ALSO:
NEW BROKEN SCENE TRACKS EXPOSED, the new album 'Forgiveness Rock Record' drops may 4th. go to their website www.brokensocialscene.ca to hear some yummy tracks.
ENJOY BSS.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Whatever Works.
Stuck in rut. Or something. But broke out recently, and MAN it is good being reunited with the world.
I truly credit my new found sense of um not happiness because I am always happy in some way, but ironically upbeat attitude to my main man Woody Allen. After the 3.5 weeks straight outta academic hell, I made the executive decision to blow of reading 'Vanity Fair'(sorry, professor, I read ummm 30 pages of it!) and instead focus all of my spare time on Allen's 'the Insanity Defense' during spring break (I also need to take this time to apologize to my gorgeous teammates who had no idea why I was laughing so hard I started silently crying on the plane after a ridiculously boring lay-over. Read the book and you will understand). I have decided that Woody Allen, as nutty and twisted as he may be, (I mean seriously Woody, you thought marrying your step daughter was a good idea? Okay,when we finally meet we can discuss life decisions. I give good advice.) is my intellectual soul mate. Why? Because he made up his own history of the sandwich and presents it, with what one must imagine to be a completely straight face. 'After four years of frenzied labor, he is convince he is on the threshold of success. He exhibits before his peers to pieces of sliced turkey with a slice of bread in the middle. His work is rejected by all but David Hume, who sees the imminence of something great and encourages him...' Now that is excellent writing, something which we could definitely not come across in 'Vanity Fair'. Okay, so how does this relate to my new outlook on my current situation (stuck in Geneva, not sure if I should be here, etc). Well, it taught me to eat more sandwiches. Kidding. In actuality, I realized that the light of situations can be found when we least expect it, but when our inner voice knows we need it the most. I guess I needed to be reconnected again with with my nutty side in order to see that I am truly okay.
New attitude: 'All I know is that nothing moves faster than the speed of light, so we may as well relax' ('Whatever Works).
Enjoy the random laughs that come in 'the strangest of places, if we look at it right' (garcia).
I truly credit my new found sense of um not happiness because I am always happy in some way, but ironically upbeat attitude to my main man Woody Allen. After the 3.5 weeks straight outta academic hell, I made the executive decision to blow of reading 'Vanity Fair'(sorry, professor, I read ummm 30 pages of it!) and instead focus all of my spare time on Allen's 'the Insanity Defense' during spring break (I also need to take this time to apologize to my gorgeous teammates who had no idea why I was laughing so hard I started silently crying on the plane after a ridiculously boring lay-over. Read the book and you will understand). I have decided that Woody Allen, as nutty and twisted as he may be, (I mean seriously Woody, you thought marrying your step daughter was a good idea? Okay,when we finally meet we can discuss life decisions. I give good advice.) is my intellectual soul mate. Why? Because he made up his own history of the sandwich and presents it, with what one must imagine to be a completely straight face. 'After four years of frenzied labor, he is convince he is on the threshold of success. He exhibits before his peers to pieces of sliced turkey with a slice of bread in the middle. His work is rejected by all but David Hume, who sees the imminence of something great and encourages him...' Now that is excellent writing, something which we could definitely not come across in 'Vanity Fair'. Okay, so how does this relate to my new outlook on my current situation (stuck in Geneva, not sure if I should be here, etc). Well, it taught me to eat more sandwiches. Kidding. In actuality, I realized that the light of situations can be found when we least expect it, but when our inner voice knows we need it the most. I guess I needed to be reconnected again with with my nutty side in order to see that I am truly okay.
New attitude: 'All I know is that nothing moves faster than the speed of light, so we may as well relax' ('Whatever Works).
Enjoy the random laughs that come in 'the strangest of places, if we look at it right' (garcia).
