Stream Vampire Weekend's "Contra"

I must admit - in my intense anticipation of Vampire Weekend's new album Contra I've been searching for a leak on a daily (if not hourly) basis. There have been a number of bait and switches so far, but the best thing next to that option is finally upon us.

Vampire Weekend has now put up the entirety of Contra up for stream on their Mypsace page. If it is anywhere near as good as the initial releases indicate, we're in for one of the better albums of 2010 right off. Check it out yourself and look for a review of this coming up tomorrow, along with (hopefully) looks at Yeasayer's Odd Blood and Los Campesinos!' Romance is Boring. Both of those albums are also being released later this month.

Vampire Weekend's Contra is being released January 11th in the UK and January 12th in the USA. Don't forget to pick it up.

Thanks for the heads up from my friends at Vinyl and Vodka.

New Years Goals: 2010 Is Upon Us

2010 is here and with that comes a new set of goals to accomplish. My friend Kim insisted that "New Years Goals" makes more sense than "New Years Resolutions" because goals are something we try to attain, as opposed to resolutions which are pretty much just things we say and hope for the best on.

This year features only two repeats that will likely be there until I actually make them happen. Here's hoping it's this year.

Resolution Number 1: Run a marathon.
Resolution Number 2: Get back above 300 posts in a year on this blog (and buy domain space!).
Resolution Number 3: Read 52 books or graphic novels.
Resolution Number 4: Get A Slice of Fried Gold up to 100+ visits a day and Multiversity Comics up to 1000+ visits a day.
Resolution Number 5: Leave North America for at least two weeks.
Resolution Number 6: Get to around 190 pounds and maintain.
Resolution Number 7: Learn another language.
Resolution Number 8: Get better at staying in touch with friends that don't live here.
Resolution Number 9: Get a promotion or find a new job.
Resolution Number 10: Be more adventurous and less self destructive.

So there you have it. I'll be keeping my readers up to date on how I am doing on all of them throughout the year - in particular the 52 books/graphic novels one. I've tried this in consecutive years since I found out that my blogging idol Largehearted Boy was trying to read 52 books in 52 weeks.

Here's hoping for the best. As I've said to basically anyone who will listen, I'm on at least a 24 month hot streak as 2008 and 2009 were awesome. I need to keep that stretch up, and the best way I can do so is keep my eyes on the prize.

New Years Goals: 2009 Revisited

Happy New Year all. 2009 was one of the best years of my life and I'm really hoping 2010 can match it pound for pound in awesomeness.

Before setting what you are looking to do in the upcoming year, it's a good idea to look back and see how you did in the previous year first. One of the easiest ways to not follow through on what you want to accomplish is to not share those things. Well, here they are, with the ones that were a success being bolded.

Resolution Number 1: Run a marathon.
Resolution Number 2: Stop going out to eat so much.
Resolution Number 3: Read 52 books or graphic novels.
Resolution Number 4: Get my blog up to 100 visits a day.
Resolution Number 5: Go to Europe.
Resolution Number 6: Get back to 190 and 200 pounds.
Resolution Number 7: Take a college course.
Resolution Number 8: Stop buying so many frivolous things.
Resolution Number 9: Learn something new that’s truly useful.
Resolution Number 10: Eat healthier and drink less.

Four out ten were accomplished - not bad but not that great either.

A couple notes about apparent failures:

- I will note that I'm not sure how much I read this year but I can assure you it was quite a bit.

- I did not get this blog up to 100+ visits per day, but I did hit that goal multiple times and my comic blog Multiversity Comics has hundreds of daily readers with a peak readership of over 1700 unique readers in a day

The rest I don't really have much of an excuse on, but they are things that I can easily carry over to 2010. Look for my goals for next year coming up soon.