Blaine Bauer's Homepage
On the B-side of life
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I grew up in the Midwest (Kansas to be exact), and am happy to now be living in Portland, Oregon. I'm married and have one daughter, now in college. I can be contacted at bdbauer @yahoo.com (just remove the space after my name). I'm always happy to hear from old friends! I've turned into a full-fledged indie music fan. This seems to consume a growing amount of my time and brainshare, so I've moved it to the top of this page. Those of you not familiar with indie music, its basically independent labels and (often little-known) bands creating great music. When I can afford it, I like to travel. I've lived in Korea and traveled a bit in Asia, and we've been to Europe a few times. I'm also a big beer fan (and maybe a bit of a beer snob)! Portland is a big beer town, so its just part of living here. Really there are just a lot of great breweries all over North America, and of course Europe is great for beer. There's nothing like Belgium for beer, though! My love of beer started with a glass of Westmalle in Belgium, and I still have a soft spot for Belgian Trappist ales. |
Here are some of my favorites:
Elbow - Once before, and now again my favorite band. Intelligent album rock that just seems to keep getting smarter with every new release. There are a lot of songs of love, longing, and remembrance. Occasionally they get political (as in the case of the title track of their 2006 CD Leaders of the Free World), but not often. Its the kind of music that doesn't blow you away at first listen, but just keeps getting better and better with more listens. I'm still frequently playing their music from years ago. Their new album, The Seldom-Seen Kid was selected for the Mercury Prize (awarded to the best album in the UK or Ireland).
Califone - An exotic blend of acoustic guitars - twanging, sliding and fingerpicking - mixed with various drums and percussives, occasional short interludes of distorted electric guitar or synths, and muted vocals. It could be easy for all of that to be a big mess, but it melds into something organic. I love the sound of acoustic guitars, and that is surely the feature above all else. I discovered them with last year's Roots and Crowns, but since then I've found my favorite album to be the more acoustic Roomsound (one song from this was on the Stranger Than Fiction soundtrack). They've been making fantastic music for a few years now with few people actually noticing; its good to see them finally getting some attention.
The National - My favorite band in 2006, but I never tire of these guys. Teetering between self-grandiose anxious, lit up, and weary of life, their music portrays life adrift "on roads both literal and metaphorical" (Pitchfork). A good bit of it centers around relationships, and how we complicate them with mistrust, blame, and the by-products of our own self-esteem issues. Their 2005 album, Alligator is highly recommended. I felt their 2007 album Boxer was too repetitive and lacking emotion, but many seem to prefer it over Alligator. Their 2010 album High Violet is back on track and fantastic.
Previous Recommendations: Tunng, Pinback - Summer in Abbadon, Crooked Fingers - Dignity and Shame, My Morning Jacket - Z, Athlete, A Northern Choris - Bitter Hands Resign, Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism
Other Favs: Minus The Bear, Aimee Mann (formerly of Til Tuesday), Arcade Fire, Dogs Die in Hot Cars, Blusom, Bloc Party, Elliott Smith, Ida, Owen, and the best live singer I've ever heard, Rachael Yamagata
Older Favs:
 | I Can Has Cheezburger? That is not a mistyping or even a misspelling. I'm not a big cat fan and enjoy the occasional video of a feline being flung across a room as much as anyone, but this combination of cat pictures and silly wording can be pretty funny from time to time. OK, a lot of the time its not that funny, but those rare strokes of stupid genious are worth a little sifting. Its my understanding the wording style has roots in '80s Japanese video games (where proper English was secondary), but hang around the internet and at some point you're bound to see "oh noes!" sooner or later anyway. | |
 Mistakes It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others. | despair.com A satire of those corny motivational posters, which in many ways is a lot more relevant to real, everyday work life. Definitely worth a look - it will have you giggling like a schoolgirl (I did!). Also available in t-shirts and other such swag. Nice parting gifts for your laid-off co-workers. And a homepage with a boredom level that puts mine to shame: www.despair.com. | |
 | Post Secret People anonymously reveal their deepest secrets on post cards. In this world of imitation and artifice, you see that there is really more going on inside those anonymous faces around you. Some of it is happy; much of it isn't. Come on, be honest - isn't it reassuring to know that other people are just as screwed up as you are? | |
 | The Onion "Cupid Shooting Spree Leaves Dozens Infatuated". You just don't get news like this on CNN! | |
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eMusic.com A great source for indie rock, electronic, jazz...everything except big-label music. Unlike iTunes and other sites backed by the RIAA cartel, this site has music that is in MP3 format! Music is usually approx 192kbps or higher. And you get 75 songs for $20 - plus 25 free songs when you sign up! OK, so its not as greal a deal as it used to be, but its still a great deal. | Craigslist The classified section for the masses - basic, unassuming, no fancy graphics, and of course free. Most major cities are there, and some not-so-major ones. Want to buy an oboe in Oslo? This is the place. The best section, though, is the best of Craigslist - mostly rants, and usually very funny! |
 | Slick Deals Whether I'm "frugal" or just plain cheap is, well, a question of symantics, I'd say. But this site is good for anyone who is either. The main page is for the casual frugalian, who doesn't want to be bothered with digging around but doesn't mind missing some deals. The hardcore slickdeallers monitor the hot deals forum, where the deals are first posted. Fat Wallet is where the deals show up first, but it can take a lot of work to find what you want there. |
If any website owners have issues with my use of your images (for the sole purpose free advertising for your website), please contact me.
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Older Stuff
Mountain Biking
Mountain Biking Videos (MPEG)*
Mountain Biking Videos (Windows Media Video)
Forest Park (Portland, OR) Mountain Biking Guide
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High-Definition Television (HDTV)
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Getting HDTV Over the Air (OTA) OTA HDTV in Portland, Oregon |
