New Things, Old Things

Superfectablog screenshotAfter much CSS/PHP/JavaScript wrangling, DVAG Wire is finally up and running. I have no doubt, dear reader, that you have been desperate to know what has been going on behind the scenes at a number of Philadelphia archives: now you can keep track automatically.

Sticking with redesign mode, I’ve finally migrated Superfectablog from Blogger and over to WordPress and redesigned it, from logo to layout – as the site was approaching its fifth birthday (with only one-and-a-half major redesigns), the move and facelift were long overdue. While the new design is not a huge departure from the old one in terms of layout, the greater control and flexibility afforded by WordPress is very pleasant indeed – it makes up for the temporary traffic drop I anticipate from the move.

While planning the redesigns, I did a little digging for inspiration (or, perhaps more accurately, to review lessons learned) and found some old work in the Wayback Machine: a little feature I did on The Phantom Menace (before discovering its full horror), an old music review and a website for a radio show I built long ago.  While not universally the case, the fact that many of the ads were preserved is oddly pleasing to me.

General Superlatives: 2009

Arctic Club, Seattle
Arctic Club, Seattle

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Rather shamefully, I have no books on this list; while I read many, not a one was published in 2009 – my excuse is that I’m waiting for the new Nick Hornby novel to come out in paperback.  So, in fractured order, here are this year’s Things I Liked A Lot:

Best Thing I Wrote This Year: On Zenyatta, Rachel Alexandra and Memory
Best Race (live): The Haskell (just edging out the Preakness)
Best Race (televised): Breeders’ Cup Classic
Best (human) Race: Dogfish Dash 10K
Best Soccer: US beats Spain, Confederations Cup
Best Trip: Seattle, Arctic Club/MLS Cup/REI pilgrimage/new light rail
Best Airline: Alaska Airlines
Best Live Show (overall): Leonard Cohen, Tower Theater
Best Free@Noon Show at World Cafe Live: John Wesley Harding/M. Ward
Best Beer (draft): Stone/BrewDog Bashah
Best Beer (bottled): Pretty Things Saint Botolph’s Town
Best New Bar: Varga Bar
Best Album: John Wesley Harding: Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead
Best Concept Album: The Duckworth-Lewis Method: The Age of Revolution
Best Random Song: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros: Home
Best TV: How I Met Your Mother
Best Event TV: Doctor Who
Best Movie: (500) Days of Summer
Best Movie Franchise Reboot: Star Trek

I Am Everywhere, Like the Latest Meme

Luckily THATCamp Austin is done now (although I continue to manage the THATCamp Austin twitter account, to help promote the other regional THATCamps that are springing up), for I have added yet another new writing outlet to my ever-expanding stable.  I’ll be blogging for the NTRA leading up to the Breeders’ Cup, with a focus on the Breeders’ Cup Marathon.  That means you can find me writing about horse racing on my own blog, on the NTRA site and on TVG’s Community; if it’s archives you’re after, go for A Movable Archives – for beer, I’m at the Examiner.  If you’re looking for the most recent updates, you can always come here and have a look on the right-hand side – new articles are added automatically.  I can be hard to avoid at times.

Because You Can Never Have Enough…

I have yet another new blog, this one in my capacities as a BJCP judge, Beerdrinker of the Year semi-finalist and Lady Beer Geek About Town. Granted, it’s not as pretty as one I would have designed myself, but I decided to go ahead and give the Examiner model a try. So far, I have yet to receive preferential treatment of the sort real food and drink critics get, but I’d be more than happy to accept it if any barkeeps wish to offer those services. In any case, please do check it out.

I’m also the webmaster, designer, sys admin and Jane of All Trades for THATCamp Austin – if you’re going to be in town for SAA and want to talk digital humanities, please do check it out!

