Driving > Disco

I think this video speaks for itself...

You've got almost three whole weeks until Christmas day so here is a festive #MusicMonday to help get you in the spirit.

I think it was Christmas 2004 (?) when I was first exposed to the idea of Christmas remixes. Of course, I had long been a fan of any sort of modifications (remix, mashup, etc) to "regular" music, so this was not too far of a stretch for me.

I've got a decent amount of this type of music, but I'll keep it light and only impose one album's worth of material on you. This "Various Artists" band I keep hearing from, has done it again and released Christmas Remixed - Holiday Classics Re-Grooved. Basically, you got your standard Christmas classics, remixed with a lot of drum machines and synthesizers. Actually, now that I go back and read that, even I don't think it would sound any good. But it does, so shut up and listen.



Happy Holidays (Beef Wellington remix)




Jingle Bells (Dan The Automator remix).

Neither of these songs are my favorite from this disc (randomly that honor goes to "I've got my love to keep me warm," Kay Starr's classic, the STUHR remix), but they were the only ones that I was able to find on Youtube before getting bored and I do like Dan the Automator's work from Del tha Funkee Homosapien fame, so I figured I'd give you all that I found. Enjoy!

Just when you thought I could not show you any more bastardized versions of your (once) favorite band...

The same Pete 'Best' Zarustica that brought you the Beatles - HATE album, which, at the time of my post I did not realize was from 2006, apparently also created the Beatles - HELL album in 2008.

It features similar remixes of Beatles songs as Beatles - HATE, so if you hated it, then you'll probably hate this one too. If, like me, you were never that into the Beatles to begin with, then this might make for an interesting listen.

I still stand by ruling that CCC's Cracked Pepper trumps all other Beatles remix/mashup work...by far.

2008 was a good year for running. As it turns out, 2009 is a much better year for running.

In 2008, I posted the following totals:

162.41 miles run in 26 hours, 45 minutes, 18 seconds

After my 4 mile run this morning, my 2009 totals stand at:

327.11 miles run in 50 hours, 53 minutes, 15 seconds

That's right folks, I've managed to double up (ugh) my running totals, while not quite doubling my time. Translation: I'm getting faster! Actually, I have managed to improve my time, but the item that I am most proud of, is the fact that I have run in each month of 2009. In some cases, it was less than I am proud of (*cough*January, September and October*cough*), but again, a run is a run is a run, and I managed to get my feet on the pavement (and/or track) at least once, every month this year.

Of course, I know your next question is "but Matt, how will you top this feat in 2010?" The answer to that is I probably won't. I'll hopefully be able to get my scheduling together and run in some officially sanctioned/timed events, but I don't think I'll ever be one of those people that runs 1000 miles in a year. I'm not opposed to saying something like 365 miles, which would amount to a nice 1 mile per day average, but I'm not committing to anything right now...except maybe a new pair of shoes!

So, a friendly warning about creating your own Blogger.com template...

I though I had all of my html-powered bases covered, and was ready to pull the trigger on Driving > Disco's glorious makeover, when I encountered a series of snags, each one more annoying than the previous one and twice as annoying as the following one.

That is to say, my home grown blogger template is experiencing some technical difficulties at the moment, but should be back soon. In the mean time, I've rearranged the deck chairs on the Titanic and plopped out this old default template, for your perusal. I'm sure there will be mass rioting, tearing of garments and gnashing of teeth, while some (if not all) services are in various states of disrepair. But know this, I will get D>D back into good working order as soon as I can.

Can't believe it has been almost an entire month since my last #MusicMonday post. As we head into Thanksgiving, I can certainly say that I am thankful for the month of November. It has been the least stressful and most fun month of all of 2009. I hope December is half as fun as November has been, cause if it is, then it'll rock!

But, alas, I know I have left you, dear reader, in the cold so to speak, without knowing what musical goodies are bouncing around my head. Well, come inside and warm up, cause I'm about to pull back the veil and let you peak inside my head for a brief glimpse at what I am (and you should be) listening to. This will probably shock you, as I was never a fan, but today's featured artist is The Beatles.

That's right, the "lads from Liverpool," are my current listening pleasure, but not the way they intended for me to listen, of that I am confident. Surely I have mentioned the musical "genre" of mashup before, but I'm too lazy to look it up, so just in case, let's take a quick look: a song or composition created by blending two or more songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the music track of another.

During my time of enjoying the mashup genre, I've found that the Beatles are quite enjoyable as part of the equation. In fact, in my humble opinion, the Beatles sound much better in a mashup than they did on their own, no offense to anyone. Previously mentioned gems include The Grey Album (Jay-Z's Black album mashed up with the Beatles White album), the Beastles (various Beatles tracks mixed with various Beastie Boys songs) and of course CCC's Cracked Pepper (what seems like the entire Beatles catalog mixed with itself and some "outsider" music as well).

I've come across two other notable examples. One, is quite tame, while the other is kinda out there.

