Jason Toney

The Plenty Nasty Workout Playlist

Plenty Nasty by Diplomats Of Solid Sound  
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01 Plenty Nasty.mp3 (4453 KB)

1. On The Sly by The Bamboos
2. Here Come The Girls feat. Flomega by Lefties Soul Connection
3. This Love Aint Big Enough for The Two of Us by Charles Bradley & The Bullets
4. If This Ain't Love (Don't Know What Is) by Nicole Willis and The Soul Investigators
5. Plenty Nasty by Diplomats of Solid Sound
6. No Man Worries featuring Ria Currie by Speedometer
7. Disciples by Stee Downes
8. Shock Ya Mind (Flow Dynamics Remix) by Flow Dynamics
9. Funky Nassau (Beginning of the End) by Orgone
10. Turn and Run by Alice Russell
11. Born To Live With Heartache by Mary Love

Bonus: Fancy by Spanky Wilson

 40 minutes of Cardio Power and Resistance. I thought it was a recovery day and was getting all set to do a Wii Fitness test but no, we've got power jacks and moving push ups and globe jumps and tricep dips. Damnit.

 Today's song selection represents this playlist well. I'm seeking out workout mixes I haven't done before and this one is a collection aof new and classic soul tracks all funky enough to keep me motivated through this monster session of Insanity.

 Spanky Wilson says, "I couldn't see livin' the rest of my life with my head down in shame."

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The Can't Stop Now Workout Playlist

Never Can Say Goodbye (Neptunes Remix) by Michael Jackson  
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Never Can Say Goodbye (Neptunes Remix).mp3 (4594 KB)

1. Exhibit C by Jay Electronica
2. Odessa by Caribou
3. Promised Land by Kanye West/Malik Yusef/Maroon 5
4. Chillin' (feat. Lady Gaga) by Wale
5. Warm Heart of Africa (Theophilus London Remix) by The Very Best
6. Say Goodbye to Love by KENNA
7. Never Can Say Goodbye (Neptunes Remix) by Michael Jackson
8. Orange Shirt by Discovery
9. Can't Stop Now by Major Lazer
10. Touch by Omarion
11. Broken by Gorillaz
12. Walking On The Moon by The-Dream

Bonus: What Would I Want? Sky by Animal Collective

42 minutes of the Plyometric Cardio Circuit. Even though my apartment was a sweat box (I accidentally left the heat on high all day), this was a great workout. I blame the music. It's been a long time since I got a mix that was truly unique featuring no songs that regularly appear on my playlists but working incredibly well together. Thanks Jay Electronica for kicking it off right.

Today's song selection is because the Jackson family was on Oprah today which meant people had him on their mind. Including me.

Animal Collective says, "What is the right way?"

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The Soundtracks To Your Lives

"I know your image of me is what I hope to be." - Donny Hathaway, A Song For You

I asked a question yesterday:

The reason for the inquiry is that I have spent much of the last week or so listening to Hans Zimmer composing solo on the Inception soundtrack and with James Newton Howard on The Dark Knight score. I was reminded again Saturday night whilst watching the Kill Bill movies how powerful strong music for a film can be. It can be an emotional or mental trigger setting the right mood or tone for a moment long after the relevant scene or dialogue has been at the top of mind.

I've long had a go-to soundtrack list of my own:

• Jackie Brown
• Ocean's 11
• Dead Presidents
• Clockers
• Love Jones
• Love and Basketball
• Brown Sugar
• Kill Bill Vol. 1

But I wanted to know which film scores inspired you. I got a lot of responses. The first was one from Melle who reminded me that she had asked a similar question two years ago. After some light prodding from a friend on twitter, I decided to compile a comprehensive list of the responses from yesterday and two years ago.

So, without further ado, your favorite soundtracks are:

