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WGOM Videos

WGOM Summer Mix 2015 (OFFICIAL POST)

Video 20 Comments

Okay, so, a couple of hiccups. I would like to note the following amends:
Algonad: I already had that song in my library, so while looking for the ones I didn't have, I told myself I'd throw that one in later. Never did. Sorry.
Zack: I originally couldn't find that Eskimeaux track and was going to get back to it, but never followed up. The Speedy Ortiz track was the last song to be cut, so if it's not too uncool, I'm just going to reintroduce that one.
Whoever's supplemental tracks I ended up cutting (still haven't checked who submitted what again): I debated between just adding the previously noted tracks, or to keep true to the original 90 minute idea. I came down on the latter.

IN ADDITION
Should you feel like it, I've added a ratings bar to this post. Let us know what you think of this years mix (and if you're saucy enough, tell us why below).

Anyway, with a slightly rejiggered lineup, here is the official WGOM Summer Mix 2015:

Track#Dude(s)/Dudette(s)Track Name
01.Jamie xxGosh
02.MitskiTownie
03.Courtney BarnettPedestrian At Best
04.WALK THE MOONShut Up And Dance
05.Carpenter BrutTurbo Killer
06.Vinny Chase ft. Kid Art Harlem Roses
07.Sleater-KinneyHey Darling
08.Alabama ShakesThe Greatest
09.San FerminJackrabbit
10.Black DietNothing to Say
11.Mark Ronson Ft. Amy WinehouseValerie
12.Joywave Tongues ft KOPPSTongues
13.Kendrick Lamar King Kunta
14.JD McPhersonLet The Good Times Roll
15.HospitalityI Miss Your Bones
16.La LuzPink Slime
17.BleachersI Wanna Get Better
18.Speedy OrtizMy Dead Girl
19.DestroyerDream Lover
20.EULALike No Other
21.Father John MistyChateau Lobby #4 (In C For Two Virgins)
22.Sturgill SimpsonLiving The Dream
23.James BayHold Back The River
24.Built To SpillWhen I'm Blind

I've created a revised Spotify playlist (I also couldn't find the Vinny Cha$e song), however I can't figure out a way to get it to play in order (again, song order was heavily considered). In that case, one could conceivably check this out (EDIT: if you want a link to the mix in a way that can loaded the opposite of up, email me at my user name (no spaces or puncuation)/at\the domain of this here website.

5 votes, average: 9.00 out of 105 votes, average: 9.00 out of 105 votes, average: 9.00 out of 105 votes, average: 9.00 out of 105 votes, average: 9.00 out of 105 votes, average: 9.00 out of 105 votes, average: 9.00 out of 105 votes, average: 9.00 out of 105 votes, average: 9.00 out of 105 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10 (5 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)
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WGOM Fitness

Bum wheel

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I ran a trail run on Thursday night at Penwood State Forest with some friends - good temps, great run.  At one point, I tripped on a root and started to fall, but recovered.  Didn't notice anything weird that night.

All day Friday I felt sore, and it hurt to stand up.  This morning, we were to do a triathlon at Lake Waramaug (Hopkins) and I could barely stand from a sitting position without wincing pain.

NBBW did well but I sat it out, and read Pynchon in a camp chair along the route.  Not sure what the injury is but I'm thinking something in the hamstring cluster.

What is the Nation doing for fitness besides watching the Tour de France trying to run over cows?

 

WGOM Advice

Space Dewatering … Civilian-style

22 Comments

When I was in the Navy, one of the mainstays of our damage control training was using Peri-jet eductors to dewater spaces. As you can probably imagine, getting water out of your ship as quickly as possible has benefits...in combat situations, your ship is generally your only way home. Imagine my surprise yesterday at being called on to put that training to use.

Continue reading Space Dewatering … Civilian-style →

First Monday Book Day

First Monday Book Day: July

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Talking to Ourselves by Andres Neuman is a short novel from the Argentinian author that I read last month.  I had read the first novel of his to be translated (Traveler of the Century) a few years ago and that was a huge 600 page novel of ideas.  This book is very much the opposite of that, it is short and immediate and has a significant impact.

There are three narrators; Lito, the child, Elena, the mother, and Mario, the father who is dying of cancer, but hiding that fact from his son.  All three of the characters are hiding things but the father's illness and approaching death shadows the book throughout.  Father and son embark on a cross country trip that for the father is a last chance to create a memory, and for Lito is his first chance to truly enter his father's adult world.  All three narrative arcs continue to dance around each other always approaching, but never do they actually connect and find common ground.

It's a book about family and grief and illness.  Each of the three narrators is so fully realized and observed by Neuman that the book comes together very well.  Neuman has become one of those authors that I will follow and read whatever comes out from him next (a story collection is coming in October, I hear - consider me excited).

