I’ll bite. I’ll share with you what 2014 licks I was humming in my head, what I was tapping my foot to, and what I was singing loudly at my dashboard. Adding to previous posts, here are my favorite albums of 2014. Disgraceland – The Orwells Don’t know where I found this, most likely songza, but this found its way into my Spotify. Music genres never die, even if they fade from the pop charts, and so garage rock lives in these young lads. This album is rocking, energized, even when the lyrics get mellow or twisted....
Continue reading...December 2014
The Favorites of WA
Pop started us off yesterday, listing his favorite albums of 2014, and hoping we’d hop into his post. I would do that, but I’m both lazy and selfish, so I’ll throw in three albums in this post. Before I start with the music, I need to mention that I listen almost exclusively to NPR. I hear bumper music on Here and Now and think to myself, well that sounds wicked fresh. So don’t buy anything on my recommendation unless you think 8 year old My Morning Jacket riffs are the height of innovation and cool. Also, this is in...
Continue reading...Our favorites, 2014
I‘m starting this post, and hopefully the rest of the V+V team will come in and add theirs. Come back and see if they do. Poplicola: Here are my three favorite albums of 2014. I could argue that they’re also the best records of 2014, but you know, that’s all subjective and shit. You’re free to argue; you’d just be wrong. Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 2 It was damned hard to believe that Killer Mike and El-P could release a better record than 2012’s R.A.P. Music. But they did, just a few months later,...
Continue reading...For the 2014th consecutive year, perennial favorite Christmas has won the yearly skirmish in the eternal War on Christmas.
Oh well, we tried. We really tried. Finally successfully completed the annual Christmastime journey from V+V HQ to New England and looking forward to some solid carousing down at the V+V Boston Office this weekend. From all of us at Verities and Vagaries, however your celebrate, we hope the best for your wintertime festivities (or solemnizations).
Continue reading...There But for Fortune
On this day in 1940, the incredible songwriter, performer and activist Phil Ochs was born. He wrote some of the greatest, funniest and most touching protest songs ever conceived before ending his own life in 1976. The era in which I grew up lacked a YouTube or a Spotify, so finding his recordings was hard work, but now we can all watch videos of his performances and his entire library is on Spotify. Yay technology.
Continue reading...Watch: SNL cut its best sketch last week
SNL has slowly been getting better this season. Unfortunately, this sketch, about a St. Louis perky morning wake-up show in the midst of the Ferguson protests, was cut for time. It was significantly better than most of the other sketches of the week.
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day
If you frequent this here premier “web log,” there’s a good chance you may once or twice have read the New York Times op-ed page. You might even recognize the names of the columnists, who every day spout the most conventionally wise of the conventional wisdom. This is a feature that is dedicated to these folks, highlighting one line that is either funny, ridiculous, strange, or actually intelligent or well-written. Today\’s is from Thomas Friedman, who in his column today, \”We\’re Always Still Americans,\” writes: Our bargain is that we have to let them know we understand their challenge and will let...
Continue reading...Make It So
It’s getting to be that season again, so make it so, make it so, make it so.
Continue reading...Writing Fads That Need to Die, Part 1
Welcome to a new series (maybe), in which we explore some ways people are killing the written language. 1. Using the word “because” purposely without “of.” “The world works. Because science.” This is dumb. Replace with “Because of science.” Although that’s pretty dumb as well, but at least it’s grammatically correct. 2. The use of capitalized letters on fake proper nouns to “make some kind of point.” This kind of shit is popping up everywhere. Like: “It was a Totally Big Deal, or at least he thought it was.” Stop that. That is not a proper noun or...
Continue reading...
Recent Comments