Monday, March 1, 2010
there's a darkness upon you that's flooded and light
When I first finished George Eliot's novel The Mill on the Floss, I thought I found a book to add to this list of books that have changed my life. So far, that list is quite minimal, only Dave Egger's The Heartbreaking Work of a Staggering Genius, John Irving's The World According to Garp, and Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being are on that list, so needless to say I was pumped at the notion of adding another one because it makes me feel very literary and smart. As soon as I started developing a thesis for my midterm essay for my 19th Century English Lit course on The Mill on the Floss all passion for Eliot's work flew out of the window. Ugh. It just caused me to question why. Is it the system of education I am trapped in that makes me this way? Is it the fact that I want to separate myself from knowledge that is put on us in order to choose my own way of thinking? Seriously developing a thesis for a book I loved was the hardest thing, and it seems odd that this would be the case. Some things are better left unexplored, the more poking and prodding that goes on ruins the initial and unconscious love.
Enjoy the thesis? ew.
Enjoy the thesis? ew.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
it's bigger than hip-hop
Oh dear. I clearly have not done a very good job of keeping this up, so the best-of lists are on the back burner (thank you, junior year of college). However, I came across this epic mash-up on YouTube (a close second to pursuing the Sartorialist as a procrastination activity, again, thank you junior year of college) and felt the need to share it with whoever may stumble on this.
I LOVE mash-ups. Milkman, Girl Talk, Norwegian Recycling, SuperMash Bros, you name it. There is just something so satisfying about hearing a bunch of your favorite jams all mushed into one epic track. So when YouTube suggested I listen to this one mixed by The Hood Internet (not sure who they are but hey), I was like OKAY COOl and dug it immediately. It is (drum role please) Dead Prez's 'Hip-Hop' combined with Grizzly Bear's 'Two Weeks.' Epic. The best of both worlds, independent hip-hop and independent ambient folk, who knew they would mesh so well?
Dead Prez vs. Grizzly Bear: Two Weeks of Hip Hop
Enjoy the beat!
I LOVE mash-ups. Milkman, Girl Talk, Norwegian Recycling, SuperMash Bros, you name it. There is just something so satisfying about hearing a bunch of your favorite jams all mushed into one epic track. So when YouTube suggested I listen to this one mixed by The Hood Internet (not sure who they are but hey), I was like OKAY COOl and dug it immediately. It is (drum role please) Dead Prez's 'Hip-Hop' combined with Grizzly Bear's 'Two Weeks.' Epic. The best of both worlds, independent hip-hop and independent ambient folk, who knew they would mesh so well?
Dead Prez vs. Grizzly Bear: Two Weeks of Hip Hop
Enjoy the beat!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
music is what we like to play
It is about a month late to begin 'best of' lists, but in order to avoid reading Charles Dickens' "Hard Times", I am going to embark on a 4-6 part blogging spree documenting my personal lifetime 'best of' lists. First up? Top ten best songs, in my own personal and highly qualified opinion. This list is result of digging through my overcrowded i-Tunes library, rando mix CDs, my last FM account, and my YouTube history (because let's face it, as much as I enjoy jamming out to Timbaland and Nelly Furtado, I don't really feel like purchasing their one hit single together and adding to disgusting amount of money already in their bank accounts). ENJOYYYY
10. 'Stars Go Blue'- Ryan Adams
Okay, this is not even the original version (we can thank the Corr's for that stroke of brilliance) but something about Ryan Adam's unrelentingly raw voice when he sings 'dancing through the underground' makes me think back to every London Underground experience I have had and want to teleport back there ASAP.
9. 'Gagging Order'- Radiohead
Radiohead is my go-to band when I am feeling depressed, strung-out, tired, sore, annoyed, etc. Basically they just let me wallow in my funks without seeming too pathetic. 'Gagging Order' is no different. The first time I heard this track I was fighting my way through a 30 page politics term paper, highly caffeinated and high strung at approximately 3:00 AM. Thom Yorke hit me hard with 'I know what you're thinking, I'm not your property', and I remember being transported back to crevices of my brain that I never knew existed, memories that I had blocked out surfaced and came alive in vivid colors. While the initial jolt of the track has worn off, it continues to soothe me nonetheless.