That was one of my favorite books I've read in the first half of the year. Hopefully, you all have had similarly great reading experiences this month and we can while away the next few days discussing them.

Games

The Games We Play – Summer Rollin’

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So, after going for a couple months with barely playing any games, I've been rollin' in games the last couple weeks.

No Thanks - This is a pretty simple card game. There are numbered cards ranging from 3 to 35.  Nine are randomly taken out of the deck.  The rest are placed face down.  Everyone gets 11 tokens.  From the face down deck, one card is laid face up.  The starting player decides whether they want to take the card, or say "no thanks" and put a token into the pot.  The goal is to end up with the least points. Tokens work as negative points.  Eventually, there are enough tokens in the center to make it worth taking the card, or someone runs out of tokens and HAS to take the card.  It's a fun, simple quick game.

Dread Pirate - Now, I know the name sounds great for this game, but it's painfully dull.  It's a roll-n-move game, where the goal is to get the most loot from four different ports and a center island called Dread Island.  There's not a whole lot of depth to this, but the components were awesome.  It had a cloth map as the player board, and heavy pewter ships to sail around on it.

Love Letter - quick short game that sounds girlier than it is.  Goal is to end up with the highest numbered card.  Each card has some text to determine what you do.  Pretty quick and fun.  Excited to try out the Batman version someday.

Trajan - This has been by far the heaviest game I've played lately.  By designer Stefan Feld (his games have somewhat of a cult following).  This game uses a mancala mechanism to determine what action you take on your turn.  There are six different action types, and the way you weave them all together can get you points in a variety of ways.  This has really climbed up my favorites list.  I bought it used on BoardGameGeek, but I also play it on boiteajeux.net.

Agricola - I recently got this game used, and I've gotten it to the table 4 times in the last month.  I've heard that you either love this game or hate this game.  It's a worker placement game where the goal is to build the best farm.  You can build up your home, build pastures, plow and sow fields and grow crops.  There are also occupation cards and minor improvement cards, but I haven't gotten around to introducing those to the kids yet.  I also play this occasionally on boiteajeux.net.

La Isla - I got this game for Christmas.  On Father's Day, I finally got enough pull to get this to the table.  It's another Feld (like Trajan), but the theme and mechanics are a mismatch.  The theme is very light - it's all about capturing long extinct animals on a mysterious island - appeals very well to kids.  The mechanics are complicated enough that kids either don't get it, or it just isn't fun.

 

I'm starting to get into a groove.  It feels good.  I just found another game group that meets on Fridays.  They do mostly D&D type stuff, but the last Friday is always board games.  I'm anxious to try it out next week.  I've also been hitting a Wed lunchtime group at work that plays mainly 7 Wonders, but is open to other games as well.

In the meantime, when I can't get to the table I also tend to play a lot of games online.

boiteajeux.net - Quite a variety of games.  The ones I play most often are Castles of Burgundy, Trajan, Alhambra, and Agricola.  It has a ton of other games too.

yucata.de - Similar to boite, this one has quite a few games, some of them simple abstract type games, but there are a couple bigger, weighier games on it.  My favorites are Russian Railroads, Castles of Burgundy (I play on both sites), Can't Stop, Way of the Dragon, Stone Age, and Just For Fun

My username on both sites is "joepunman" in case anyone is interested in starting a game with me.  Both sites are primarily correspondence type sites, where you make a couple moves a day, and just take your turn when you get a chance.  You can play live, but I rarely do.

So, if you get bored watching the Twins or got voted out of Survivor, come try  your hand at an online board game.  Or let me know what else you've been playing lately!

First Monday Book Day

First Monday (Observed) Book Day

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  • Don't know if there are any William Gibson fans here, but I read his latest book, The Peripheral, this month and thought it was very good.  The world building was fantastic, and although I was a little let down by a very tidy ending, I would still rank it among my favorite sci-fi books from the last year or so.

 

  • I read Cat's Cradle and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater this month in my Vonnegut re-read project.  Cat's Cradle is still pretty great, although it's funny how much I remembered the post-apocalyptic parts of the book considering how little of that there actually is.  Mr. Rosewater was not my favorite of his, but it was one of the novels I hadn't read before, so the completist in me is happy to have read it.

 

  • I finished The Last Policeman series (The Last Policeman, Countdown City, World of Trouble).  Easy books to read, and I liked the setup for the mysteries (society is breaking down as an asteroid will destroy the Earth very soon).

 

  • I also finally got around to reading Citizen by Claudia Rankine.  It's a powerful book.  I was looking for where others posted their thoughts (I know Pepper and CH have read it as well), but didn't immediately find it.  It's very much worth a read.