Lawn With Gnomes » list

1. Album of The Year

Brad Ehney — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 03:43:54 +0000

(more to come later)

2008 Top 5 Lists

Brad Ehney — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 04:21:04 +0000

I always like to share what I’ve found each year because it helps others find new things. The only reason I say that is because I am constantly searching the web, or talking my friends virtual or real about the media we are consuming. Quite often I’m at the mercy of my husband and his complete control over the the remote so I just let him take over the recommendations in the home. He’s got great taste, I mean, he found me . But sometimes variety is the spice of life so I look to the web for recommendations outside my little world. Below are my top lists of things that I have fallen in love with over the past year. What did you find out about this year that you feel like sharing with me? Tell me in the comments or @ me on Twitter.

Top 5 Albums of 2008
I pulled these from my play counts compiled by my Last.fm & Zune.net accounts.

Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple
Santogold – Santogold
Of Montreal – Skeletal Lamping
IAMX – The Alternative
Dead Confederate – Wrecking Ball

Mixtape from http://favtape.com/got80s/top 5 08

Top 5 Movies

The Dark Knight – The last, and a great performance by Heath Ledger, can’t say the same for Christian Bale.
Milk – Great look into GLBT history, Harvey Milk is our MLK.
Wall-E – Simply the MOST stunning Sci-Fi film ever.
Kung Fu Panda- Another out of left field, really funny movie that appeals to adults and children alike.
Hancock – Surprisingly funny, refreshing to finally see Will Smith be a dick.

Top 5 Fun Movies

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay – A must see for those who saw the first, or if you are a current or former pot head.
Wanted – No holds barred action film with the same director that did Night Watch / Day Watch.
Step Brothers- had me ROFLOL in the first 5 mins and for the rest of the film.
House Bunny – Seriously, it will make you laugh.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), and Russell Brand, who was actually funny in this movie, unlike his appearance on MTV.

Top 5 Software / Tools

Twitter - After having an account for 7 months before I actually started using it, I’ve finally figured out how to use it and now I’m hooked. my account

Launchy - I don’t need icons anymore thanks to this free piece of software.

Digsby - I ditched the bug laden IM program Pidgin for this all in one piece of add free software and now I’m loving it.

Firefox 3 – If you are still using Internet Explorer on your home computer you are an idiot. ( I understand if you can’t use it on your work computer) If you need to be educated on why Firefox is awesome watch this video.
Google Reader – Forget actually visiting sites to see new content, make your own “newspaper” with Google Reader & the RSS feeds from the sites you visit, you’ll get addicted.

Top 5 (nah, just 2) Concerts

Both of these concerts were visually stunning, they will stick in my mind as some of the best shows I’ve ever seen.

Nine Inch Nails – Lights in The Sky Tour

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

Of Montreal – Skeletal Lamping Tour

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

Top 5 TV Shows

Little Britian USA – The UK version is just as funny.

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

The I.T. Crowd – UK is on season 3, but you can catch it on IFC currently showing season 2.

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

Dexter - I promise, you will be cheering on a serial killer by the time you finish your first episode ( you can rent the first 2 seasons, season 3 just finished airing)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - This show is a little over the top with drama, but the visuals are great for a TV series, plus it’s available to watch in full on Hulu.com

Chuck – Currently on season 2 (you can watch on Hulu.com ), rent season 1. It’s consistently funny and well written.

Until next year, toodles..

Top 5 2008

Brad Ehney — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:00:56 +0000

The inevitable end of year list is being produced by every news outlet. So, I felt compelled to share mine. Maybe you’ll find something in one of the lists that becomes a new favorite of yours. If so, comment about it below.

Concerts, as you know, per my pasts posts, I’ve been to quite a few shows and seen a lot of bands this year. I promised myself that I’d just do Austin City Limits. Well, that just didn’t happen. Here’s my top 5 concerts.

1. ACL – Ghostland Observatory, Bjork, Regina Spektor, Muse.

2. Rufus Wainwright & Neko Case

3. Rilo Kiley

4. The Black Angels

5. TOOL

This year has to be the year that too many bands released too many good albums. It was hard to choose, but my number one is my number one because it was just that good. The marketing, the websites, the CD it’s self, the go fuck the music industry attitude of the lead singer just made it that much better.

1. Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero

2. Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

3. Tori Amos – American Doll Posse

4. Amy Winehouse – Back to Black

5. Beirut – The Flying Club Cup

As I said, there has been a whole lot of really really good music released this year. My favorite new discoveries this year are bands that I found via various podcasts and word of mouth.

1. The Black Angels

2. Rilo Kiley

3. Yeasayer

4. Animal Collective

5. Band of Horses

If I’ve kept you here. Then now onto non music top 5′s.

Movies

1. The Bourne Ultimatum

2. Transformers

3. Knocked Up

4. Superbad

5. Hot Fuzz

Mentioned time and time again, I listen to and watch video podcasts like TV shows. I actually spend more of my time listening and watching them then regular radio & tv broadcasts. So here are my top five Podcast & Vidcasts this year.

1. Wait Wait!! Don’t Tell Me – http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/

2. Feast of Fools – http://www.feastoffools.net

3. Dan Savage – Savage cast NSFW

4. SModcast – Kevin Smith’s Podcast – http://quickstopentertainment.com/smodcast/

5. Midwest Teen Sex Show NSFW Videocast

Due to the nature of my job and my school and side jobs, I do a lot of web surfing. I have to thank the all mighty master Google for creating and updating Google Reader to where I can use it. I honestly can surf 10x faster and find stuff that really interest me via RSS feeds, rather than actually reading everything and going to the sites.

Here are my top 5 website discoveries

1. ColourLovers – Lovers of color and mixtures – http://www.colourlovers.com/

2. PSDTuts – Photoshop Tutorials – http://psdtuts.com/

3. Explosm.net / Cyanide and Happiness – http://www.explosm.net/comics/

4. Hypem.com – The Hype Machine <– Firefox + Download Helper = Free Mp3′s

5. Design is Kinky – About all designs, real world and digital.

There could be many many more 5′s in this list. But for now, this will do. Let me know what you think by commenting.