The Stuff Smart People Like Top 15 Songs of 2011

Hey everyone. We know that, in general, this blog generally ignores music. That being said, we thought we would take a stab at commenting on some of our favorite songs of the year. If you are so inclined you can also listen to them via Spotify or Rdio by clicking on the links below.

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Ben

1. "Kiara" - Bonobo I'm a huge fan of Adult Swim and this song feels like a perfect "bump" song. I haven't yet met someone who didn't nod their head in appreciation to this chill tune.
2. "Sunrise" - Childish Gambino Donald Glover (aka, Childish Gambino) released my absolute favorite album of 2011. Camp is profane, insightful, sometimes funny, often times melancholy, and inspiring. This track is the most exuberant of the album.
3. "Always Like the Sun" - Release the Sunbird Now we take it down a few notches with this summer-evening-driver. You can just picture yourself with the windows rolled down, the sweet smell of fresh cut lawns on the air as you cruise.
4. "Jack Sparrow" - The Lonely Island We could all use some more laughs and Lonely Island's tribute to the bravest Captain to ever fight a squid-man is easily one of the best. Michael Bolton is a major cinephile.
5. "Only if For a Night" - Florence + the Machine "Shake it up" was the big hit on Ceremonials, but I have to give it up for the opening track. A little bit more subdued, it comes on like Autumn in the city and primes you for the rest of the album.

Ed

1. "Holocene" - Bon Iver I know that this will ruin my indie cred, but this year was the first that I listened to anything by this gifted gentleman. I love the ethereal sound of this track.
2. "Ni**as in Paris" - Jay Z and Kanye West Watch the Throne is the hip hop equivalent of a supergroup (i.e., the "Yardbirds" of rap) bringing together arguably the two most successful and talented hip hop artists in the business. Jay's smooth flow and Kanye's signature vocalizations work surprisingly well together HENH?! 
3. "Black Moon" - Wilco One of the only bands I have seen multiple times in concert. Probably their best album since Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I like the guitar riff on "One Sunday Morning" better, but Black Moon is a better overall song.
4. "A Real Hero" - College, Electric Youth Anyone who has seen the movie Drive will know why I chose this song. Everyone else will think I did it for obscurity's sake.
5. "Little Black Submarines" - The Black Keys   They get cool points for naming the album El Camino and then plastering it with minivans. They lose points for claiming to never listen to Led Zepplin even though this song sounds like the lo-fi love child of Tom Petty and Robert Plant. This song was like a personal present to me: my favorite contemporary rock band paying homage to the classic rock that I lived on during my youth. Note: Spotify has chosen to remove all of El Camino except the single "Lonely Boy" which will have to suffice for the listener. But seriously, get you some Little Black Submarines on youtube.

Jordan - My songs are quite as eclectic as everyone else's due to my limited listening range, but here goes in no particular order.

1. M83 - Midnight City -  Great beat and rhythm, and it's now forever linked to women in lingerie. Thanks VS.
2. Foster the People - Helena Beat - This song was overshadowed by the repetitive "Pumped Up Kicks" but I think this one has better lyrics and a better beat.
3. The Antlers - I Don’t Want Love - A little more of a downer song than others on the list, but it stays with you.
4. Florence + the Machine - Shake It Out - For some reason this reminds me of the music video for "Walking on Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox. Only that video was much cooler because it had John Malkovich in it.
5. The Joy Formidable - Whirring (Reminds me a bit of Modest Mouse video-wise) - Technically a re-release of an older song, but it's my list so you'll deal with it.

Dropping the SOPA

If you were one of the awesome people who checked out the most recent podcast, we had a brief discussion of SOPA. Since this is something of a pressing issue to internet denizens such as myself, I wanted to point you to the single best site for SOPA information: SopaOpera.org.

Now, its not just SOPA- which is currently working its way through the house. There is also the PROTECT-IP bill in the Senate. My quick breakdown on the podcast doesn't really do justice to how significant these bills are to the direction of the "open internet" as we know it.  And it is far from a fair fight. The most depressing figure so far is that the corporate backers of the bill far outnumber their opponents. The companies and other organizations in favor of the bill are contributing four times what the opposition has been able to generate.

