • Casimir Pulaski Day / Sufjan Stevens / 23
  • Clap Hands / Beck / 22
  • Elevator Music / Beck / 22
  • Feel Good Inc. (Album Crossfade) / Gorillaz / 21
  • Shake Your Coconuts (DFA Mix) / Junior Senior / 21
  • Why, When, How (Bonus Track) / Justin Timberlake / 21
  • Black Tambourine / Beck / 20
  • The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song / The Flaming Lips / 20
  • BAD CARTRIDGE (E-Pro) [Remix] / Beck / 19
  • Let Go / Frou Frou / 19
  • Jacksonville / Sufjan Stevens / 19
  • GHETTOCHIP MALFUNCTION (Hell Yes) / Beck / 18
  • Get Real Paid / Beck / 18
  • One More Time / Daft Punk / 18
  • Hide and Seek / Imogen Heap / 18
  • GAMEBOY/HOMEBOY (Qué Onda Guero) / Beck / 17
  • Loser / Beck / 17
  • Emerald City / United State of Electronica / 17
  • Fire Coming Out of the Monkey’s Head / Gorillaz / 16
  • Quiet / John Mayer / 16
  • Dear Mr. Supercomputer / Sufjan Stevens / 16
  • The Henney Buggy Band / Sufjan Stevens / 16
  • (My 1st) Big Break / Cut Chemist / 15
  • Lion Song / Harrod and Funck / 15
  • Search and Destory / Iggy And The Stooges / 15
  • SexyBack / Justin Timberlake / 15
  • Ghostbusters / Ray Parker Junior / 15
  • They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh! / Sufjan Stevens / 15
  • City of Blinding Lights / U2 / 15
  • The New Pollution / Beck / 14
  • Novacane / Beck / 14
  • A Lack of Color / Death Cab for Cutie / 14
  • Señorita / Justin Timberlake / 14
  • Chicago / Sufjan Stevens / 14
  • Hotwax / Beck / 13
  • Where It’s At / Beck / 13
  • Aerodynamic / Daft Punk / 13
  • Lion Song / Harrod and Funck / 13
  • Such Great Heights / The Postal Service / 13
  • The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us / Sufjan Stevens / 13
  • Irene / tobymac / 13
  • It Is On! / United State of Electronica / 13
  • Intergalactic / Beastie Boys / 12
  • Don’t Panic / Coldplay / 12
  • I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You / Colin Hay / 12
  • Title and Registration / Death Cab for Cutie / 12
  • Bigger Than My Body / John Mayer / 12
  • Vertigo / U2 / 12
  • Chain Reaction / Beck / 11
  • Hollywood Freaks / Beck / 11
  • Sissyneck / Beck / 11
  • Daughters / John Mayer / 11
  • Let Me Tell You About My Boat / Mark Mothersbaugh / 11
  • A Million Parachutes / Sixpence None The Richer / 11
  • She Blinded Me With Science / Thomas Dolby / 11
  • Good Vibrations / The Beach Boys / 10
  • Readymade / Beck / 10
  • High 5 (Rock the Catskills) / Beck / 10
  • Queen Bitch / David Bowie / 10
  • Do You Realize?? / The Flaming Lips / 10
  • No Such Thing / John Mayer / 10
  • Move Your Feet (Radio Edit) / Junior Senior / 10
  • Rock Your Body / Justin Timberlake / 10
  • Brand New Colony / The Postal Service / 10
  • Beautiful Day (Live From Boston) / U2 / 10
  • Get It Together / Beastie Boys / 9
  • Mahna Mahna / Cake / 9
  • Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1 / The Flaming Lips / 9
  • Samba Tranquille / Thievery Corporation / 9
  • Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows / The Beatles / 8
  • Sexx Laws / Beck / 8
  • Tropicalia / Beck / 8
  • Lord Only Knows / Beck / 8
  • Water Runs Dry / Boyz II Men / 8
  • Motivational Speaker / Cut Chemist / 8
  • Your Body Is a Wonderland / John Mayer / 8
  • J Train / tobymac / 8
  • Baba O’Riley / The Who / 8
  • Dry The Rain / The Beta Band / 7
  • Video Killed the Radio Star (Single Version) / The Buggles / 7
  • Fight Test / The Flaming Lips / 7
  • Worn Out Welcome / Harrod and Funck / 7
  • Newme / Jamie Lidell / 7
  • Neon / John Mayer / 7
  • Starry Eyed Surprise / Paul Oakenfold / 7
  • Space Walk / Lemon Jelly / 5
  • With Or Without You / U2 / 4
  • Hands Of The Potter / Caedmon’s Call / 3
  • The Tower of Learning / Rufus Wainwright / 2

