Deerhoof - The Moose's Daughter: I've been pretty vocal about my enjoyment of Deerhoof. I captured this from a WFMU broadcast; at about 5 minutes, it is one of their lengthier tracks which runs through a number of distorted and progressive beats.

Smog - Sweet Smog Children: A bit of a dud from the Wild Love album that I rave about. It almost seems like transitional filler between songs.

Boris - Untitled: A fifteen minute experimental track from the Smile album ranging from quiet piano to crazy guitar playing. Boris is a recent find for me; it is typically heavier and louder music but isn't afraid to expand into different elements of sound from both an instrumental and vocal approach.

Amon Tobin - Wires & Snakes: Probably my favorite artist releasing music today. Just about everything has a great beat, interesting progressions, and always original.

Tom Waits - Singapore: There are a lot of simply fun songs from Tom, and this one is right at the top of the list.

Material Issue - Chance of a Lifetime: Guess he missed it.

Lucienne Boyer - Parte-moi D'autre Chose: I bought this CD because of a Boyer song on the City of Ghosts soundtrack. Occasionally I have a fondness for old recordings and, in retrospect, it makes me sad that I let an old Victrola with a large record collection leave our family when it could now be collecting dust in a corner of our house.

Neil Young - Guitar Solo 2: Another track from the Dead Man soundtrack; a noisy, distortion-heavy track.

Actually, it is a mad prairie dog, irked at a squirrel who ran across his habitat.

Winter can bring out the hunger in some animals.

In the unfriendly cold this weekend, we went to a nearby pond to feed the five white ducks we've come to enjoy visiting over the past couple years.

As soon as they saw us, they swam directly toward our direction. They jumped out of the water and waddled up the hill, quacking all the way in hopes of gaining our bread.

With the five ducks, probably over 100 Canadian Geese share the pond. Typically, they stay away from the food people; the white ducks have the advantage of bravery (they'll literally stand on my feet to get bread) and have learned to put on a better show in begging for food.

However, this weekend, as the winter closes with a chilly gasp, the geese were just as aggressive trying to get some snacks.

Grumpy as geese tend to be, they started fighting each other, yelling as if the world were coming to an end. Swarming, yelling, flapping wings, and honking, they demanded their fair share of the available bread. The white ducks held their own, gaining more food in the long run, but not at the dodging of a few goose bill snaps along the way.

It was almost a little intimidating; at one point we were pretty sure the geese could take us off our feet if they really wanted to. It seems like a pretty likely way for me to die...mauled by hungry geese in a suburban DC community. At least I'd make the paper.

As would he...

Ozzy has a stuffed lobster.

He'll pick it up and toss it above his head, chase it to wherever it lands, and do it again.

Although Oz likes to play fetch with many toys, if you pick up the lobster and throw it, he'll look at you as if you have, well, lobsters growing out of your ears. Then he walks over to the toy to inspect it, as it to be sure it is okay.

After the holidays, Lobster disappeared. I didn't really miss the toy, but since we decorate our tree with stuffed toys, I sorta assumed it had been accidentally put away with the other decorations. But then, a few weeks ago, the lobster resurfaced. And Ozzy's been playing with it ever since. Perhaps it was in one of Ozzy's hiding places...or perhaps it was put away with the Christmas decorations...and somehow it escaped.

Of course, when Oz was too tired to fight it, I put the toy on his back so I could take a silly picture of him.

The hockey equivalent of Christmas has to be Hockey Day in Canada.

Ever since I subscribed to the Center Ice package years ago, I've been treated to coverage of this annual Canadian event. Starting with a quiet setting from a remote, snow-covered, scenic part of the country, CBC builds from a near solemn beginning to small town celebrations across the country. With footage from outdoor rinks and tiny indoor arenas, thousands of people appear on air to joyfully combine their national pride with their love of the chilly sport.

This year, Hockey Day was headquartered from Campbellton, New Brunswick, with satellites in Toronto, Windsor, Carlyle, SK, Cold Lake, AB and Plaster Rock, NB. A lot of the day's coverage is spent exploring the towns, interviewing local teams, and showing games from the regional rinks. There are many interviews of young and old players and plenty of personal interest stories on how a game with sticks, a rubber puck, and ice can somehow bring communities together and be inspiration to deal with and overcome sickness and other remarkable sources of suffering.

