Remember when Charlie Chaplain and his friend were starving in a cabin, and the friend started to hallucinate that Charlie Chaplain was a chicken? That can happen when you're birding, too. You forget to pack a lunch, and all of a
sudden that acorn woodpecker youre scoping starts to look like a delicious #1 special from Chicken Shack. You should resist the temptation, in that particular case, because acorn
woodpeckers taste like shit, but some birds actually taste pretty good. In some
cases, people will actuallygo out of
their way to eat them. That'll be the whole point of the expedition! It's not a
style of birding I know much about, but I've dabbled enough to put together this
handy guide for you. Bon apetit!
Chicken - This is
the best bird to eat, by a lot, and thousands of people agree with me. Chicken
is one of those rare things, like The Beatles, Goodfellas, and California, that
deserves its enormous popularity. But for a fat, flightless an ubiquitous bird, it's surprisingly
hard to catch--not because chickens are so nimble, but because they're all
either dead or inside some type of cage. There are about19,000,000,000 chickens in the world, and
almost every manmade structure you see has some chicken parts inside of it (think about that next time you're high on a plane!), but unless you want to
pay money for it (which is cheating), good luck getting your hands on one. Go
out into the woods and try to find a chicken right now. See? You didn't even
try, because you know it's too hard. Every chicken you see is "spoken
for." There are free roosters on craigslist sometimes, but they aren't as
good to eat.
Turkey - Turkeys
are a popular food source, too--Thomas alone consumes almost four tons of
turkey per year--and they're similarly dumb and defenseless, for the most part,
but there is a "wary and magnificant" variety of turkey--the "Wild Turkey"--that can
be found out in the woods, with a little patience and know-how. (Google it.) As
discussed in episode 4 of Dial B For Birder
("Stinson Beach"), Benjamin Franklin wanted to make the Wild Turkey
the official bird of the United States, but got out-voted by the other, less
goofy founding fathers. It's a good, thing too, because otherwise turkey would
be "bad to eat," for patriotic reasons, like the bald eagle.
California Quail -
You could argue that the quail is bad to eat for patriotic reasons, if you're Californian,
but I would counter-argue that the whole point of being a Californian is doing
whatever you want, all the time. I've only eaten half a quail over the course
of my entire life, but it was really good. My friend shot it with a bb gun and
cooked it up for breakfast, and I still admire him for it.
Duck - If you
ever become a golden gate park wook, this is going to be your main source of
food. Just glue a rubber duck to your hat, submerge yourself in pond water from the hat down,
creep up as close as you can, and GRAB EM BY THE LEGS!! Muscovey ducks are not as
tasty, but you get more meat.
Do YOU know how magnets work, shithead? That's how I feel
about people who make fun of Insane Clown Posse. Like bros, vegans and DJ's, ICP has become a go-to target for people for unfunny people who think they're funny.
Even Troma movies make fun of them, and
Troma fans (pointing at myself) are some of the most contrarian, unfuckable
people on the planet.
I don't listen to ICP (except Chicken Huntin', I Want My Shit, Thy Unveiling, and The Neden Game. And Bitches) but I often find myself drunkenly
defending them to people at bonfires. Their
music might be grating, and they might make too many sex puns, but at the end
of the day ICP is funnier and more interesting than 95% of the people making
fun of them--and they have better taste in music, too is the gist of
my arguement. It's rare for me to take the "anti-hater" position like
that, but for some reason I always felt strongly about it. This book, given to
me by Nyquil after he lost my copy of SWEET JONES: PIMP C'S TRILL LIFE STORY, proves that these feelings are valid.
Raised on the sultry nocturnal sounds of Esham, Sir Mix-A-Lot,
Geto Boys and Awesome Dre, The Insane Clowns are wiggers of the most endearing
sort. They're wiggers from a time before the internet, when kids were beat up
and socially alienated for being wiggers. It was a lot harder to copy black
culture then. You couldn't just buy a Cam'ron shower curtain and start saying
lit. As an unpopular person and obscure regional rap afficionado myself, I
found this "early years" section of this book--usually the most
tedious part of an autobiography--to be fascinating.
