It's Christmas!

Thanksgiving is great, but Christmas-time is where it's at! Many things make the season special for me: Christmas lights, traditions, taking my family out to a fancy dinner every year, celebrating Jesus, and Christmas movies (Home Alone!!!) to name a few. Yet, I think Christmas music is the thing I enjoy most about the season (other than Jesus). I'll be dropping a number of my favorite tunes here on the blog in the days to come. Here are a few different takes on "Last Christmas", including the original classic by Wham!.

- Joel

Wham! - "Last Christmas"

Cast of Glee - "Last Christmas"

Jimmy Eat World - "Last Christmas"

Thanksgiving

Christmas is my favorite season, but Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. My family, all 25+ of us, pile into the same house for 3 or 4 days and bust through a tradition list that continues to grow. Here are some of our traditions...

Turkey dinner (obviously)
Run a 5K Thanksgiving morning
Football (playing and watching)
Hearts (the card game)
Nerts (another card game)
Basketball at the rec center
Busting open a pinata (see photo above)
Passing out Christmas lists
Mexican dinner on Friday night (I do a backwards roll out of my chair at this meal. It's quite a sight)
Go to a movie as a family
Chex Mix
Chili supper on Wednesday night (which is tonight. I can't wait)
Video games
My uncle always reads our list of traditions
A round of frisbee golf
Celebrate my Aunt Mary's birthday
And the list goes on and on....

Happy Thanksgiving!

- Joel

Kanye West

In light of how many tracks surfaced as a result of his G.O.O.D. Fridays project, Kanye must have enough material for three of four albums. The officially album, My Dark And Twisted Fantasy, dropped this week. As a result, I've spent an inordinate amount of time analyzing my current disposition toward Mr. West. In many ways, I don't like Kanye. He is arrogant, maybe the most arrogant personality in popular culture today. He often spews uncensored ignorance. He seems to be obsessed with porn. Yet, in a sincerely insincere culture, Kanye's authenticity and transparency are rare. He is insecure and he has issues, and he doesn't try to hide his shortcomings. In that regard, I can learn a lot from Kanye.

At times it's hard to prevent my frustration with Kanye's dark side from tainting my enjoyment of his music. But I can't deny that he puts out music unlike and unparalleled by anyone in the industry today. Musically, the man is a genius, and that is on display in his latest album. I appreciate the way he explores many of his fears and insecurities in this new album. Check out a few tracks below.

- Joel

Kanye West feat. Bon Iver - "Lost In The World"

Kanye West - "All Of The Lights (featuring lots and lots of people)"

Kanye West feat. John Legend - "Blame Game"

Haiti

A few more photos taken by one of the other team members.

- Joel

Haiti

I didn't have many opportunities to take pictures while I was in Haiti. To be honest, it felt a little insensitive to be gawking behind a camera at the unbelievable poverty. I took a few on my Holga, but not as many as expected. However, many of my teammates took quite a few photos, and I'll post them here as I get them. That's me (on the left) and two guys I work with who came on the trip. The children we spent time with were incredible. The girl in my arms was a total diva.

- Joel

The Man Who Never Cried

An old friend of mine from Austin, Bradley Jackson, is now officially a director. The Man Who Never Cried looks interesting. See more here. Too bad I live in Kansas City where they don't play independent films.

- Joel

Danny MacAskill

I don't understand how this can be done on a bike.

- Joel

Song of the Day

San Francisco band Girls didn't sound so psychedelic on their debut album last year. But I really like this track from the upcoming Broken Dreams Club EP.

Also, in light of what I experienced in Haiti, blogging seems so insignificant and superficial.

- Joel

Girls - "Carolina"

Song of the Day

Talk about contrast: the poverty of Haiti and a song dedicated to an expensive piece of jewelry. But I'll admit that the beat is pretty sick. I really dig this song.

- Joel

Kanye West featuring Talib Kweli & Consequence - "Chain Heavy"

Girl Talk

Girl Talk's current reign as the most important (the only important one for that matter) dj/mashup king in the music world began in 2006 with Night Ripper. Yesterday he dropped his third album, All Day, which leans more heavily on classic and modern rock. I'm only a one third of the way in, but, like everything he does, I'm loving it. The best part is that you can download it for free from his record label. Check it out here.

- Joel

Haiti

I made it back from Haiti last night. The trip proved to be a powerful experience. 60 minutes ran a story about The Global Orphan Project, the group that organized my trip, and their efforts in Haiti. The story below (give it a few seconds to load) showcases the place I stayed and many of the children I had the opportunity to meet, including Renise, a 13 year old child slave who was raped, becaming pregnant, and banished to the streets by her former owners before the earthquake. It's a worthwhile news piece about an organization doing remarkable work in a broken part of the world.

- Joel

Photographer of the Day

© Matthias Heiderich

Matthias Heiderich.

- Joel

© Matthias Heiderich

© Matthias Heiderich

Gettysburg

I'm the nerd who ask for Lincoln at Gettyburg, a book examining the context and aftermath of one of the greatest speeches in American history, for Christmas. So naturally I loved this video. If you've never read the speech in its entirety, just click play and enjoy.

- Joel

Tennis

Tennis, the married musical duo from Denver, release their debut album in January. I really like their singer's voice. Very old school. Check out another song from the album below. Or watch a video where a guy skateboards being pulled by a car.

In other news, I go to Haiti tomorrow. It's been quite the hectic week, thus the blogging absence. But I'm bringing my Holga on the trip, so hopefully I'll return with lots of cool photos to document the experience. Not that anyone reads this blog anyway...

- Joel

Tennis - "Take Me Somewhere"

Love Is All

My favorite song ("Love Is All") from one of my favorite artists of the year - The Tallest Man on Earth. Enjoy the sentimental Swedish vacation footage - kind of reminds me of the scene in Christmas Vacation where Clark Griswold watches old family videos in the attic (Christmas is coming!).

- Joel

Air Waves

Nicole Schneit, a Brooklyn-turned-Austin resident, makes music as Air Waves. I heard her song "Knockout" this morning and found it blogworthy. Listen/download it below. Check out a demo version of the song as well if you'd like to see how the song developed. Air Waves drops her debut album, Dungeon Dots, on November 30. The album artwork, shown above, is fittingly medieval.

- Joel

Air Waves - "Knockout"
Air Waves - "Knockout (Demo)"

Bo

I can still remember fighting with my brother over the Bo Jackson card when my dad bought us a complete set of Topps baseball cards. I don't remember who won the fight but the consolation prize was the George Brett card. It was 1989. We were little. And baseball cards were the coolest.

- Joel

Photographer of the Day

© Logan Caldbeck

Logan Caldbeck. This photo makes me think of my cousins' guestroom down in Southwest Kansas.

- Joel

Ivy Mike

I'm a sucker for history. Yesterday marked the 58th anniversary of the detonation of the very first hydrogen bomb. Back in 1952, the United States detonated "Ivy Mike" off of the remote Marshall Islands in the Pacific. Though the US had tested and deployed atomic bombs in World War II, Ivy Mike was the first true hydrogen bomb. The mushroom cloud, seen above, rose to 57,000 feet in a mere 90 seconds, eventually peaking at 120,000 feet. Half an hour after the detonation, the mushroom covered an expanse 60 miles wide.

In other history making news, today is Election Day. Regardless of what party you support, I think you should get out and vote. We are lucky to have the freedom to elect our government officials.

- Joel

North Korea

I saw this video today and found it interesting. In some ways it demonstrates just how incredibly different North Korea is from the United States. Yet, at the same time, I found there to be an element of the video that showed the humanness of the Korean people; we really aren't that different.

- Joel