Typically, as was the case this year, three games help fill the day with each of the six Canadian squads facing off against each other. It is odd, however, as the games seem almost secondary to the celebrations occurring nationwide. Every year, CBC manages to extract the most, and the best, out of its country's sporting heritage and puts on a fun day of television.

Boredoms - Bite My Bollocks: Been a while for the Boredoms on the random eight. Quite the noisy way to start off the morning.

Mission of Burma - That's When I Reach For My Revolver: Probably the most well-known MOB song, and rightfully so.

The Byrds - Hungry Planet: My attempts to like the Byrds have pretty much failed miserably. It has, however, spawned me to make a new rule: no buying music that is over 5 years old. If it is older than that and I haven't bought it by this stage in my life, then it will simply not be part of my collection. I'm not sure if I'll be entirely faithful to this approach, but that is the goal.

R.E.M. - Crazy: A cover of an old Pylon song that they would play live often in the late 80's. If only briefly, it was cool that R.E.M. could pull up lesser-known indy (say, Athens, GA) bands with them by consistently playing songs like this (in fact, an R.E.M. cover was quite possibly the first time I heard MOB's "Revolver").

The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet: My "no buying music over 5 years old" rule apparently has some catching up to do as the 80's thrive today on the randon eight; this song came to my attention with The Replacements would often cover it live. In fact, once I bought an Only Ones release, I was surprised how many songs of theirs I had heard covered (Yo La Tengo appears to be a big fan of The Only Ones as well).

The dB's - Moving in Your Sleep: This is just getting weird now; the dB's are another one of those bands in the 80's that R.E.M. would hype and Peter Holsapple toured with the band when I saw them on the Green tour.

The Velvet Underground - Lady Godiva's Operation: Well, at least we are out of the 80's, although this is a band R.E.M. covered often (of course, who doesn't). Another nice thing about my 5-year rule is that I'll purposely not buy all the likely reissues of VU CDs...though hopefully the string of, "here is the same album recorded with background static" and "buy this CD cause we put in a picture of Lou Reed wearing a new hat" releases is finally over.

Butthole Surfers - Hey: Supposedly the Surfers burned an old tour van in Michael Stipe's front yard once. That could be a rumor, or flat out lie spawned by the band, but it does bring closure to a day of oddly related songs and bands.

I think I like the cheetahs at the zoo the best.

There are three pretty nice habitats for them, one who has a great view of the zebras which is probably a little mean for both the cheetah and zebra, but it makes for some great viewing.

As we circled the enclosure, Nicole looked closely at the last cheetah in the exhibit and commented that it looked like she was meowing. It is true, the cats act an awful lot like our household cats from stretching, yawning, eating, to playing. But I figured the line was drawn at the noises they made and sorta dismissed Nicole's comment as a need for more coffee.

But then, sure enough, the cheetah looked right at me and gave a sad little mew the way our Ozzycat does whenever he wants to play but all his toys have been knocked under the refrigerator.

Then she just sat in the corner, looking a bit sad.

And fence, but the Emu was more interesting.

A few things I've learned recently:

1. Zoopies - Last Saturday, we went to the zoo. Early. I really wanted to be on the grounds right after the sun came up so we could see the animals in their early morning rituals. Granted, these rituals consist of little more than eating and waiting to eat, but it is more fun than the general mid-day lulls that most animals get (including me, now that I think about it)

The thing I wasn't expecting were the zoopies, a term Nicole created for "zoo groupies." There is a segment of zoo goers who arrive early, multi-thousand dollar cameras and lenses in hand, and wander around the zoo, calling the animals by name and generally having a fun time. The zoopies all seem to know each other and have an interesting community feel to their interactions. One zoopie, apparently spying newbies to the community, immediately grabbed us and led us to the Great Ape House so we could see an early viewing of the new baby gorilla. I'm not sure we'll ever have quite the same dedication to learning the name of every animal or becoming acquainted with all the zookeeprs, but it is nice to know that we were generally accepted in the early animal viewing society.

