Musical Mondays: Awesome Track

Musical Mondays: A Little Early

Man, shit is going so well right now. I really hope it keeps up. Had a pretty epic date this weekend. Dinner at an awesome Japanese restaurant (I think it was called Yosake - awesome decor and great food), a post-dinner stroll through downtown Wilmington, coffee, watching a few episodes of Archer, teaching my date to play Infinite City, being taught (finally) how to play Dominion, watching him play Skyrim while editing photos, reading Terry Pratchett before going to sleep. All I can say is fucking A. In honor of the incredibly nerdy nature of the weekend, here is an awesome track by a band I hope will be at PAX East this year, Anamanaguchi:

Musical Mondays: Inspired by BTVS

"It's Over, It's Under" by Dollshead

Another Great Track from "Far"

Musical Mondays: Fading Stars

Musical Mondays: KJ, This One's For You

Sometimes I wished we still loved each other. Regina Spektor understands. Here's "The Calculation."



Was good to see you.

Musical Mondays: Great Album, Underrated Track

I've been listening to a lot of Cake lately. This is because I'm working on a much longer post about my favorite ten bands. Recently, a friend was in town visiting and asked me about my favorite bands, and except for #1 I didn't have a ready answer. I had lots of bands I thought might be included on the list, but no set order and no decisions about their relationships/position versus each other. So anyway, as part of writing that piece and listening to make small judgments, I am relistening to a lot of contenders, of which Cake is one.

I remember having an argument with my friend Mark a few years ago about which Cake album was the best. Although "Fashion Nugget" tends to be most critics preference, and I agree there is undeniable brilliance in it, I think I prefer "Comfort Eagle." Reason being, I can listen to CE all the way through without skipping a single track, but I almost always skip "Land of Race Car Ya Yas" and/or "She'll Come Back to Me" when listening to FN. Mark of course thought I was crazy for skipping ANY of the tracks on Fashion Nugget.

Anyway, in light of all that, I decided to make the musical monday one of my favorites from FN. I think it's a simple but brilliant song about the ending of a relationship. There's no personal significance to this pick or anything, I just really think it's an absolutely great song. And I definitely think this track is underrated or discounted versus other songs on the album. So enjoy!

Musical Mondays: Yeah, That About Sums it Up

One of my favorites from my parents' 'greatest hits' of S&G when I was really little. Perhaps, at that age, second only to 'cecilia' to which I would dance around the family room like a mad miniature whirling dervish. Though really, that whole compilation was great. But this was like a little nugget of happiness buried in the middle. And it encapsulates today. So here ya go:

Musical Mondays: From Rawnald Gregory Erickson The Second Radio

Inspired by a relatively new Pandora station of mine. It's "Loud Pipes" by Ratatat.

Musical Mondays: Hard Sun for a Day of Hard Heat

A really fantastic song from the soundtrack of an absolutely incredible movie. Eddie Vedder sings "Hard Sun" from the soundtrack of "Into the Wild."

The Last Enemy

Already had death on the brain this week, what with recent conversations, long solitary hours on the road, and the death of a friend's father.  Now to add a coworker to the list.  Rest in peace, Jennifer. Your brave, protracted battle with cancer was astonishing and inspirational to me.  We will all miss you greatly.   Perhaps yesterday's song should have been the below instead; it is one of the most beautiful songs about death I have ever heard:


 

"What Sarah Said" by Death Cab for Cutie
 
And it came to me then
that every plan
is a tiny prayer to father time
As I stared at my shoes
in the ICU
that reeked of piss and 409
And I rationed my breaths
as I said to myself
that I'd already taken too much today
As each descending peak
on the LCD
took you a little farther away from me
Away from me

Amongst the vending machines
and year-old magazines
in a place where we only say goodbye
It stung like a violent wind
that our memories depend
on a faulty camera in our minds
But I knew that you were a truth
I would rather lose
than to have never lain beside at all
And I looked around
at all the eyes on the ground
as the TV entertained itself
 
'Cause there's no comfort in the waiting room
Just nervous pacers bracing for bad news
And then the nurse comes round
and everyone lifts their heads
But I'm thinking of what Sarah said
"Love is watching someone die"
 
So who's going to watch you die?

Ummmm, Ew.

