The long awaited lists of 2002

It has become a tradition among my friends to release personal favorites each year shortly after the year ends. It is always one of the most arduous yet enjoyable tasks that i partake in regularly (last year’s list happened to be my first post on overstated). So without further delay, drumroll please…

Top 10 Albums of 2002

  1. the streets – original pirate material
  2. queens of the stone age – songs for the deaf
  3. lawrence – s/t
  4. wilco – yankee hotel foxtrot
  5. ekkehard ehlers – plays
  6. beck – sea change
  7. various – blue skied and clear
  8. drexciya – harnessed the storm
  9. rjd2 – deadringer
  10. people under the stairs – o.s.t.

Honorable mention

Top Movies of 2002

  1. 24 hour party people
  2. spirited away
  3. dogtown and z-boys
  4. gangs of new york
  5. bowling for columbine
  6. minority report
  7. about a boy
  8. human nature
  9. scratch
  10. 8 mile

Some of my friends are web savvy enough to post theirs: Ben, Carson…

Post your lists if you’ve got them, and let me know.. I always learn a lot about people through their favorites. Here’s some critical perspective to get you started:

All Music Guide Best of 2002
Pitchfork Top 50 of 2002

E! Online Replay 2002
All Movie Guide Best of 2002

Technicolor dreaming

The age-old question, “do you dream in color,” which usually pigeonholes the respondent as either artistic and creative or boring and mundane, could be moot. Of course I always answer “color,” (or “colour” if I’m talking to foreigners) just because I have very vivid dreams and I’m pretty sure I would have noticed if they were only monochrome.

As it turns out, my honest answer might be close to reality for everyone. Eric Schwitzgebel, a philosopher at UC Riverside says that people’s response to that question is heavily influenced by the media they consume, i.e. people in the 50’s had a much higher incidence of black and white dreams than individuals today.

Another possibility is that dream colours are indeterminate, in the same way that a novelist can describe something without naming its colour. They would only become coloured, or not, in our waking reconstruction of them.

When people say that they dream in black and white, they probably mean that they haven’t noticed any colours, says psychologist Mark Blagrove of the University of Wales at Swansea, UK.

It’s late here in California, so I think I’ll mosey off into dreamland. Hopefully I’ll reconstruct my dreams tomorrow in full technicolor.

NSU: Electric dreams infect waking memories

?F00D

John Maeda recently opened a new exhibit in NYC based around the topic of food. The work is currently being displated at the Cristinerose Gallery, which also hosted Maeda’s last big show, Post Digital, in 2000. I was interested to see what the critical response was to his newest stuff (which I find much more clear and cohesive than Post Digital), but no one has uttered a peep so far.

The exhibit started last week and will be up through January 18th. The gallery also has some selected photographs of Maeda’s work from this exhibit and Post Digital.

Cristinerose Gallery: ?F00D Exhibit, selected photos

A day in the life of my mouth

Justin Quinnell’s pinhole photographs beg the question: what would life be like if you were a tiny person living inside someone’s mouth? By shoving an entire self-engineered camera into his mouth, and taking pictures throughout his day, he gives us a slide show that answers all of your intra-mouth life questions. [via b3ta]

Justin Quinnell: A day in the life of my mouth

Vintage advertising

I often buy aged New Yorkers and Life Magazines in order to peep at the cultural backdrop of my ancestors. The imagery, style, language, and beliefs that exist in a cigarette ad from 1950 are proof of our evolution (or, god were they stupid back then).

The Yesterday Paper company is trying to capitalize on my facination. Now you can buy individual advertising memorabilia to remind yourself how stupid we’ll look in 50 years time. [via milkandcookies]

Yesterday Paper: Vintage advertisements