More power to The New Dorks!

And how can we not want a piece of the original?

If you go poking around the hood, there really is no sign, nothing that speaks of the gentleman or his invention, but if you ask enough old timers about Butts, then you’ll get the lowdown on what exactly transpired.

Alfred Butts, was an out of work architect, who wasn’t really happy with the state of board games back in the 1930′s.  He figured that by putting together word games and anagrams, he would be able to give people a game that they would enjoy. Enter, “Criss Cross.” Bad name–but what else could you expect from a guy named Butts? Anyhoo, after trifling with “Lexiko,” the board game was finally christened “Scrabble” by entrepreneur James Brunot.  The rest, is H-I-S-T-O-R-Y.

To add a visual element to my ramble, here is a charming video made by Columbia Journalism Students Benedict Moran and Sruthi Gottipati, about Scrabble in Jackson Heights.

Related Content:
In Jackson Heights
If It’s Green–It Must Be a Garden Apartment
Jackson Heights Serves Up A Shot of Cool
Snack-Happy in Jackson Heights

So let me back up and tell you all the nutty things I have managed to parse through this morning.

Space Ark- Iranian Style; Iran launches one mouse, two turtles and a bunch of worms into space

On Wednesday, Iran launched a rocket into space–with a special and somewhat wriggly payload.

One mouse, two turtles and some worms were packed into the “experimental capsule” in the “Kovoshgar 3 (Explorer 3) rocket and were given a one way ticket into the great yonder. The rat, nicknamed Helmz 1, and his buddies will now live out the rest of their lives on the rocket, their movements monitored by live video relayed from the space ark.

Read the rest of my piece here.

Giant hungry eagle pushes goat off cliff – Yayy DINNER!

And crazy lady found guilty of animal cruelty after piercing her kittens’ ears

There is nothing to watch on entertainment TV except American Idol (Posh Spice looks increasingly like an insect from outer space) and Jersey Shore (I dare you to judge me.) and the news is-pardon my French- full of crap. And it doesn’t matter what country you are in-news sucks.

So as a tribute to all the crappy bulletins out there and as a shoutout to all those of you who slave in an unforgiving, ungrateful industry that causes rapid aging, heartburn and wrinkles –here’s our loving tribute. A (very) generic newscast- because new should be fair, unbiased and generic. Enjoy.

No one comes close to Anthony Bourdain when it comes to calling a spade a spade. Here he is, on a jaunt across Astoria – discovering the authentic Egyptian fare dished out at Kabab Cafe. From goat brains to kidney and balls – this is a compelling reason to stay a carnivore for life. Here’s Bourdain and his buddy Andrew Zimmern on the right way to handle balls–er, goat balls, we presume.

Read more Kabab Cafe reviews here, here and here.

Related Content:
Best Italian Food in NYC? Astoria’s L’Incontro Bags Top Spot
Queens Hot Chocolate Crawl
Astoria: Shopping in Quirky Land

Drift from mustardcuffins on Vimeo.

Be it The Strokes’ “Is This It?” or TV on the Radio’s “Return to Cookie Mountain” and Dear Science or Vampire Weekend’s eponymous debut, its been a thrilling ride.

Just take a look at this year’s releases.

Among the countless hipster faves, you’ll find such gems as Antony and The Johnsons’  “The Crying Light,” Animal Collective’s “Merriweather Post Pavilion,” Julian Casablancas’ “Phrazes for the Young” and arguably the best album of the year- Dirty Projectors’ “Bitte Orca.”

Artist: Anthony and The Johnsons

Album: Crying Light

The Crying Light was the first of the lot that I managed to get.

Its impossible to go through the strangely luminous, teasingly seductive songs that makes up the album without being profoundly moved.

Everyone knows about Antony Hegarty’s much talked about sexuality, but it really amazes how few have actually heard the music.

A great amalgam of jazz figures, understated autumnal strings and Hegarty’s beautiful voice, The Crying Light is absolutely brilliant.

Although the album deals with issues like death and decay it’s a classic statement of the creative will turning fear into a defiant celebration of life.

Epilepsy is Dancing, based in part on the famous Japanese Butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno, who at 106, is still performing, is a case in point.

And then there are deeply sexy, playful songs like Kiss My Name, one of the most accomplished come-ons set to music that I can think of.

On top of all that, Hegarty’s album makes one of the most personal environmentalist statements in music. In the haunting Another World, he sings, “I’m gonna miss the sea, gonna miss the snows; I’m gonna miss the trees, miss the things that grow.” A beautiful album.

Artist: Animal Collective

Album: Merriweather Post Pavilion

Very happy with life seem Brooklyn favourites Animal Collective.

They delivered another early stunner when Merriweather Post Pavilion was released in January this year.

MPP is like most other AC albums in one way- it takes time getting used to.

At least so I thought, before I heard the album a second time.