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. A Clockwork Orange (2)
3. A Hard Day's Night
4. About Last Night
5. Above The Rim
6. Across the Universe (2)
7. Almost Famous (3)
8. Amadeus
9. An Education
10. Any Given Sunday
11. Basquiat
12. Batman
13. Blaxploitation flicks
14. Boogie Nights
15. Bram Stoker's Dracula
16. Broken Flowers
17. Car Wash
18. Cashback
19. Crooklyn
20. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
21. Dances with Wolves
22. Dazed and Confused (3)
23. Dead Man
24. Dead Presidents (2)
25. Dirty Dancing (2)
26. DIVA
27. Dogs in Space
28. Eve's Bayou
29. Footloose
30. Forrest Gump (4)
31. Garden State
32. Glory Daze
33. Good Morning, Vietnam
34. Grosse Pointe Blank
35. Hackers
36. Hair
37. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2)
38. High Fidelity (2)
39. Honey
40. I Am Sam
41. Inception
42. I'm Not There
43. In Bruges
44. In the Mood For Love
45. Into the Wild
46. Italian Music: 31 Invalid Movie Themes
47. John Williams
48. Judgment Night
49. Juno
50. Kill Bill, vol. 1
51. Kill Bill, vol. 2
52. Kinky Boots
53. Koyaanisqatsi
54. Last American Virgin
55. Last of the Mohicans
56. Little Miss Sunshine
57. Lonestar
58. Lost in Translation
59. Mishima
60. Motorcycle Diaries
61. Moulin Rouge
62. Mulholland Drive
63. O Brother, Where Art Thou
64. Once (2)
65. Out of Africa
66. Outside Providence
67. Pan's Labyrinth
68. Parade
69. Passion
70. Philip Glass
71. Pretty in Pink
72. Pump Up the Volume (2)
73. Purple Rain
74. Repo Man
75. Requiem for a Dream
76. Roots
77. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
78. Saturday Night Fever
79. Shopgirl
80. Singles (2)
81. Solaris
82. Some Kind of Wonderful
83. Soul Food
84. Star Wars: A New Hope
85. Super Fly (2)
86. The Big Lebowski
87. The Breakfast Club
88. The Crow
89. The Dark Knight
90. The Empire Strikes Back
91. The Fountain
92. The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
93. The Graduate
94. The Hours
95. The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love
96. The Jewish Americans
97. The Lord of the Rings
98. The Matrix
99. The Mission
100. The Pirates of the Caribbean
101. The Proposition
102. The Royal Tenenbaums
103. The Saint
104. The Shawshank Redemption
105. The Social Network
106. The Virgin Suicides
107. The Wiz
108. Top Gun
109. Trainspotting (2)
110. Transformers (animated motion picture)
111. Trouble Man
112. Virtuosity
113. Waiting to Exhale
114. Wes Anderson movies
115. Wicker Park
116. Wings of Desire

Those in italics represent soundtracks I own or have owned, in whole or in part. Those in bold represent the ones I've decided to check out first. The real motive behind my question, you see, was an interest in growing my instrumental score library. I spent much of October listening to Danny Elfman and that sparked this early November interest in Mr. Zimmer and now, I just want good orchestral sounds of which I'm familiar to fill my ears.

So, the ones in bold are the ones I'm considering. They represent movies I've seen that I have fond memories of and that have distinctive soundscapes. Last night I got to sampling and buying.

First up was Kill Bill vol. 2. An easy choice to be sure and mostly meets the criteria. While there are some vocal tracks, the bulk of this album are tracks from Italian movie composers (highlighted, of course, by Ennio Morricone). Next was Once. Not instrumental at all but it's a travesty that I didn't already have this in my iTunes considering how much I enjoyed their show at the Hollywood Bowl this past Summer. And, finally, I completed my Nolan/Zimmer collection with Batman Begins.

I also picked up tracks I missed/was missing from The Dead Presidents soundtrack, Above The Rim, and that one Teenage Fan Club/De La Soul mashup I liked from Judgment Night.

I thought about finally getting the Star Wars soundtracks digitally but, at least last night, the music all felt a little too familiar. I love John Williams but Star Wars doesn't get much chance to get out of sight, out of mind and it just served to remind me that I should get back to playing Lego Star Wars again.

I also really wanted to finally own the Almost Famous soundtrack but it isn't available digitally. It's a good excuse to visit Amoeba, though. Once I tire of Hans and the gang, though, I think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Pan's Labyrinth are next on my hit list.

What say you?

The One Where I Didn't Have Time

"What if the lights go out?" - Shivaree, Goodnight Moon

I've never been very disciplined. I'm good at bargaining with myself. I'm also prone to getting completely thrown off of a routine by slight changes. So, of course, last weekend's Sunday night out totally threw this week out of whack. My sleep schedule, my morning rituals, my workouts, my everything was askew. The running theme of every day was my lack of time.

So, I didn't have time to tell you about Halloween and our night with Pigeon John and DJ Shadow. I didn't tell you how the House of Blues was filled with a bunch of Olds (or, at least, people mostly my age) for a DJ show. I didn't tell you how much fun we had.

In fact, I didn't have time to do one of these posts last week. Or post much of anything here all of this week. No discussions of The Walking Dead (loving it) or the election (although last week's This American Life had a chapter about the Democrats that pretty well expresses my exasperation with them) or how I've become infatuated with soups.

Mostly, I had time for sleeping at odd hours and thinking a lot about work. I'm full of ideas these days and this upcoming week is going to be about getting them out of my head and onto a board or something and figuring out which ones are worth pursuing and how.

We did gain a fictional extra hour today so, hopefully, I can make it count.