LOVE is the album that was "remixed" for the Cirque de Soleil show of the same name, in 2006. Speaking as a relative neophyte, in terms of Beatles listening, I can say that I would not be able to tell the differences in these tracks from their original counterparts, without listening to both, back to back. Any of you "true" Beatles fans out there may scoff and be able to point out every possible edit, but I cannot. For this reason, the album is more of an "alternate" mix than a remix, so while it is not a mashup by definition, it is definitely a "re-imagining," if nothing else, which is why I threw it in here to begin with.

HATE is a true mashup, that combines Beatles tracks with other Beatles tracks. I have been unable to decode them, audibly speaking, enough to know if there is any non-Beatles work in there, but either way they are definitely mashups and definitely sound great (in my opinion, at least).

After listening to both however, then going back and listening to CCC's mashup work, I can say this, neither of them hold a candle to Cracked Pepper. I don't know if it is because it was so earth-shatteringly epic to me when I first heard it or if it truly is a masterpiece, but either way, I'd listen to Cracked Pepper before LOVE, HATE or the original Beatles work, any day of the week. That sound you hear is me putting on my flame-resistant suit, so feel free to tell me how much a musical noob I am in the comments section. Thanks!

(also, before you ask, no, I do not know where to get any of these musical goodies, save for the LOVE album - see above Amazon link - and the HATE album - linked website has downloads and a torrent link...use the individual downloads, trust me - but if you are one of those needy types, drop me an email and maybe I can help point you in the right direction)

This is from an old BSG column (10/23) but I really hate the Lakers and Simmons does too, which is just one more reason why I sometimes do debate about whether or not I should turn gay and go for him...but that's a post for another day.

There was no better place to put this, so here you go. Non-sports fans can go ahead and stop reading now:

3b. Khloe Kardashian
Raise your hand if you're excited about Khlomar! (Happily raising hand.) Look, I don't have much ammo for the teams I hate right now. The Colts have been ruined for me; Peyton Manning has become such a monolith of clutchness that I can't even toss grenades at him; if anything, I respect the hell out of him. The Yankees are pulling for each other, slamming shaving pies into faces and looking unbeatable; even worse, it's the kind of likable, quirky (albeit, expensive) team that the Red Sox once had before they dumped their front office, ignored human intuition, decided that "business-like" was better than "personable," and used complicated statistical engines to assemble their 2009 roster. (Wait, we didn't do that? It just seemed like it. Sorry.) So really, hating the hateable Lakers is all I have left.

And you know what else? It's fun to have teams that you hate. I hate Sasha Vujacic's hair. I hate the fact women like Luke Walton. I hate their uniforms. I hate when Pau Gasol gets excited and does that thing where he barks with his hands at his sides as his ugly beard drips sweat over everyone. I hate not being able to hate Derek Fisher. I love being able to hate Kobe, who has brought me more hateable joy than anyone else this decade. (But damn, is that guy good. I do respect him.) I hate Laker fans who show up for Clipper games and only start making noise when the Lakers go up double-digits. I hate the fact D.J. Mbenga has a publicist. I could go on and on.

I would hope that Lakers fans are OK with this. I would hope they hate the Celtics just as much, for reasons that are just as personal to them. That's what makes the rivalry great -- we hate them, they hate us, and somehow, the hatred is deepening, in a good way. After all, it's just sports. I don't REALLY hate anyone. (Well, except for Vujacic. If he was crossing the street on a crosswalk, I'd like to think that I wouldn't run him over, but I would definitely glance around to see how many people were looking before I made a final decision.) So that's what makes me so happy that the Lakers added not just the black sheep Kardashian sister, but …

3a. Ron Artest
… the looniest player in the history of the league! As they're defending a title! And even better, every Laker fan thinks he's an upgrade over Trevor Ariza! Really? That's what you think? You really think that?

(http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/part2/091023&sportCat=nba)

Back when I made missed making that post about Driving Into Disco's 5th anniversary on the actual day, I got all teary eyed, since, there would never be another "5th anniversary" and how I had missed such a great posting opportunity. Then, I noticed that that very same post was #299 for the old blog. How great would it have been to post my 300th blog post on the 5th anniversary?!? Truly a golden opportunity that had come and gone, unnoticed.

Fast forward to this morning. Still standing on 299 posts, I finished my 4 miles this morning, logged my information on bt.com and found that I had just surpassed 300 miles run for the year of 2009. So, I may have missed the whole "5th on the 5th," thing, but today I give you "300 on the 300th." My totals for 2009...so far:


300.57 Miles - 46h 50m 06s

In one sense, 2009 has turned out to be quite a tumultuous year: a foot injury, adapting to a new phone, etc. On the other hand, I have some new found musical interests (yes, I know you already know) and have discovered a new interest in wine. The point I'm making here, is that I'm happy that running has been a constant source of exercise, activity, stress relief...overall a great thing to be able to do. For the ability, I must thank God. For the motivation and support, all thanks go to my wife, Jessica. But here's hoping that she will still love me when I am too old to run and balloon up to 500 pounds, due to my inordinately high candy intake.