Today I had occasion to see the video for "On the Floor" by JLo. Do not ask how. I wasn't seeking it out, it sort of just happened to me. Here are some thoughts:

(1) Hellllllllllo obvious product placement. The shoutouts to BMW and Swarovski at the beginning were just sad. If you're going to be that obvious, at least be amusing and self-deprecating about it (see: Wayne's World).

(2) Anyone else think Jlo's nude spider-woman costume is a rip off of the Britney "Toxic" costume? It was the first thought that popped into my head, anyway. Let's compare:





ok - they're obviously not the same, but the reference is there, in my opinion. and Jlo? You don't need to take any pages out of Brit's book.

(3) She never really dances in this spider suit. Know why? It's those six inch heels she's wearing. Sometimes women are DUMB. So DUMB.

(4) Though the conceit (pun intended) of celebrities watching themselves in videos is not a new one, it's still always creepy.

(5) Pop music is out of new ideas right now. SRSLY.

That is all.

Musical Mondays: I'm Late! I'm Late! For a Very Important Date! (well, actually...)

Forgot to post on Monday, being all wrapped up in narrating my funnily bad date. Here's what I intended to post, had I remembered. It's a song called "Beat On Us" by 13 & God:

Musical Mondays: Look Alive

This week's selection is one of my favorite Nada Surf tunes, called "See These Bones." But for a bit of a change I've included a live version hosted by Paste, which I think is vastly superior to the album version from Lucky. Ignore the video, that's not the important point. It's just a beautiful and well written song.

Musical Mondays: Hot Tub Cameo

So my next door neighbor, Jeff, is in this awesome local band that is probably about to make it big. They're called "Hammer No More the Fingers" and they are awesome. They just came back from a pretty long tour in Europe (I think 12 cities). They probably have Avett-Brothers-like chances of making it. We hope, anyway. The thing is, it's hard to pigeonhole their sound. Which I think makes them sort of great, but may impede their ability to get picked up by a major record label. Anyway, Aaron and I are watching closely and trying to spread the love wherever we can.

So today's musical monday is dedicated to HNMTF. Below is their newest music video, filmed by our friend Ned. My neighbor Jeff is the one who looks like a young Tom Petty, wearing the blue and red warpaint towards the end. ALSO! Look for a cameo by my hot tub at the very end of the video (they filmed the last scene there).

Musical Mondays: A Perfect Game

Had a nearly perfect game today. And this song captures my feeling of positivity perfectly. It's about me today. Which is nice every once in awhile.



Two Door Cinema Club - "Something Good Can Work"

Ummm, Excuse Me...

...but when did THIS happen??? As Liz Lemon would say, "I WANT TO GO TO THERE."

         

         

I'm not usually one to go out for celebrity crushes. My ex once asked me if I could sleep with any celebrity who would it be, and I was all, "Eh, I'm over it." Particularly because the usual Hollywood standard of beauty for men is all 'barrel chested' and 'chiseled jaw' or whatever. Blech. But damn, JGL, you may just make me change my mind.

Also, even though it's not musical monday or anything, I've got some more music to share. Courtesy of Nikki of Pasta and Pistols (see link at right), this song just makes me want to bob my head with the windows down on a sunny day. Not the video, so much, which is actually a little creepy. But the song for sure!

Awesome 8in8 Song

"There was a tiny asian woman screaming in the street today
And she was screaming at a person that she obviously hates
She was so loud we heard the screaming with our windows all rolled up
And we all looked down the street to see who she was screaming at

But there was no one on the sidewalk so we all looked back at her
And we saw in her homeless hands she held a 1960s mirror
A pretty plastic girly one framed in a purple case
And she was screaming at herself and she was spitting in her face

And we were scared and we were shaken waiting at the intersection
Looking at each other’s faces, and each one a shocked reflection
And we laugh with nervous laughter at the crazies in the street
But it’s only cause we know its how we kind of want to be
And there’s a fraction of a brain cell chain that makes us what we are
One false move you’re in the mirror, someone’s laughing from the car

Casey said she’d seen that woman half a dozen times
And that she has a bunch of mirrors, she has lots of different kinds
And I wondered what she’d shouted and I wondered what she’d done
The light turned green, and someone said we ought to put her in a song

I feel sorry for that woman as she stormed off in the day
With a bitter frozen enemy who will never go away
And so many of us hate ourselves but never shout in rage
We never get to hold a mirror, we never turn the page"

