kimron thomas

the year in music / 2013

andrew bird / patrick watson / grizzly bear / mount eerie / woods / fiona apple / heartless bastards / daughn gibson / father john misty / damien jurado / sharon van etten / cat power / alt-j / the xx / colossal gospel / chris cohen / dirty projectors / beach house / calvin love / the brian jonestown massacre / can

yirgacheffe, and this:

the hollies - carrie-anne

spicy caramel popcorn, and this:

muckreads podcast - the militarization of american police forces

earl grey tea, a vegan chocolate chip cookie, and this:

jeannie c. riley - harper valley pta

herbed scrambled egg whites & kale skillet potatoes, and this:

dissent magazine - got dough? how billionaires rule our schools

the year in music / 2011

timber timbre / james blake / julianna barwick / asap rocky / nicholas jaar / little scream / the antlers / true widow / bright eyes / youth lagoon / glass ghost / the war on drugs / kurt vile / cass mccombs / david thomas broughton / pj harvey / wilco / king creosote & john hopkins / tune-yards

homemade sesame chicken, and this:

ramona falls - i say fever

masala dosa from sami’s, and this:

cults - go outside

grilled portobello and onion sandwich, and this:

the sociologist max weber, in his 1919 essay ‘politics as a vocation,’ drew a distinction between ‘the ethic of responsibility’ and ‘the ethic of ultimate ends’ - between those who act from a sense of practical consequence and those who act from higher conviction, regardless of consequences. these ethics are tragically opposed, but the true calling of politics requires a union of the two. on its own, the ethic of responsibility can become a devotion to technically correct procedure, while the ethic of ultimate ends can become fascism. weber’s terms perfectly capture the toxic dynamic between the president, who takes responsibility as an end in itself, and the republicans in congress, who are destructively consumed with their own dogma. neither side can be said to possess what weber calls a ‘leader’s personality.’ responsibility without conviction is weak, but it’s sane. conviction without responsibility, in the current incarnation of the republican party, is raving mad.

…

president obama, responsibly acceding to the reality of divided government, is now the leading champion of fiscal austerity, and his proposals contain very little in the way of job creation. more important, he no longer uses his office’s most powerful tool, rhetorical suasion, to keep the country focused on the continued need for government activism. his opponents’ approach to job creation is that of a cargo cult - just keep repeating ‘tax cuts’ - even though the economic evidence of the past three decades refutes such magical thinking.

- george packer, the new yorker, july 25, 2011

crackers, cheese, fruit, and this:

the silhouettes - get a job

2009 marques de montanana granacha, described thus:

the nose is the experience of taking a hayride through a fruit orchard, … [it] comes at you like a fruit roll-up express with red cherries…boysenberry sorbet, crushed marionberries and hints of red vines licorice, sweet tobacco and chinese hibiscus tea

and this:

josef suk - serenade for strings on 95.5 wgbh boston

roast chicken with bacon and leek stuffing, the most delicious gravy ever, and this:

the weeknd - glass table girls

the finest zucchini muffin i’ve ever tasted, and this:

patsy cline - i fall to pieces

smoked bluefish hash, and this:

smog - hit the ground running

roasted sunchokes, and this:

panda bear - slow motion

bacon and crimini omelette, pea shoot salad, and this:

s.maharba - pianomouth

grassy, with minerals and crisp citrus, and this:

anthony griffith on the moth - best of times, worst of times

braised pork shank, grits, and eggs on scallion puree, and this:

elvis presley - early mornin’ rain

the devil’s mess, and this:

charles m. blow - the pirates of capitol hill

halawi dates and blue cheese, and this:

library of congress - ‘headed for preservation’: the 2010 national recording registry picks