Its no understatement to say that this is veritable candy-shop of an album- immensely accessible, and with new sound-treats in store every time you visit.

Lyrically the songs move away from the tribal hootenannies of yore, peopled by strange animals and colours, as Panda Bear and Avey Tare write about the joys of domesticity on Summertime Clothes.

Of course, if you’re as Day-Glo as these gents, even your domesticity’s slightly weird.

They write love paens to wives and children in the band’s surreal metaphors on My Girls and Also Frightened. On Brothersport, as opposed to being slightly cheesy, its actually exciting and very touching, especially when coupled to the fairground music that goes with it.

Ah the music! All AC albums have followed the relatively simple but hard-to-execute sonic architecture of overlapping circular arrangements culled from samplers and damaged-guitar tones, that come together for soaring choruses and then break down again, creating a compelling ebb and flow.

In MPP, they get it very right because all the sounds chase the very conventional song structures in a dizzying sound that’s designed for the inside of your head. Grounding this kaleidoscope wash of sounds are deep bass pulses, tambourines and the occasional tribal thud.

By the time the album orgasms in the joyous Brother Sport, you’re left breathless and grinning. AND they made Billboard Top 20! Last month’s Fall Be Kind EP’s no slouch either.

Artist: Julian Casablancas

Album: Phrazes for the Young

Strangely enough, you hear distinctly AC-ish sounds at 1:53 of 4 Chords of the Apocalypse, a great blue-eyed soul number delivered with uncharacteristic ferocity by Strokes-man Julian Casablancas.

Yes, you read right- Casablancas and ferocity in one line. Nearly all the members of The Strokes had released multiple solo albums- barring guitarist Nick Valensi- but what people were really eager to hear was new music from the band’s singer and songwriter Julian Casablancas.

Finally released, his debut solo album Phrazes for the Young is a triumph.

It starts out on familiar Strokes territory with the chugging, chiming guitars of Out of The Bluebursting from the speakers.

But by the time the glorious chorus comes on, it isn’t guitars that come to the fore, but synthesizers! And this from a man who we all thought was a late-Seventies, guitar chewing, Velvet Underground-loving pop purist!

But the song’s so good, you can hardly imagine it existing in any other sonic context.

The other tune on this short album that most resembles The Strokes is the raging River of Brakelights.

But the other six songs take one musical left turn after another, all the while retaining their quality pop hooks.

So while Glass can only be described as a combination of Western Classical motifs and shiny, glacial electropop, 11th Dimension wanders through a looking glass world of cheesy 80s synth pop, treated percussion and a decidedly 50s guitar figure.

These wildly disparate elements should never mix, but here they do so, miraculously. In a similar vein, the deep soul of 4 Chords of the Apocalypse suddenly morphs into sampler-led sonic terrorism in the chorus, which then leads to a delightful sweeping guitar solo. It’s a mesmerizing mix, one that feels perfectly logical.

Casablancas has often been accused of singing in a sullen whine. On Phrazes he buries his vocals deep in the mix a la Mick Jagger on The Stones’ Exile on Main Street, and just as Jagger did on that album, Casablancas proceeds to unveil his rich range- considerably better than on the Strokes’ albums- from the fantastic soul croon on Apocalypse to a warped, wry sing song on the country ditty Ludlow Street.

His voice is expansive and expressive.

Artist: Dirty Projectors

Album: Bitte Orca

When I saw Bitte Orca, it looked strange enough for me to get it.

And when the heavily reverbed prog guitar intro of Cannibal Resource started, with the very Led Zeppelin heavy drums, I was lulled for a second into thinking that this would be a straightforward pop album.

Of course, I knew nothing about band mastermind David Longstreth. Pretty soon the soaring, ethereal voices of singers Angel Deradoorian and Amber Coffman started floating all over the place, in precisely written parts over stop-start rhythms, Tinariwen-like handclaps- all tied into a very Captain Beefheart-like approach to songwriting.

Its difficult music, but one that let’s you in if you give it enough time. And once you’re in, the pleasures- melodic and rhythmic- just keep on coming.

Take Temecula Sunrise for one. Soaked in the same warm communal vibes as Merriweather- is this the dawn of an East Coast love-in? This song winds its way into your skull through a beautiful chordal acoustic guitar figure that is as eccentric as Longstreth’s high, keening voice; which suddenly leads up to a gloriously electric chorus and then breaks for the second verse which is arranged like a song from Tinariwen’s Aman Iman from two years ago.

Longstreth evidently takes African music seriously, and you can hear his influence on the band that two of his erstwhile protégés formed- Vampire Weekend. Anyway, the song then goes into a compelling, driving yet utterly inscrutable guitar solo- more inventive than anything Jack White has recorded in the past few years.

Further on you have the brilliant Timbaland soul r’n’b pastiche Stillness is the Move.

Amber Coffman outdoes herself in a masterful vocal turn of glorious radiance.