       -8in8

note new link

Just wanted to pop by to say please take note of the new link I added to "friends" on the side, there. The link will take you to "Pasta and Pistols," the website of my fabulous, long-time friend Nicole. She is a purveyor of interesting links, funny images, great tunes and covetable fashion. Oh, and things vomiting rainbows. Give her a check out. Cheers. Here's an awesome song I heard for the first time on her blog the other day:

One Day, Many Updates and Thoughts

A self-portrait I liked today:



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whole Foods in the South: A Horse of a Different Color

Woman ringing up my groceries: That's a nice color combo you have on there.
Me: Thanks. Blue-green and red-orange are complementary on the color wheel, so I was hoping it would work.
Woman ringing up my groceries: It's really...what's that word I'm looking for...
Dude bagging up my groceries: Creative?
Woman ringing up my groceries: Puerto Rican!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Via AT. Not much you can say about this sad event. I have so much respect for photojournalists. I fantasize about having the courage to do this kind of work some day:

Tim Hetherington, 'Restrepo' Director, And Chris Hondros, Photojournalist, Killed In Libya

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dinner made tonight came out delicious. Something, as Aaron put it, "Totally off the map."



Salad with the following ingredients (organic, fresh, and local in this case, might have made a difference): mix of arugula and spring blend ripped up small, buncha chick peas, fresh cherry tomatoes halved, bulb of fennel sliced thin, red onion sliced thin, goat cheese mozzarella roughly hewn, and homemade dressing of flavorful extra virgin olive oil, fresh oregano and flat leaf parsley from my garden, fennel seed, red pepper flakes, orange zest, salt and pepper.

Fresh loaf of bread from Gugelhupf, sliced on the angle, rubbed with a sliced clove of garlic and touched lightly with butter, then broiled.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An open letter to my brown, Banana Republic scarf:

Dear Scarf,

I miss you. I'm not sure when you left, but I recently took notice of your absence. I'm sorry if this makes me a bad friend, but doesn't the fact that I miss you now count for something? Did you run off with my only pair of black pants that fits right now? If so, I wish you two a happy romance, as I do believe that black and brown can live in harmony. But it would be nice if you'd come back after you elope. Because I found you the perfect outfit to accent. I was all excited to show you last night and that's when I realized you'd gone. Twas a sad day. We've had some good times together, have we not? I mean, we've been friends since my junior year of college. And I've taken care of you, haven't I? I always bathed you by hand with gentle soap, hung you up to dry with the gentlest of padded clothespins, and gave you the coveted top rung of the scarf hanger. If you come back, I promise you won't have to share a rung with my Israeli kafiya anymore. I know how you get jealous when you think you have to vie for favorite, but you know you've always been my #1. Come back and let me tell you how much I appreciate you.

Fondly,
Beth

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over a year ago, I got the Elliott Smith album "New Moon" and ripped it into my iTunes. My cousin Andy, who is a walking music catalog, told me that if I liked Nick Drake I would probably also like Smith. After an initial listen my conclusion was, "Yeah ok, that's pretty good." Promptly, I forgot about the album's existence, only maybe hearing a track sprinkled in on the rare occasions I use the 'shuffle' mode on my ipod. About three months ago, I remembered. I have been listening to this album pretty much nonstop since then. If you have any affection for lyrics that resemble poetry and yet somehow also maintain an observational posture on the day to day, you will love this CD. Released posthumusly, it contains recordings Smith made between '94 and '97 (while he was recording both Roman Candle and Either/Or which I now have and are also good). Some of my favorite tracks from New Moon are as follows (including links to YouTube versions):

Angel in the Snow
Go By
Georgia, Georgia
Big Decision (posted here a few days ago)
Almost Over

and many more! Anyway, give some tracks a listen and maybe buy the album. Because it is DAMN good. I'm even noodling around the idea of an entire post inspired by the lyric from "Riot Coming" (another fave) that goes, "I met a girl on the square, who showed me how to kill my cares. But once that's done, man, there's nothing to do." Still just a thought though; probably now that I've said it it'll never happen. :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Living more alive. Where to begin on this one? It ends self-referentially. I can't even say this because I'm saying everything else. I am a river of words. I'm living more alive. I think you help bring this out of me. Alas I'll have to save it for another day.