While those aren't very good odds, I remain optimistic. Regardless of the success or failure of these bills, we (people on the internet) tend to do what we want and, fortunately, there are far more of us than there are of them. As computer scientist and all around smart guy John Gilmore once said, "The internet interprets censorship as damage, and routes around it."

Time to get a little sentimental

I don't have cable, but the one thing that I would absolutely pay a premium for is TCM. The channel has been nothing but consistent since its inception in 1994, showing only uncut films without interruption. It ranks right up there with the Criterion Collection as far as film fetishism goes. And the intros to many of the films, presented by a knowledgeable host (usually Robert Osborne) make it seem as if every film is worthy of your attention.

One of the annual traditions the channel has had for many years is a short musical segment called "TCM Remembers" which showcases the list of actors, actresses, writers, directors, producers and other personalities from the film industry who have died in the past year. Its pretty common for people to not know or recognize the names or faces of every single person in the montage but that's OK. I still appreciate that TCM takes the time to acknowledge their contribution to film history. In that way, a part of them lives on forever.

Break out the tissues: this is 2011's edition of TCM Remembers.

Supercomputer successfully simulates Super String birth of universe

A group of researchers appears to have successfully modeled the birth of the universe on Super string theory. While the much-touted "theory of everything" has appeared to resolve a number of issues and inconsistencies between General Relativity and quantum mechanics, the calculations involved have been so complicated and interconnected that its actual effectiveness at describing the birth of the "3 + 1" universe that we inhabit today, has been up for some scrutiny.

"Portable Cathedrals"

If you're plugged into your tablet or smartphone for much of the day, you might get a kick out of Dan Hill's essay on the design of the Nokia N9. He takes an almost obsessive look at  the N9- one of the staggering lost opportunities of the past year. As hardware, it went on to father the Lumia line of phones running Windows Phone 7. The N9's open source operating system, Meego, has little if any future.

I'll just add that I owned the predecessor to the N9, the N900. It was a great phone that slammed far too many great design ideas that weren't really ready for primetime when it was released in 2010. The N9 seems to have carried on the tradition of great ideas that just didn't catch on for one reason or another. And because the phone is now one-of-a-kind, and it is so well made in most regards, it should become something of a collectors item for design and technology geeks.

Anyway, I don't want to steal Dan's thunder. Its a very good holiday break read; full of insight, and great words to remember like "skeumorphic".

Facebook is the top search term of 2011 (sort of)

Mashable reports that "Facebook" was the top search term of 2011. They must really have a lot of "mindshare," right? Well, sort of. This study really shows what kind of people use Google (primarily) to get to their favorite website, and not necessarily that they are looking for other information about that site. Other top searches this year included "facebook login" and "www.facebook.com".

Facebook has 800 million registered users, this is a year when practically anyone with a computer and an internet connection has an account. Many of those users know very little about bookmarking, or the advanced capabilities of most web browsers. We've all seen a relative trying to "surf the web". They pull up Internet Explorer and go to Google (or maybe google is their homepage) and type the full address of the site they want, then click the first result that appears. That's not exactly any indication that the user is any more invested in that site or that brand. And, while I'm a big fan of shortcuts and timesavers to reduce repetitive tasks like entering the same search term every time I use my computer, but that might not really be a priority for many users.

This kind of report is more of a reflection on the users of search engines and how people are using technology, not what they searched for. The study by Hitwise is pretty comprehensive, and defines the majority of top searches as "navigational search," which seems to hit on what Mashable's article misses.  Its also unfortunate that the study didn't include mobile searches, which is rapidly growing and becoming the primary means of search and experiencing online content.

5 Smart Technologies of 2011

Its one thing to get hyped up on a new site or service (Schemer, anyone?). Its another to hit on new (at least to you) tools you find online that you actually incorporate into your regular life. Be it for work or play, here's a breakdown of sites and apps I've come across this year that I actually use. Some of these are not necessarily new this year, but are all new to me and deserve more users and supporters.