Then you have the unsettling folk ballad Two Doves and other highlights like Useful Chamber which winds all over the place over eerie keyboard figures and voices, a dance floor beat before convening for the strangely uplifting chorus of “Bitte Orca Orca Bitte” and another blistering solo that Jimmy Page would have been proud of, as would be Thurston Moore.

Its mesmerizing music, messy by design and rich in melody and rhythm. Its my favorite album of the year by miles.

It grows on you, and soon you’re humming the tune.

Ludlow Street, another strange mix of styles, is the masterpiece on this album. It starts with an ominous drone like something out of the There Will be Blood soundtrack before morphing into a country lament for the soul of New York City.

For more on Bitte Orca, go to Pitchforktv’s review.

Tell us what made your list of favorite music this year. Drop us a line below!

Bibek Bhattacharya is an avid traveler and writer. He is currently the Editor of Business Today’s lifestyle magazine, MORE.  Bibek blogs at bibekbhattacharya.blogspot.com

The Best Rock Albums, The Best Non-Stories, The Best Douchebags..of the year, of the decade, of this crummy recession!

Join indiejourno over the next couple of days, as we frantically, copy-paste lists from across the internet and pass them off as ours..(hahah, NOT!)

Giving credit where it is due..here is a wonderful list from the jolly folks over at Soundcheck, the music-talk show at WNYC (New York Public Radio)

This list, The Decade’s Best in World Music, comes courtesy culture reporter and all-round world music aficionado Siddhartha Mitter.

I added the videos, because some folks like to watch (Tee hee)

Siddhartha Mitter’s Top Ten World Music Albums:
Three from 2009:

Buraka Som Sistema, Black Diamond

Buraka Som Sistema play kuduro, an Angolan take on dance music that’s an example of what British critic Matt Ingram calls “Shanty House”: urbanized, globalized street and club music splicing hip-hop and rave DNA with local mutations to create dynamic pidgin sounds. Read more here

Kailash Kher, Yatra

Anyone who has lived in India can attest to Kailash Kher’s wonderful caterwauling – no, we jest! But if Yatra doesn’t impress..surely this song will..Allah Ke Bande

Otto, Certa manhã acordei de sonhos intranquilos

There’s a most delicious sadness to the new record from Brazil’s Otto, a veteran singer from Recife’s ultra-fertile mangue-beat scene whose style could be called energetically moody. The title paraphrases the opening lines of Kafka’s “Metamorphosis,’’ and the album delivers on the implied promise of an emotional journey: It arcs from an almost grandiose lamentation of cruelty and loss (“Crua’’) to an end-state of quiet resolution (“Agora Sim’’). Read more here

Youssou N’Dour, Egypt

Cafe Tacuba, Cuatro caminos

I always wished I had written Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, but after submerging myself in the floating history of the Buendias, I couldn’t pick up another book for weeks. I couldn’t write. The rainforest heat of his simple prose and the novel’s mystical subversion of time left me lamenting my own useless efforts. I imagine, if I were a musician, I would feel this same impotence after listening to Café Tacuba’s Cuatro Caminos. Read more here.

Look out for part 2 tomorrow.

In the meantime, what were your favorite world music albums of the year/ decade? Drop me a line below.

At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data -- including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop."

My mind took a while coming around to this video. Only because I am a crotchety old person that types with one finger- r.e.a.l. s.l.o.w.

But here is an amazing presentation by a guy called Pranav Mistry. Ho Hum, so what’s new you say? Well, this guy is the inventor of SixthSense, a wearable device that enables interactions between the real world and the world of data.

Gobbledygook, you say? No Comprendo? Don’t worry. Just watch this video and you will know what I am yakking about. If you can get past the fact that he SOUNDS like he graduated from an IIT (Indian Institute of Technology, the world’s largest manufacturing hub of high definition geeks), then his ideas are awesome.

About Pranav:
Pranav Mistry is a PhD student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT’s Media Lab. Before his studies at MIT, he worked with Microsoft as a UX researcher; he’s a graduate of IIT. (Editor’s note: HAH, I TOLD you so!)  Mistry is passionate about integrating the digital informational experience with our real-world interactions.

Some previous projects from Mistry’s work at MIT includes intelligent sticky notes, Quickies, that can be searched and can send reminders; a pen that draws in 3D; and TaPuMa, a tangible public map that can act as Google of physical world. His research interests also include Gestural and Tangible Interaction, Ubiquitous Computing, AI, Machine Vision, Collective Intelligence and Robotics.

No, I did not write the above paragraphs, I would never have gotten all those words right, but I ripped the bio off TED.com’s page.

Also, indulge your inner need for visual representation by taking a closer look at this picture.

Aah, my inner-geek has finally found release..now, I know what to do with my hands...aah

But tell me what you think, because I think SixthSense is awesome and it is blowing everybody’s minds.

(Hat Tip: Asitkumar Patel and assorted members of the Patel clan and AkshayV.Rao)