2. Darwin - I was very little when I learned I shared a birthday with Abraham Lincoln, but I only just realized that I also shared a birthday with Charles Darwin. I was even more surprised to learn that the two historical icons were born in the same year. I remember having a lengthy question and answer session as a small child with my parents, wondering how Lincoln could be so much older than me (or, at least, have a beard) if we were born on the same day. I suspect the frustration from that conversation, and my general inability to understand the rationale of being born in different years, was reason enough to not exposed shared birth dates regarding any other person.

Keep in mind that, as a child, I also thought Jesus was born every Christmas, miraculously aged 33 years in 3 months, and was crucified every Easter. Yes, it took me many years to grasp the concept of Time.

3. White House - We drove by the White House twice in the past week and for the first time in, oh, about 8 years, I can actually look at the building without feeling dread and disgust. In fact, it kinda makes me happy to see the building now. I can't say I ever thought much on the negative feelings, but it is great to have the opposite sensation now.

Tommy Stinson - Without A View: All told, I tend to like Tommy's post-Replacements work than that of Paul Westerberg, and this is a great track from the Village Gorilla Head release.

Cut Copy - I Wish You Were Gone: A somewhat calm track from the FabricLive.29 collection of remixes. It sets up a good collection with a lot of variety and engaging tunes.

Paul Westerberg - All Over This Land: Kinda funny Paul would show up after I sorta dissed him two songs back. This is a mp3 download from the Westerberg website that, like a few months ago, I'm still not positive what the title is.

The Boom - Trapped Like A Mime: Very fun band local to DC a few years back. The tattooed lead singer tore out miserable vocals to a hardcore / blues mix with a good use of horns throughout. Movin' Out is available on the Amazon marketplace for a whopping 66 cents and, even with shipping, is probably worth the investment.

Hum - Afternoon with the Axolotls: Bunch of geeks playing loud songs about topics most of us will never understand. As I think I've said before, the Downward is Heavenward release is one of my favorites.

Carla Bozulich - Evangelista II: Have to admit, I kinda keep forgetting to take this album off the iPod. I thought it was fun at first, but it sorta wore on me a bit after a while. That said, having not heard it for some time, it is probably weird enough at times that I'll give it another listen.

Old Man Gloom - Close Your Eyes, Roll Back into Your Head: One of those transitional build up tracks before OMG screams like a bear at something. The Christmas release is a kinda fun release, but better as a package than songs appearing in shuffle play.

Miss Violetta Beauregarde - We Had a Riot Doing Diacetylmorphine: If you want weird, then this is the band for you. The Odi Profanum Vulgus Et Arceo release is just crazy...probably crazy bad, but that doesn't really bother me...and another one of those CDs that can be had for about 14 cents off the Amazon marketplace.

Zooborns.com has some great pictures of the new baby gorilla born at the National Zoo on January 10.

As part of our zoo trip this past weekend, we were lucky to see the baby with her mother, Mandara.

The two were sleeping soundly for a good while, huddled together in the peacefulness of a Saturday morning.

As the mother woke up, she sat with her baby in her lap and caressed her with great affection. We were told by the caretakers at the zoo that if they tell Mandara she has a beautiful baby, she'll pat the child gently on the head.

When a loud crowd came into the Ape House, the mother swiftly retreated with her baby to a corner in their enclosure with the baby hidden well out of sight from the oncoming people. When they left, she slowly returned to the forefront, hugging her child. It was a remarkably touching event to witness.

Visiting in the early morning, and following an early morning zoopie (zoo + groupie) into what probably should have been a closed off building, we had a good look at momma panda inside the panda house prior to being left out for breakfast.

I know that look. Through the scratched Plexiglass, the bear was saying, "do you have my food," not unlike our cats do every morning.

This is a pretty crummy picture through the glass, but it sure was comical to watch her beg for food.

Outside, much happier now that she was eating.

We sleep peacefully...

and slowly awake...

and watch you with caution.

We went to the National Zoo today. If you like pictures of animals from the zoo, you should probably stick around here for the next few weeks as I captured many GBs.