Sojka's Call

 Top Music 1.   Alan Palomo - World of Hassle   How long ago was Neon Indian;s Vega   released?  I liked that album.  Lead creative guy Alan Palomo released World of Hassle as a solo effort.  Very fun indie pop.  AOTY! 2. Alek Lee - You I   Israeli music artist and DJ, Alek Lee blends many genres together to produce cool music that transcends them all.  There is pop, reggae, psychedelic and others swirled into a wonderful concoction.   3. VA -  Café del Mar XXIX  A compilation album that sure delivers for your money.  Twenty-three tracks of Balearic , chillout, and downtempo tracks that will get you in the groove.   4. Emma Anderson - Pearlies   Beautiful indie rock, indie pop, dream pop music.  This lady can sing and harmonize and is a brilliant songwriter.   5.  Janelle Monáe - The Age of Pleasure   This was my top R&B pick for 2023.   6. Brijean...

Maybe I will get to some of the more traditional lists of movies and books later.  In the meantime, this is going to be about impactful life changes and how those came about.   Several initially disparate pieces of information along with some self-reflection caused me to realize my sleep was sub-optimal.   More on that in this blog post on sleep .   Here is the best music list for 2022. Music My tastes this year ran heavy on pop, r&b, psychedelia, and a little trip/hip-hop.  These were ranked according to how many songs ended up highly rated during the year.  All were released in 2022.  This turned out to be a good year for the kind of music I like.  Links to where you can buy these and listen to the whole album in the title . There is also a representative vid for each one to check out for a quick check and see.  Enjoy! Various Artists - After Dark 4 (2022)   Harvey Sutherland - Boy (2022) Vinyl Williams - Cosmop...

 What is sleeping to you?  Seems so freakin' simple - right?   "Get a good nights sleep" we are told.  To be healthy and burn fat properly and recover from hard workouts, you must have at least 7 hours and preferably 8 hours of sleep.  But, don't sleep too much!!! A little epiphany I had was that 1) laying in bed is not the same as 2) sleeping.  Obvious, I know.  But, honestly, I had not separated those two in my mind completely.    On an extended visit with my daughter and son-in-law we talked a little about their use of the Apple Smart Watch for sleep monitoring.  And, my daughter-in-law said at my daughter's wedding, that she used some kind of sound monitoring app that worked OK.  I looked at all kinds of sleep monitoring devices and got very confused. Let's just say I am not an Apple Fanboy and was looking for an alternative.  One person had good luck with the Fitbit and I was leaning that way.   On my yearly...

Music, coffee, and food!  Maybe I'll add more later - what are you curious about?  What floated your boat in 2021?  Leave a comment.      Music  Based on the number of 4 and 5 rated songs per album these were my top 20 albums released in 2021 .  Once I got to around 15 many albums tied and there is another 10 that could be interchanged with the last five.    The linked videos are not necessarily the best songs from each album or EP.  Mostly, they were the first one I found when looking for a vid from the album.  Leave a comment on loves, hates, and any I missed that should have been here.   Pearl & The Oysters - Flowerland (2021) I loved the psychedelic sound of Flowerland and the not-take-yourself-seriously feel to the songs.  Musicianship is high with outstanding vocals and harmonies.  This album grew on me and I loved the playfulness and joy found in this music.     Rochelle Jordan -...

 Maybe you are young now and feel invincible.  Are you someone now in their 50's or 60's and still feel great and want to stay that way?  What are some of the keys to a long life with cycling part of your regular recreation?   The picture to the left is of Paul Danhaus about half way into the RAAM (Race Across America) and the contraption he came up with to deal with neck problems.  Look closely at this picture and his neck position.  The muscles and connective tissues are stretched in the front and compressed in the back.  It doesn't take a medical doctor or physical therapist to imagine what happens to the human body when held in this position for hours per week over many years.   The muscles in the front of the neck tend to weaken.  The vertebrae in the neck get compressed.  The muscles in the back of the neck shorten.  The trapezoids start to over-compensate for the weakening in other muscles.   In an effort ...

 Best Music These are my top albums ranked according to how many 4 or 5 rated songs the album had.  The links below (mouse over song name) are to representative songs of each album.  This is not a rank of the individual songs.   1. Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure?   Album of The Year 2. The Orielles - Disco Volador 3. Tops - I Feel Alive   4. Aluna - Renaissance 5. Lady Gaga - Chromatica 6. The Blessed Madonna - Club Future Nostalgia  7. Victoria Monet - JAGUAR   8. Georgia - Seeking Thrills  Here is a live version of the same song that is really nice 9. Teyana Taylor - The Album 10.Tame Impala - The Slow Rush  11. Empress Of - I'm Your Empress Of 12. Kayobe - Islands To Bridges  13. TOKiMONSTA - Oasis Nocturno  14. Widowspeak - Plum  15. Washed Out - Purple Noon  16. Róisín Murphy - Róisín Machine  17. Anchor & Braille - TENSION  18. Weste - Abanico 19. George Clanton & Nick Hexum - Geor...