8. (Disclaimer: I am cheating here because in actuality these are three separate songs on the album but I think of them all as one, plus who is counting?)
'Looks Just like the Sun', 'Pacific Theme', 'Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl'- Broken Social Scene. The first time I heard this album in full, I was 14 years old. It was summer, I had just bought it for myself for my birthday. I popped it into my CD player, sat on my bed, opened a book that I immediately closed, and just listened. It was the first time I had fallen in love. It was the first time I felt music pulsate through my every pore. It was the first time I got lost in my own head. Then this trio rolls around, and I was literally dumbfounded. To this day 'Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl' plays in my head in every major life event. I lay in bed every night, listening to this song on my head phones, falling in love over and over again with Emily Haine's voice as she croons 'used to be one of the rotten ones and i liked you for that...'
7. 'Sweet Disposition'- The Temper Trap
This song makes the list because of the memories associated with it. And because it is pretty catchy, but mostly it is because of the memories, mainly from abroad. I first heard this in Koko, a hip London club. It was a huh moment, I stood still while the people around me continued to dance and bop, float and weave. Second time: running on the treadmill in the UEA gym (gotta work my bod). Third time: making a questionable decision at Mercy (ooops). Etc. Driving in circles around a deserted parking lot. Check. Crying while looking through abroad photos. Check. You get the point.
6. 'I Am Trying to Break Your Heart'- Wilco
Everybody who knows me knows I LOVE LOVE LOVE Jeff Tweedy. This song is why. I have no words to describe my connection to this song, except that the raw emotion on top of the almost happy riffs is the perfect combination of utter sadness and satire, 'take off your band-aid cause I don't believe in touch downs'
5. 'Leavin'- Jesse McCartney.
What the heck, JM, really? REALLY. Mainly cause the thang you got behind you is amazing, girl we flying on my g-(fly) g-(fly). Pure talent, makes for some awesome car rides to and from hikes in Vincent (RIP). Plus, JM is beyond supa fly in the music vid.
4. 'Fire on the Mountain'- The Grateful Dead
I would like to thank my father for his bazillion bootlegged Dead tapes that we would groove to on long childhood car trips. This track was always my favorite, for reasons unbeknown to me back then, except that I could scream 'fire on the mountain' with Jerry, so that made me feel really cool.
3. 'Hysteric'- The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
I don't like female artists that much. I have many criticisms of them, too whiny, too pop, too fake, too redone, too lame, too country too this too that. But I have no criticisms of Karen O, my large female crush. Her style, attitude, everything, musical talent, all work for me. 'Hysteric' off if 'It's Blitz!' is to me, Karen O in her prime. This is romantic without being lovey dovey, nostalgic without making me want to cry under my bed. Her voice is real, normal, and not whiny (sorry Taylor Swift). This track makes me wish I were cool and talented enough (again, sorry Taylor) to be a female rock star. Rawr.
2. 'Fireworks'- Animal Collective
The list would have been incomplete if I failed to include an Animal Collective track. I can, have, and will continue to listen to this one 38 times on repeat in one day. While I am sure that is super annoying to my poor bathroom-mate (the walls are realllly thin, hmph) especially when I blast it at 7:45 AM Tuesday and Thursday mornings, it will never get old to me. From the opening chord to the chorus, to the rando beats to the overdubbing to the lyrics to the everythinggg, this is song is pure perfection and started my love affair with Animal Collective.
1. 'Treehouse'- I'm From Barcelona
Again, I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard this. Senior year of high school, I was tabling for banning landmines at a Casual Fiasco concert (listen to them, they are gooood), and this came on in-between sets. 'I have built a tree house, I have built a tree house, nobody can see us, it's a you and me house' was forever stuck in my head, I would sing it in the darkroom, on the tennis court, everywhereee. My dad banned me from playing it. It is just so good, so happy, so morbid, so raw. I wish that someday I will meet somebody who will write me a song like this, totally organic and meaningful in it's quirky little way.