Been Doin’ This Awhile

Today I sat down at an old iMac that was tucked into the corner of the teacher’s lounge at Steph’s school because I wanted to find out what continent Turkey is technically on. (It turns out it’s Eurasian. The Sea of Marmara is generally used by geographers to divide Europe from Asia, and that sea is within Turkey.)

When I began using the iMac, I noticed the version of Mac OS X they had on it looked old. Like, really old. Pinstripes and no-Command-tab-bezel-window-with-big-app-icons old. I wasn’t surprised: there’s no better place to find outdated technology than in a school. (I found a working Apple II in an elementary school in 2001. I told the teacher she shouldn’t let kids play with it because it was probably worth something by now and should go to a museum or something.) Anyhow, I brought up the “About This Mac” panel on this old iMac to sneak a peek at the OS version. It was Mac OS X 10.2.8.

That wouldn’t have much significance to most people, but here’s the tie in: I worked on Mac OS X 10.2.8. I’ve had my fingers directly in the Software Update pie since about 10.2.2 if I recall correctly. That was late 2002. And suddenly it hit me that I’ve been doing this awhile. Quite awhile.

Man, I feel so old. And I had to hear it from Mac OS X 10.2.8.

ModBook

I admit it, the ModBook is pretty sweet. It’s an after-market Mac made by Other World Computing and Axiotron. The basic idea is simple: they buy regular MacBooks from Apple, take them apart, upgrade and reconfigure certain pieces of hardware (including adding a stylus-sensitive LCD screen and an optional GPS unit) and put it back together in the shape you see there.

It doesn’t have a keyboard, but I suppose the idea is that Inkwell should suffice when you’re mobile, and if you have to plug in an external keyboard, you can. People who buy these probably aren’t getting them to type papers, anyhow.

So if you need a “tablet Mac”, there you go! Unfortunately it comes at an $1100 premium over what an identically-configured MacBook would cost, but MacBooks don’t have stylus-sensitive screens or built-in GPS, either.

Keynote: Now on iTunes

If you missed the keynote on Tuesday (and by “the keynote” I’m referring to the one that changed the entire world and everyone in it), don’t worry! Help is on the way!

iTunes has the entire Macworld San Francisco 2007 Keynote available for free. Enjoy.

It’s not often you get 1.21 GB of high-quality ones and zeros for free with just the click of a button. Plus, with this version, you can easily fast-forward over the extremely-boring Cingular CEO and his Notecards from Hell.

Californian Wimp

Well, it has happened. I’m officially a Californian Wimp now. I just went across the street to get a soda at the little store there (which I call the “Food Museum”, but that’s another entry), and on my way back home I was struck at how incredibly freezing cold it was outside.

When I got back inside, I reveled in the comfy warmth, and looked at the temperature outside. I was certain it was absolutely freezing cold.

It was 42 degrees outside.

I’ve been used to dealing with zero degrees in mid-January in Minnesota. Heck, -20. Why not? Apparently it takes about five years for that tough outer layer of cold resistance to wear off completely once it’s no longer being used.

Days Like Today

There are a lot of people would love to have a job at Apple. People even get excited about visiting the place. I see them almost every day, stopping outside the building where I work to take pictures of themselves standing next to the big green “1”. I see them from my window. I pass them on my way back from lunch. That’s pretty cool, no matter how you slice it.

Even so, sometimes I feel like my job is pretty normal. You know what I mean? I come in, I work hard, I contribute as much as I can, and I go home when I’m tired and I can’t concentrate anymore. The next day I pick up where I left off. It’s not always magical.

But then there’s today. Oh my goodness, today. Today is the kind of day that gives me the energy to get out of bed every morning. It gives me the drive to sit in front of a monitor for 12 hours a day. It lets me see what technology is all about, where we’re going, and what the future will hold if we keep pushing towards it, and keep thinking. It lights a fire under me, and my fingers move faster. My thoughts go further. My passion runs deeper.

It’s a great day to be here. Here’s to the crazy ones.