• The Best Thing I Saw This Week: The aforementioned Walking Dead is pretty spectacular. I also very much enjoyed catching most of both volumes of Kill Bill yesterday.
• The Best Thing I Heard This Week: Anything and everything by Hans Zimmer but particularly the Inception soundtrack which dominated my playlists this week and proved to be great music for getting in a work rhythm quickly.
• What I'm Currently Reading: Honestly...not much. I just picked up The Failure again today, which has gotten very funny so hopefully I will finish that this week. I also am finally up to the last volume of 100 Bullets (Wilt) and will definitely finish Azarello and Risso's Noir Opus in the next few days.
• The Thing I Read This Week That Most Resonated:

The truth of the matter is we do care about our communities. How we handle complaints against a public servant who we pay with our tax dollars may be very different then how we deal with Ray Ray the Thug who lives in our hood and is causing problems. And to be quite frank, we’ve long had ‘Increase the Peace’ rallies, ’Stop the Violence‘ summits Summer Jam festivals to raise money for peace organizations etc all in our communities. Why some insist on acting like they don’t happen is beyond me. It suggests that those who make such claims are disconnected from the people and neighborhood they critiquing.

Why? Because I haven't had much to say about Oscar Grant's murder or the aftermath because it just makes me so sad. Davey D puts to virtual paper a lot of the anger and frustration situations like this, and this one in particular where an entire subway full of people watched a young man get killed and, still, his killer receives less time than there is between the Summer and Winter Olympics, creates in me.

I don't have the words so I'm grateful someone else did.

And, with any luck, I'll wake up tomorrow and will be thankful for the day. I started this talking about my own lack of time but, that's not true. I seem to have it in abundance.

Mr. Grant, however, has none.

Let's go!

The Once You Get Started Workout Playlist

Once You Get Started by Rufus & Chaka Khan  
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03 Once You Get Started.mp3 (5056 KB)

1. Wind Parade by Donald Byrd
2. What's Your Name by Leon Ware
3. I Got The by Labi Siffre
4. Stay Free by Ashford & Simpson
5. I Need It by Johnny "Guitar" Watson
6. 100 Million Ways by Nash
7. Once You Get Started by Rufus & Chaka Khan
8. Evil Vibrations by The Rebirth

Bonus: Days Like This (DJ Spinna and Ticklah Remix) by Shaun Escoffery

 40 minutes of Pure Cardio. I was watching Sports Center or the NBA on TNT this week and a Mike Krzyzewski USA Basketball practice was being featured and he said something to the effect of "Don't let tired beat you." I took that into today's workout, the first in about 5 days. Tired still beat me often but I gave it a hell of a fight.

 Today's song selection is because you can't not love Rufus & Chaka Khan and this track is hella aerobic in tempo and the lyrics are hyper motivational.

 Let's go!

 Shaun Escoffery says, "Here comes the sun."

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The Unstoppable Workout Playlist

Might Like You Better (Blaqstarr Remix) by Amanda Blank  
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Might Like You Better (Blaqstarr Remix).mp3 (5091 KB)

1. U.R.A.Q.T. by M.I.A.
2. Unstoppable by Santogold
3. Konichiwa Bitches by Robyn
4. I Was A Lover by TV On The Radio
5. Air War by Crystal Castles
6. Might Like You Better (Blaqstarr Remix) by Amanda Blank
7. Easy Love by MSTRKRFT
8. Everybody But Me (diskJokke Remix) by Lykke Li
9. Innocence by Bjork

Bonus: Poor Little Rich Boy by Regina Spektor

 40 minutes of Cardio Power & Resistance. Yesterday, I declared that I was going to get back to my morning routine and, well, I did meditate (for a very short while) and I did read (the latest issue of Powers) but I didn't get to the writing. I voted instead. I think that was a fair trade.

 Today's song selection is because Amanda Blank is fun. And nasty. And fun.

 Regina Spektor says, "You're so young, you're so goddamned young."

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The Stay Fly Fit Test

"Got a lotta haters and a lotta homies." - Mike Jones, Still Tippin'

1. Notorious Thugs by Notorious B.I.G.
2. Stay Fly (feat. Young Buck, 8-Ball and MJG) by Three 6 Mafia
3. Pimpin' All Over The World by Ludacris
4. Dreams by The Game
5. What's The Difference by Dr. Dre, Eminem & Xzibit
6. So Fresh, So Clean by OutKast

Bonus: Through the wire by Kanye West

A good Fit Test despite not losing any weight this week, drinking and eating fried foods late last night, and having treats aplenty throughout the end of the week. I've only been able to do 3 workouts a week the last two weeks and my goal is to get up to 4 this time around.

In other news, I have fallen out of my morning rituals. I haven't meditated or read or written. I've let the call of the internet and thoughts of work take over. This is my proclamation that I will attempt to get back to center starting tomorrow.

Kanye West says, "I must got a angel cuz look at how death missed his ass. Unbreakable. What? They call me Mr. Glass."