One problem with the book, which I'm remembering as this
review gets longer and longer, is that it's too long. If you include the
annotated discography, and the "what Psychopathic records means to
me" section at the end (by everyone on the Psychopathic records roster), it's
596 pages. I suspect that the book wasn't "written" so much as
dictated by Violent J, while he was high, and this technique makes for hilarious
reading ("I was like, 'Whoa, this is
the shit! Slash likes my song! The chick he fucks likes it, too.'") but
600 pages of reminiscince is a lot from any man. If I was the editor, I'd probably cut some
of the wrestling stuff. And give it a better cover.
Ratings-wise, I have no choice but to give this 1/1 stars. BEHIND
THE PAINT was funny, inspirational and full of rap gossip, and how much more
can you demand from a book? You want it to have a neden?
-DIAL B FOR BIRDER is on iTunes now, and also SoundCloud and "Stitcher." Tell your friends, if you ever make any. -In case you're not savvy enough to know yet, the Nyquil510.tumblr.com comment section is home to one of the most vibrant fan communities online. - Follow Thomas on twitter. -Sorry To Bother You is dope, the new Byron Crawford book is dope, and the new episode of Tarantula is dope. Music is still mostly bad. -This crazy crow lady's blog post about crow necrophilia has gotten a lot of attention lately. How can I get a picture of a crow doing something even more fucked up? Sound off in the comments... -Speaking of hot news stories, I've been running into a lot of news coverage of these so-called "bird scooters" recently. Are you guys up on this? I'm not. I've heard of the bird Scoter before, but this sounds different. -According to an article in The New Republic that came out last year, white people living in rural areas of the South make up the highest percentage of birdwatchers in America. Yeah--too bad they're watching em through the scopes of their AK-47s. -You know, I've been thinking about it, and maybe Ben Franklin was right: Maybe the bald eagle shouldn't be America's National Bird. Maybe America's National Bird should change, based on who the president is. For Lincoln, it it's an owl. For LBJ, it's a rooster. And for Donald Trump? Scrooge McDuck. (UPDATE: Shit, Penn Jillette beat me to this comparison.) Maybe a cuckoo bird. -Q: Who's the worst reggae singer to buy weed from? A: Shwaggy!
Ok
so you are going to hate this and I think I hate this too, but it's
super interesting and worth talking about! The song starts out with a
solid verse from our friend Wicca Phase Springs Eternal and then it
hits: probably the weirdest delivery I have ever heard. It sounds like this
guy is actively crying and also cannot touch his lips together. This got
me thinking about how people make music today and its effect on the
music that is created. Can you imagine if this guy existed in the 90s?
Chances are he would never record music and if he wanted to he'd have to
rent studio time and there would be an engineer or producer of some
type there that would tell him "No! Stop doing that with your voice!
That's bad!" But instead this guy can just do weird stuff with his voice
in his room on his laptop and release it to the world. The result is A
LOT more music out there and a lot of it is boring or bad, but there is a
greater opportunity now for truly unique and different sounds to
emerge. The internet is pretty rad IMO.
Drippin So Pretty
Drippin So Pretty is
a new to me rapper that writes songs almost exclusively about being in
love and shooting heroin (take a min to process that please).
SHORT
SONGS ARE DOPE. This beat is really insane, there is so much going on
here. When the bass drops at :25 it's so good! When I first heard this
song I got super stoked on it and emailed it to Jesse and he replied by
saying he "hopped off the rap train at mumble station", which made me
think he might secretly be 48 years old.
I
can't quite figure out what he is saying for the hook, either "I don't
fuck with lil shorty, she ain't right for me" or "I don't fuck with lil
shorty, she don't ride for me." The more I listen to it the more I think
it's the latter, but I'm going to go with the former because it makes
the song 100X more endearing.
SHORT
SONGS. SHORT SONGS. SHORT SONGS. I legit get upset when I see songs
within this genre that are like 3:30 plus. Real rude of the artist to
assume a high-powered businessman such as myself has that kind of time
to waste.
Controversial
opinion: I like the cheesy tire screech sound effect in this song.
Anyways, I like the melody and soul in this song.
My
Lord this beat is amazing. Bladee just sort of floats over this beat
with his melodic voice getting chopped up by the autotune.
This song also produced one of the most endearing YouTube comments I've seen in a while:
Haha I just want to give that guy a hug and scruff up his hair.