10. 'Stars Go Blue'- Ryan Adams
Okay, this is not even the original version (we can thank the Corr's for that stroke of brilliance) but something about Ryan Adam's unrelentingly raw voice when he sings 'dancing through the underground' makes me think back to every London Underground experience I have had and want to teleport back there ASAP.
9. 'Gagging Order'- Radiohead
Radiohead is my go-to band when I am feeling depressed, strung-out, tired, sore, annoyed, etc. Basically they just let me wallow in my funks without seeming too pathetic. 'Gagging Order' is no different. The first time I heard this track I was fighting my way through a 30 page politics term paper, highly caffeinated and high strung at approximately 3:00 AM. Thom Yorke hit me hard with 'I know what you're thinking, I'm not your property', and I remember being transported back to crevices of my brain that I never knew existed, memories that I had blocked out surfaced and came alive in vivid colors. While the initial jolt of the track has worn off, it continues to soothe me nonetheless.
8. (Disclaimer: I am cheating here because in actuality these are three separate songs on the album but I think of them all as one, plus who is counting?)
'Looks Just like the Sun', 'Pacific Theme', 'Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl'- Broken Social Scene. The first time I heard this album in full, I was 14 years old. It was summer, I had just bought it for myself for my birthday. I popped it into my CD player, sat on my bed, opened a book that I immediately closed, and just listened. It was the first time I had fallen in love. It was the first time I felt music pulsate through my every pore. It was the first time I got lost in my own head. Then this trio rolls around, and I was literally dumbfounded. To this day 'Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl' plays in my head in every major life event. I lay in bed every night, listening to this song on my head phones, falling in love over and over again with Emily Haine's voice as she croons 'used to be one of the rotten ones and i liked you for that...'
7. 'Sweet Disposition'- The Temper Trap
This song makes the list because of the memories associated with it. And because it is pretty catchy, but mostly it is because of the memories, mainly from abroad. I first heard this in Koko, a hip London club. It was a huh moment, I stood still while the people around me continued to dance and bop, float and weave. Second time: running on the treadmill in the UEA gym (gotta work my bod). Third time: making a questionable decision at Mercy (ooops). Etc. Driving in circles around a deserted parking lot. Check. Crying while looking through abroad photos. Check. You get the point.
6. 'I Am Trying to Break Your Heart'- Wilco
Everybody who knows me knows I LOVE LOVE LOVE Jeff Tweedy. This song is why. I have no words to describe my connection to this song, except that the raw emotion on top of the almost happy riffs is the perfect combination of utter sadness and satire, 'take off your band-aid cause I don't believe in touch downs'
5. 'Leavin'- Jesse McCartney.
What the heck, JM, really? REALLY. Mainly cause the thang you got behind you is amazing, girl we flying on my g-(fly) g-(fly). Pure talent, makes for some awesome car rides to and from hikes in Vincent (RIP). Plus, JM is beyond supa fly in the music vid.
4. 'Fire on the Mountain'- The Grateful Dead
I would like to thank my father for his bazillion bootlegged Dead tapes that we would groove to on long childhood car trips. This track was always my favorite, for reasons unbeknown to me back then, except that I could scream 'fire on the mountain' with Jerry, so that made me feel really cool.
3. 'Hysteric'- The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
I don't like female artists that much. I have many criticisms of them, too whiny, too pop, too fake, too redone, too lame, too country too this too that. But I have no criticisms of Karen O, my large female crush. Her style, attitude, everything, musical talent, all work for me. 'Hysteric' off if 'It's Blitz!' is to me, Karen O in her prime. This is romantic without being lovey dovey, nostalgic without making me want to cry under my bed. Her voice is real, normal, and not whiny (sorry Taylor Swift). This track makes me wish I were cool and talented enough (again, sorry Taylor) to be a female rock star. Rawr.
2. 'Fireworks'- Animal Collective
The list would have been incomplete if I failed to include an Animal Collective track. I can, have, and will continue to listen to this one 38 times on repeat in one day. While I am sure that is super annoying to my poor bathroom-mate (the walls are realllly thin, hmph) especially when I blast it at 7:45 AM Tuesday and Thursday mornings, it will never get old to me. From the opening chord to the chorus, to the rando beats to the overdubbing to the lyrics to the everythinggg, this is song is pure perfection and started my love affair with Animal Collective.
