We’re all avid music lovers here at BHN, so we thought we would put together a little end of year podcast, a collection of our favorite tunes that we enjoyed through the year, a small treat to send you sailing serenely into 2009. The tracks aren’t necessarily 2008 releases, they’re just whatever caught our ears over the year.

So after much consternation, we whittled our picks down, and here’s the final tracklist:

Marty’s picks:
M83 – Couleurs
Eddy Current Suppression Ring – Which Way To Go
Slowdive – 40 Days
Stephen Malkmus – Deado
Sufjan Stevens – Chicago

Caroline’s picks:
Gang Gang Dance – Bebey
Blossom Dearie – I’m Hip
Bon Iver – Skinny Love
Al Valdez – Que Rico Sabor
Bill Callahan – Diamond Dancer

Ben’s Picks:
The Magic I.D. – Martin Fierro
Dirty Projectors – Rise Above
Starfucker – Rawnald Gregory Ericksons The Second
Andrew Bird – Tenuousness
Mystery Jets – Young Love

Gavin’s Picks:
New Order – Dreams Never End
The Ooga Boogas – Ooga Booga II
TV On The Radio – Stork and Owl
Foals – Big Big Love
Hexstatic – Auto

Kristian’s Picks:
Jose Gonzales – All You Deliver
Deerhunter – Green Jacket
TV On The Radio – Lover’s Day
Nick Cave & Shane McGowan – What a Wonderful World

Download mp3 here (1:30:00 mins, 105mb)

Download m4a (higher quality) here (1:30:00 mins, 85mb)

Enjoy!

(Hello copyright lawyers!)

These creatures have moved to the top of my ‘Favorite Deep Sea Creature’ list. They are jellyfish-like creatures that cling together to form huge colonies like the one above. The wikipedia entry has some incredibly beautiful illustrations by the early 20th century naturalist/artist Ernst Haekel.

Here is one:

From the Discovery Channel, a video of what would happen if a gigantic asteroid were to crash into the earth. To paraphrase Egon from Ghostbusters: it would be bad.

This great little thing is out soon. Copy edited by Spit & Polish too – www.spitandpolish.net

How much is yours? link

Marc Steinmetz presents a great photo collection of makeshift weapons and tools confiscated from German prisons. Clever rascals.

Link

I got this really great book for Christmas.

Jason de Caires creates these haunting underwater sculptures that slowly attract more and more seaweed and coral growth, eventually becoming fully integrated into the environment. More here.

link