Bladee came out with a new album recently and I like it a lot! It is not on the same level as Eversince, which is probably my favorite rap album of the last 5 years,
but it is a very engaging listen. Once again, the production drives
things, with beats that don't sound like anything else out there.
The
production of this song is so warm and soft, it feels like my ears are
getting a big hug. Also this beat is so layered, I keep picking up on
different elements, like the subtle guitar strumming that comes in @
:56. There's a lot of song here in around two and a half minutes. I
appreciate that Bladee utilizes his autotune to do something interesting
for the chorus. For most of his songs the autotune sounds like it is
just there to distance him from real life, because I think he legit has a
good singing voice.
This
is the "lead single" off the latest album and it took me a while to get
into, maybe because I was distracted by the music video? I highly
recommend people listen to songs for the first time without the visuals,
to get an actual opinion of the music before watching the video. There
is nothing worse than sending a video of a song to your friend and they
come back at you with "wow, what a silly hat he has on!" Or maybe I
should just accept the importance of visual aesthetics in music and how
they are forever intertwined. IDK.
Hella Sketchy
Jesse has accused me of only liking depressing rap and he is only 90% correct. Here is part of the 10%:
IMPORTANT
WARNING: don't watch this music video! Forget everything I wrote above
and don't let your eyeballs taint this song. Hella Sketchy is a rapper
that makes extremely light and catchy rap songs. He also looks like a 15
year old kid that I instinctively want to stuff in a locker. But dang
this song is so catchy!!! Also it is that rare breed of song that is
super poppy, but does not wear thin immediately. I have been listening
to this song for over a year and still think it is tight.
Don't
watch this music video either! It is chopped up clips from the "Spent a
Check" music video. This beat is great though. I was talking to Jesse
in person about this one, trying to figure out what the production
sounds like. I think we settled on a Nintendo tropical paradise.
More Lil Peep
Do you remember last post
where I was talking about how Lil Peep released so much music before
his death and I'm amazed how I keep discovering new songs of his? Well
just since writing that last post I have discovered two more songs that I
absolutely love:
The
vibe of this song is so sick. It sounds like I am listening to
something real important. I feel bad for the feature, because this beat
is huge and Peep always layered the shit out of his vocals, so Wulf's
verse sounds oh so meak. Hellboy is such an interesting album
and I have come to really enjoy it after being initially turned off by
some of its cringey moments. Peep's angst is going to sound bad to some
listeners, but there is a lot of interesting moments, and wonderful
expressions of his emerging pop sensibility.
Hey speaking of pop sensibility, this song is super catchy! Very enjoyable 2 minute plus track
that always leaves me in a good mood. I have a lot to say about the
feature, Yung Bruh/Lil Tracy, but we'll save that for next post.
Ok that's all for now. Remember, you get what you give in this life, so don't walk around being a selfish shithead.
Hi fans, hope you're having an ecstatic, passion-filled summer. I don't know about you, but for me, summer is one of the very best seasons we have, after fall (school supplies!), winter (candy canes!) and possibly spring (daylight savings time! Plus everyone's favorite holiday, May Day). Sometimes, though, it's important to take a break from all the hot summer action, and take the bus to work while you listen to a podcast. It can be hard sometimes, because there are only 6 good podcasts (Hollywood Handbook, The Great Debates, Pushermania's Playlist, Bookworm with Michael Silverblatt, So Many Shrimp Radio and this one...and some Jesse Thorn stuff, if the interviewee isn't an actor or comedian), and most of them have erractic release schedules. This podcast is one of those. But today, at least, your thirst will be quenched. For this episode, Thomas and I went to "The Point" in Stinson Beach, CA (you might remember it from an old, since-deleted blog post I wrote called "BIRDERS AT THE POINT"), to look for a Bald Eagle family that recently moved into town. Then we went to Audubon Canyon Ranch, off of Highway 1, to splash around in the newt pond.
Photos, videos, and other relevant bird media---including Thomas' scary Shoebill Stork video--after the jump.
Hello friends!
