Salon.com’s best music downloads of 2005

More for iPod owners, new and old: Salon.com, which has a daily download section on their site, has posted their Best Downloads of 2005. It’s an eclectic mix, but with some real gems — Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” is one of my favorite songs of the past year — and most importantly, it’s free.

Check it out.

iPod Top 100: 2005

So, I’ve had the old iPod a year now, and have dutifully tracked which songs get played the most. In the tradition of Casey Kasem, here’s my top 100 songs of 2005:

1. All the Money or the Simple Life Honey – The Dandy Warhols
2. Such Great Heights – The Postal Service
3. Portions for Foxes – Rilo Kiley
4. Concrete Bed – Nada Surf
5. Everything to Me – Liz Phair
6. No Sleep Tonight – The Faders
7. Trees – Marty Casey
8. I Will Follow You Into the Dark – Death Cab for Cutie
9. Black Betty – Spiderbait
10. Jukebox – Bent Fabric
11. Money in the Bag (K&S Remix) – Kraak & Smaak
12. New Slang – The Shins
13. Bad Boyfriend – Garbage
14. Blue Orchid – The White Stripes
15. Give It Up – Pepper
16. Somebody Told Me – The Killers
17. Golden Touch – Razorlight
18. Rocks – Primal Scream
19. Born with a Tail – Supersuckers
20. God is a Bullet – Concrete Blonde
21. Boyz in the Hood – Dynamite Hack
22. Wonderful Night – Fatboy Slim
23. Somewhere Only We Know – Keane
24. Bombs Away – Paris Texas
25. She’s a Knockout – Social Distortion
26. Back in the High Life Again – Steve Winwood
27. My Favorite Game – The Cardigans
28. Heroin Girl – Everclear
29. Club Foot – Kasabian
30. Figured You Out – Nickelback
31. Too Bad About Your Girl – The Donnas
32. Lives of Crime – The Fruit Bats
33. Cold Hard Bitch – Jet
34. Bom Bom Bom – Living Things
35. Walkie Talkie Man – Steriogram
36. C’mon C’mon – The Von Bondies
37. Mr. Jones – Counting Crows
38. Are You Gonna Be My Girl – Jet
39. Mr. Brightside – The Killers
40. Love Spreads – The Stone Roses
41. Kids in America – The Wynona Riders
42. Girls and Boys – Blur
43. Jerk It Out – Caesars
44. Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand
45. Ashes to Ashes – Steve Earle
46. Intergalactic – Beastie Boys
47. Pistolero (Juno Reactor Mix) – Juno Reactor
48. I Predict A Riot – Kaiser Chiefs
49. I Melt With You – Nouvelle Vague
50. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood – Santa Esmerelda
51. 4 UR Ears – Timo Maas
52. Kung Fu Fighting – Carl Douglas
53. Ya Think She’d Be Good to Me – CC Adcock
54. Bad Moon Rising – Credence Clearwater Revival
55. I Love You ‘Cause I Have To – Dogs Die in Hot Cars
56. Take It Off – The Donnas
57. Hate to Say I Told You So – The Hives
58. What I Got – Sublime
59. Diamonds and Guns – The Transplants
60. Werewolves of London – Warren Zevon
61. I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor – Arctic Monkeys
62. Hey Ladies – Beastie Boys
63. Hard to Handle – The Black Crowes
64. The Bad Touch – Bloodhound Gang
65. Everything Zen – Bush
66. Santa Monica – Everclear
67. Do You Want To – Franz Ferdinand
68. Polyester Bride – Liz Phair
69. Girlfriend – Matthew Sweet
70. Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) – The Offspring
71. Steve McQueen – Sheryl Crow
72. Bad Luck – Social Distortion
73. Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes
74. The Geeks Get the Girls – American Hi-Fi
75. Song 2 – Blur
76. Butterfly – Crazy Town
77. Young Americans – David Bowie
78. I’m No Angel – Gregg Allman
79. Instant Karma (We All Shine On) – John Lennon
80. Come Out and Play – The Offspring
81. Theme from “Endless Summer” – The Sandals
82. Santeria – Sublime
83. Battle Without Honor or Humanity – Tomayasu Hotei
84. Hey Ya! – Andre 3000
85. Rock the Casbah – The Clash
86. What It’s Like – Everlast
87. You Better Run – Iggy and the Stooges
88. (I’m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man – Muddy Waters
89. Cigarettes and Alcohol – Oasis
90. Self Esteem – The Offspring
91. Saturday Night – Ozomatli
92. Debaser – The Pixies
93. No One Knows – Queens of the Stone Age
94. Sleep Now in the Fire – Rage Against the Machine
95. Story of My Life – Social Distortion
96. Ball and Chain – Social Distortion
97. Dance Me In – Sons and Daughters
98. Date Rape – Sublime
99. Hash Pipe – Weezer
100. Fearless – The Bravery

The iPod’s play counts were all reset yesterday, and the tracking begins anew.

• Pacific Northwest gentleman and scholar John Bartol had this comment about the list: “It’s lovely. Except for the faintness of the KEXP shout-out. It is the premier indie/college/alt/KCRW-like station in the great Pacific Northwest! The Engine of Jet City! The Gem of Emerald City! The Inky Black Yummy in our Espresso!

  “Or something like that… ”

  So noted.

The World of Warcraft Addiction Test

Totally addicted You are 76% Addicted!

When the server’s down, it’s like the end of the world. You check your auctions before going to work, you love the game and everything it involves. Remember that other game called real life? It’s not any fun, anyway! Keep it up! And remember, it’s just a game, but it’s the best game ever!

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 65% on addiction level

Link: The World of Warcraft Addiction Test written by survivedestiny on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Damned lies and slander.

Happy birthday to me

As of today, I’m a bouncing baby boy of 37. Fortunately, I’ve looked like I was 28 since I was 25 — we had a temp a few weeks ago who once again guessed that age — which just goes to show all those ex-girlfriends were totally wrong about my chronic immaturity.

The plan had been to grill up some of the Omaha steaks my grandmother sent me for Christmas, but Hesperia is having one of its rare rainstorms, squelching that idea.

We did go to Disneyland for approximately 14 hours yesterday — I felt well enough in the morning to go for it, but was a hobbling cripple by the end — and am now spending the day under one of the four electric blankets I got for Christmas. (Jenn was right that people were hungry to buy me something that wasn’t a book, CD or DVD). Amazingly, each electric blanket is different than the others: I have a regular one, a queen-sized with two separate controls, a small individual-sized one the size of a throw blanket, and one for the car (which was tested on the way and back from Disneyland and works great).

So the new plan is cake, homemade macaroni and cheese, beer and videogames or something.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Hanna