A Musical Update

In honor of our new design, I’m posting a hopefully-comprehensive if rather sad list of every band, artist and/or comedian I’ve ever seen live (not including theatrical appearances – that would be an entirely separate and altogether too-geeky list). Without further ado, the music/comedy list – an asterisk indicates multiple shows for each artist in a particular city:

Artist City(ies) Notes
The Aislers Set San Francisco*
The Auteurs London
Bill Bailey London
Ballboy Philadelphia, San Francisco* Under-rated
The Beautiful South San Francisco
Andrew Bird Philadelphia
Board of Education Philadelphia
Saul Broudy Schwenksville Philadelphia Folk Festival (PFF)
Mark Burgess New York
Neko Case Philadelphia
Cast Chelmsford V96
Melanie Chisholm San Francisco Yes, that one
Closet Queen London Obviously a cover band
Leonard Cohen Philadelphia
Harry Connick, Jr. St. Louis
Shemekia Copeland Philadelphia
Crowded House Philadelphia*, Washington, DC Fantastic live
The Cure St. Louis
Terrence Trent D’Arby St. Louis Opened for Duran Duran
David Devant and his Spirit Wife London*, Manchester*, Oxford With their Spectral Roadies, of course; I’ve probably seen them more than 50 times
The Dead Milkmen St. Louis
The Divine Comedy Berkeley, Bristol, Brooklyn, New York, San Francisco* Can you tell which band is my favorite?
Duran Duran St. Louis They know why you are there
Elastica Chelmsford V96
Liam Finn Philadelphia* Both solo & w/E.J. Barnes
Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit Philadelphia Support from James Mathé and Caitlin Rose
Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams Schwenksville PFF
God Street Wine New Haven
Goldfrapp San Francisco
Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci Chelmsford V96
John Wesley Harding Camden, Philadelphia*, Sellersville Solo and as part of the Cabinet of Wonders with Eugene Mirman, Jonatha Brooke, Chris Mills, Ken Kalfus, David Morse; at XPoNential Festival w/The English UK, Megan Reilly, Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby
Herman’s Hermits St. Louis
Hoots & Hellmouth Schwenksville, Philadelphia* PFF, also in Philadelphia w/Birdie Busch.
Whitney Houston St. Louis It was the 80s
Lee Hurst London At the Comedy Store with Alan Davies
Indigo Girls Philadelphia
Eddie Izzard London, San Francisco
James Bloomington, Philadelphia Amazing live
Joan as Police Woman Philadelphia
Kansas St. Louis
King Missile St. Louis
The Ladybug Transistor Brooklyn, San Francisco*, Washington, DC They often seem to open for bands I like
Sondre Lerche Philadelphia
Bobby Long Philadelphia
Los Campesinos! Austin With The Smith Westerns, Girls
The Lucksmiths Brooklyn, New York, San Francisco*, Washington, DC Love, love love
Manic Street Preachers San Francisco
John McCusker San Francisco
Audra McDonald New York
Don McLean St. Louis It was free
Donna McPhail London At a random comedy club
The Mike Flowers Pops London
The Monkees St. Louis See ‘Whitney Houston
The Moody Blues London, St. Louis*
Morrissey Chicago Love The Smiths, hated him live
My Life Story London*, Manchester, Wolverhampton Yes, even Wolverhampton
Gary Numan Chelmsford V96
Ardal O’Hanlon London He was the ‘surprise guest’
Okkervil River Philadelphia
Ooh Baby Ooh London 3-piece a capella group; opened for DD&HSW
Parker & Lily New York
Mandy Patinkin St. Louis Met him afterward and he did his Inigo Montoya bit for us
Peter, Paul & Mary St. Louis*
Pulp Chelmsford V96
Kate Rusby San Francisco
Pete Seeger Philadelphia Linus’ first ‘real’ concert; Tao Rodríguez-Seeger and Guy Davis also shared the bill
Sigur Rós San Francisco
The Smiles London*
The Soupdragons Bloomington
Stereolab Chelmsford V96
Still Flyin’ Washington, DC
Supergrass Chelmsford V96
The Tallboys Seattle
They Might Be Giants Boston, Cambridge*
Tom Tom Club Bloomington
VHS or Beta New York I hated this band
Rufus Wainwright Philadelphia with Lucy Wainwright Roche
M. Ward Philadelphia
Waterson: Carthy Philadelphia Norma Waterson was absent; Tim van Eyken came instead
The Wedding Present/Cinerama New York*, Philadelphia, San Francisco*
Mike West New Orleans with Myshkin
The Wiggles Philadelphia See ‘Pete Seeger
Robbie Williams San Francisco
‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Eureka A surprisingly good show for a theme park
Pete Yorn Philadelphia