How are things with you? Hey so I would like to talk to you about rap
music that I like now. I used to exclusively like Bay Area Gangster rap,
but those days have passed. All of the rap I listen to now is kind of
in the same subgenre of some type of emo rap/cloud rap. Idk. I don't
think there is a great term for what is going on here. Lil Peep is
probably the central figure to this scene, but a lot of this precedes
him and doesn't have much to do with him. There is definitely a
distinctive scene for this music that has emerged in recent years and it
has REALLY connected with me lately. Ok no more genre analysis, I just
want to talk about songs that I like a lot that I know Jesse will feel
indifferent towards lol.
Lil Peep
Ok
let's start with the biggest name first. Very sad that he has died and
it's been crazy to see how much his music has grown in popularity since
his death this past November. I remember one of the top comments for one
of his songs being something like 'thumbs up if you were one of the
TRUE fans and knew his music before he died' one month after he died! So
yeah his popularity has significantly increased in 2018. I do believe
he could have been a legit popular artist if he hadn't died because A.)
girls thought he was cute B.) he made really good melodies/hooks and had
a good ear for beats. The truly crazy thing was how much music he
released before dying at 21. I have been continuously discovering more
songs of his that are genuinely great.
Ok
first of all, the producer MysticPhonk's tag at the beginning of songs
always scares the shit out of me. This is some unreleased verse that
surfaced after his death, so I guess it is not meant to be a standalone
song? Idk, it really works for me. It also serves as further proof that
Lil Peep was really reaching the end in terms of his drug use. Very dark
vibes: "Crack a smile while I cut myself" 😬😬😬
This
is my favorite Lil Peep song and probably one of my favorite songs in
the last year or two. I've gotten very emotional listening to this song
several times, because I am soft as fuck on the inside. I love when
Wicca Phase just howls at 2:00 before Lil Peep comes in and Lil Peep's
melody towards the end, starting with "Lay me down, it's not that easy"
gets me every time.
Who is this Wicca dude at the beginning of the song, you ask? Ok let's talk about him next:
Wicca Phase Springs Eternal
Ok so that name is a lot to take in, I understand. Wicca Phase used to be in a really popular band called Tiger's Jaw (this is song is a str8 classic)
and then left the band to become a rapper. I remember people thinking
he lost his mind when they first heard his rap music, which was totally
justified, because it was fucking weird. Look see here is one of his
earlier songs:
People
thought he was fucking joking and the first time I heard this song my
brain instinctively told me "BAD." But guess what? I really like this
song now! If you listen to it without the visuals you can start to
understand how it is just a continuation of his emo/indie music. Ok
anyways, I REALLY want to talk about this:
This
song is from a duo EP Wicca Phase did with a guy named Døves and boy is
it something. Probably one of the messiest and emotionally draining
albums I've heard in a while. For example, Døves
sounds like he is on his death bed on the second verse here and most
songs sound like what you would hear in your head moments before a
heroin overdose. I highly recommend checking it out.
This is another Døves-produced track, I think his dense beats fit Wicca's style really well. At 3:10 when the synth wave and drums come back in it feels like I am being swept away with a wave of emotions. This
is totally a weird song though, the chorus is a voice chopped and
screwed beyond recognition over melodramatic anime dialogue. I just
reread the previous sentence and my head is still spinning. Anyways,
Wicca Phase is dope. His voice is not for everyone and his lyrics are
mostly just abstract expressions of unrequited love, but he's got a
really unique style that clicks with me.
Horse Head
Oh man Horse Head is a very mixed bag, but let's just focus on these two quality songs:
I
strongly recommend not watching this music video, because it is just
grainy footage of Horse Head walking around his apartment complex
looking sad and something about it acutely bums me out :(((((((
Oh
but I REALLY like the acoustic guitar melody, it sounds very crisp and
clean. I wonder if it is a sample or original? Either way it is very
dope. Oh and the hook for this song is so catchy! This song feels way
ahead of its time, being released over 3 years ago now.
IMO
music historians will look back at this song and write 5,000 word
essays about its importance. This song came out in 2014 and really feels
like the template for so much of the alternative rap that has emerged
and caught fire in the last year or two.
The
formula for this beat is something that I hear a lot of within this
music scene: a simple melancholy guitar loop over a drum beat, plus a
song length under 2:30. Seems super simple, but this formula works very
well. Props to the producer Nedarb's dance moves in the background that
do not fit the vibe of the song at all lol.
Ok dang this is long already. Let's stop now. Part 2 coming soon. Thank you for reading this, I love you all.
