Tweed said tae Till:
“What gars ye rin sae Still?”
Till said tae Tweed:
“Though ye rin wi’ speed
An’ I rin slaw–
Yet where ye droon ae man
I droon twa.”There is no getting over the river to-night, Sahib. Dutt! Dutt! Dutt! Good luck go with you, Sahib. And on December 26, Till drooned mar than twa. I first saw news about the earthquake late in the night before I went to bed - I remember the headline noted 700 dead from a 8.9 earthquake off the coast of Aceh, a pious Moslem region at the tip of Sumatra. The next morning - nearly 25000 dead from a tidal wave that swept from Malaysia to Kenya. Today - 150000 dead and rising, millions homeless, hundreds of thousands still missing. A tragedy of completely ridiculous scale. You can find an amazing video at Wizbang - that is one scary wave.

I was actually quite close to being in Malaysia last week, though I would have been in Kuala Lumpur, which faces the South China Sea and not the Indian Ocean. Craziness. Here’s hoping that the areas affected recover as quickly as possible.

And just like that, winter break is over, exiting as quickly as it had arrived. I’m rolling out to Beijing on Tuesday morning on the all-night redeye direct from Vancouver, BC. It’s been a nice, lazy break - won a decent grip of cash playing cards, hung out with the crew. I played a little football, too - sprained my toe when a guy smashed me with his cleat last Sunday, but it was fine to play this week and I made a sweet diving catch for a TD. I think I’m going to try to play some Aussie Rules or Rugby when I’m in China.

It’s a new year, which means its time for the Top 50 songs of the year. Here ya go:

1 Snow Patrol | Run
2 Muse | Time is Running Out
3 Jet | Are You Gonna Be My Girl?
4 Dizzee Rascal | Dream
5 White Stripes | Jolene
6 Juvenile ft/ Soulja Slim | Slow Motion
7 Keane | Sunshine
8 Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz | Get Low
9 Ben Watt ft/ Sanada Maitreya | Stronger Man
10 Shapeshifters | Lola’s Theme
11 Modest Mouse | Float On
12 M.I.A. | Galang Galang
13 Franz Ferdinand | Take Me Out
14 Snoop Dogg ft/ Pharrell | Drop it Like It’s Hot
15 Jay-Z | 99 Problems
16 Kanye West | Jesus Walks
17 Black Eyes Peas | Let’s Get It Started
18 DJ Green Lantern ft/ Wyclef & Sleek Louch | Red Dot
19 VHS or Beta | Night on Fire
20 Razorlight | Golden Touch
21 Annie | Chewing Gum
22 No Doubt | It’s My Life
23 Baitercell & Schumacher | What’s Down Low
24 Kevin Lyttle | Turn Me On
25 Dizzee Rascal | Stand Up Tall
26 Outkast | Ghettomusick
27 Mos Def | Close Edge
28 Kanye West ft/ GLC & Consequence | Spaceship
29 Sigur Ros | Ba Ba
30 U2 | City of Blinding Lights
31 Dt8 Project | The Sun is Shining (Darren Tate Mix)
32 Morrissey | Irish Heart English Blood
33 Nas | U.B.R. (Unauthorized Biography of Rakim)
34 Zero 7 | Somersault
35 Lyrics Born | Callin Out
36 K-OS | The Love Song
37 Nina Sky ft/ Jabba | Move Your Body
38 Houston ft/ Chingy, I-20, Nate Dogg | I Like That
39 Zarbizarre ft/ 3PM | Peyote
40 Mobb Deep | Got It Twisted (DJ Ayres Mix)
41 Jay-Z | Encore
42 Dizzee Rascal | Imagine
43 Endorphin | Endless
44 Frou Frou | Let Go
45 La Oreja de Van Gogh | Rosas
46 Gryndzholy | Razom nas Bagato, Nas ne Podolaty
47 U2 | Vertigo
48 Lemon Jelly | Stay with You
49 Murs | H.U.S.T.L.E.
50 Kaskade | Steppin Out (Extended Mix)

You can still grab the Top 50 of 2003 and Top 50 of 2002. Dizzee’s Fix Up Look Sharp, a remix of Bush’s Letting the Cables Sleep, and Panjabi MC/Jay-Z took top honors last year, while Ash, Kenna and Distant Soundz took the top spots two years back. Let me know in comments what I missed this time!