Music The best album of each genre was based on my ratings of songs on Jriver Media Player that I recorded during the year.   I figured ratings gathered over several months were more reliable of my overall impression than a snapshot of my tastes over the the last month of the year while writing this post. There was some really good hip-hop this year that got marred by excessive auto-tune.  I can handle some amount like what Future has become a multi-millionaire doing.  But, as an example, the excellent music on Khalid's Suncity was overshadowed on much of it by autotune that did not add anything and distracted from great music. The difference between the number of tracks I really liked on albums 5-24 was one song.  The top 4 were a cut above with Chris the clear standout. Here is my top 24 albums from 2018. --> --> Rank Artist Album 1 Christine and the Queens Chris 2 Masego Lady Lady 3 Ariana Grande Sweetener 4 Kali Uchis Isolation 5 DJ K...

Sorry for getting this post out after the battery replacement cost increased to $79 on 1/1/2019.  Here is the short and sweet or dirty as you may see it. My iPhone 6s has been having problems holding a charge.  Sometimes in the span of 3 hours without hardly using the dang thing the charge would drop from 95% to less than 50%.  I took it in twice to the Apple store who ran tests and looked at app use data and other technical stuff.  They told me the battery was fine, BUT, if I wanted to replace it they had a special going on to do the deed for $29.  So, I made an appointment on December 24th to have it done on December 28th. When making the appointment you are counseled that they are going to lose all your data and apps and you will have to restore your phone.  So, I went through backing it up to iCloud though I didn't have my computer with me.  That means you can get your apps back but if you have a music and audiobook library of stuff you rippe...

Mr. Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt that flipping “almost ought to be illegal.” Would anyone other than a criminal say this?  I am waiting for Trump to call him a rat.  From Wikipedias Glossary of Mafia-related words we find this:  rat -  one who snitches or squeals after having been pinched. Or, maybe Trump will say Cohen got "pinched".   Getting criminals to implicate those higher up has been a law enforcement tool forever.  Without the judicial system granting lighter sentences to those lower on the totem pole, the ones actually responsible would never be brought to justice.  But, of course, that is exactly what Mr Trump is saying.   How anyone can continue to defend Mr Trump at this point is beyond me.  Truly, you just have to ignore everything he says except the few memorable catch phrases like "lock her up" and "drain the swamp".  How can you drain the swamp when you are responsible for...

No! You don't really need to read the rest of this. I am going to tell you that anyone except those truly disabled can make good decisions every day, all day long, by doing all activities consciously. What am I talking about?  Here is an example of someone who lives unconsciously and just operates by habit. They are getting on the freeway and after getting onto the freeway they immediately get in the left/fast lane even if no other cars are around. If you ask them why, they will have a bunch of answers like the road is usually bumpier in the right lane. Or, someone might be getting on the freeway and I will have to get over then anyways. Or, my dad always did this and taught me to drive this way.  Or, fill in the blanks. The bottom line is - that person has stopped thinking anymore about what is happening to them in the moment. They are living in another space and time and not reacting to what is happening right then. What would conscious driving look like? We all know ...

Recent news and memes circulating moved me to research the old phrase T he Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend (TEOMEIMF).  From the Wiki:   The enemy of my enemy is my friend  is an ancient  proverb  which suggests that two opposing parties can or should work together against a common enemy. The earliest known expression of this concept is found in a  Sanskrit  treatise on  statecraft , the  Arthashastra , which dates to around the 4th century BC, while the first recorded use of the current English version came in 1884. Trump supporters seem to have taken this old proverb to heart.  Here is the logic.  Hillary Clinton is an enemy of Trump.  Hillary is an enemy of Putin.  Trump is my friend.  Putin is my friend.  We will not go into the why, but suffice to say most Trump supporters see Hillary as their despised enemy.  In this alternate reality fueled by so much hate that logic does not apply, Putin is...

SojkasCall Best Stuff of 2017 This is the 2017 roundup of best in entertainment, food, travel and whatever I did this year.  this is probably best consumed when stoned or in a weird mood.  If you just watched Jeopardy or the nightly news, then it will not make sense.  So, if you find yourself saying WTF, just tilt your head 5 degrees to the right and it will all make sense.  I promise! I might throw in a worst of this or that somewhere too - some people like that as well and I certainly have a cynical side that should be kept in check.   Let's start with music videos.  Personally, I found this one of the most disappointing years for music vids in recent memory.  The predominance of interactive make-your-own was not my thing.  I like to be entertained with ideas, music, and visuals that are on the edge and not seen before.  So, the list below was put together after much curation and thought and watching lots of stupid ones. ...