WFOEOTYL #1: Nine Music Sets of ’09

Entertainment Column
Written by Nathan Mattise

It’s tough to come up with a fresh take on year-end music lists. Top Albums gets done by everyone under the sun and the same can be said for Top Songs (we’ve done it before, we’ll likely do it again). I’m in the fortunate position of limited real responsibilities and enough discretionary income to make at least 1-2 shows per month. Central New York might not be a hotbed, but if you expand your territory by a few hours in each direction it’s possible to make a concert calendar that includes many of the must-see acts in a given year. Hence…why not a top individual sets of ’09 recap?

Maybe this list won’t be showing up on hip blogs (i.e. largehearted boy or Fimoculous) but it’s mandatory for any aspiring music/culture writer to offer their take on things. As a quick reminder, I’ve reviewed music in Albuquerque, Stroudsburg and Syracuse and throughout college. While it’s not quite SPIN Magazine, I do listen to/see a lot of music.

Trivial Links: Read the August ’09 SPIN Magazine

Entertainment Trivial Links
Written by Nathan Mattise

• The long, detailed adventure has finally finished up. Pick up the August ’09 issue of SPIN Magazine and turn to page 97… that’s my photo published in a major music outlet.

• Lots of food entertainment news as of late – Alton Brown is celebrating 10 years on the job and Padma from Top Chef is (unfortunately) never going to make it that long.

• One of the most underrated 90s bands (with one of the most underrated 90s albums) is calling it quits. Harvey Danger announced it’s farewell tour this week.

• Geek news: Ten habits of Geeky significant others and then a brilliant photo-essay on the Geeky mustache.

• Finally, two great viral videos. First check out Lady Gaga’s Muppet-unfriendly outfit in this interview.  Second, nothing makes a morning quite like a Lego Wu-Tang Clan video.

(Links today from SPIN Magazine, sashafrerejones on Twitter, USA Today’s Pop Candy and Wired Magazine)

Got something for next week’s Trivial Links? E-mail it in.

WFOMYLs # 2: The Trivial Links (From The First Half!) Of 2009

All Categories Trivial Links
Written by Nathan Mattise

The end of 2008 brought a list of web sites and people with it. Initially the thought was to do a trends list for mid-2009 in order to combine those two ideas, but what better way to actually see what was actually buzzworthy than to compile the best Trivial Links of 2009? This list may not include MJ (no Trivial Links posted since then) but some other topics that would have to be noted (Obama, Twitter, Publication deaths, etc.) are certainly fair play.