1. 'Treehouse'- I'm From Barcelona
Again, I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard this. Senior year of high school, I was tabling for banning landmines at a Casual Fiasco concert (listen to them, they are gooood), and this came on in-between sets. 'I have built a tree house, I have built a tree house, nobody can see us, it's a you and me house' was forever stuck in my head, I would sing it in the darkroom, on the tennis court, everywhereee. My dad banned me from playing it. It is just so good, so happy, so morbid, so raw. I wish that someday I will meet somebody who will write me a song like this, totally organic and meaningful in it's quirky little way.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
here i saw something i could not look over
Blogging is just so much better than reading. Just throwing that out there. Today it was nuttily (is that a word? eh it is now) blustery out and I think my face fell off a few times from the sheer brutality of the whipping Geneva winds. Ohhh Geneva. Deciding to not wear a hat was a really idiotic decision that my pre-caffeinated mind decided to make.
I really don't have a point to make right now, I am just chilling in my pajamas, drinking green tea and wishing I had thought to purchase milk to put in it like I did every morning, afternoon, and night in England. Also I fell in love with The XX's so am listening to them an obnoxious amount. Check them out: http://thexx.info/
I think some coffee residue is floating around in my tea. lovely.
I am super pumped about my film class this semester. I have always wanted to analyze film on a more organized level, as opposed to chats after seeing films with my dad or whoever else I see movies with. Plus I feel infinitely more hip cause I am studying film at the collegiate level. Last I saw 'Bulworth', Warren Beatty's brilliant attack of corporate conglomerates, in which his character Senator Bulworth decides to have himself assassinated for monetary reasons but then meets the underground black culture of L.A and decides to cancel that plan. The soundtrack is pretty fly, Beatty's rapping with crack you up, and the message of fighting out against the media and sticking up for what you believe in is good. Therefore you should rent it, analyze it, and be smarter for seeing it.
Also, a note on the recently added picture. That I took my third time at Camden Market in London, and I fell in love with each of the randos in it. I thought it was fitting for my blog because it random, real-life, slightly fuzzy, and completely authentic.
Enjoy the hipness of being.
I really don't have a point to make right now, I am just chilling in my pajamas, drinking green tea and wishing I had thought to purchase milk to put in it like I did every morning, afternoon, and night in England. Also I fell in love with The XX's so am listening to them an obnoxious amount. Check them out: http://thexx.info/
I think some coffee residue is floating around in my tea. lovely.
I am super pumped about my film class this semester. I have always wanted to analyze film on a more organized level, as opposed to chats after seeing films with my dad or whoever else I see movies with. Plus I feel infinitely more hip cause I am studying film at the collegiate level. Last I saw 'Bulworth', Warren Beatty's brilliant attack of corporate conglomerates, in which his character Senator Bulworth decides to have himself assassinated for monetary reasons but then meets the underground black culture of L.A and decides to cancel that plan. The soundtrack is pretty fly, Beatty's rapping with crack you up, and the message of fighting out against the media and sticking up for what you believe in is good. Therefore you should rent it, analyze it, and be smarter for seeing it.
Also, a note on the recently added picture. That I took my third time at Camden Market in London, and I fell in love with each of the randos in it. I thought it was fitting for my blog because it random, real-life, slightly fuzzy, and completely authentic.
Enjoy the hipness of being.
Monday, January 25, 2010
and i'll drive and close my eyes in michagan
It is so easy to become so consumed in your tiny little bubble of a life that you forget that a. others exist and b. they may (shocker) actually need you.
What I am trying to get at is SNAP OUT OF IT. Realize, embrace, understand, be here and now always, put yourself second, envision, believe, breathe, and most of all take a step back and look around at the world you are probably missing out on.
Enjoy the opening of your eyes.
What I am trying to get at is SNAP OUT OF IT. Realize, embrace, understand, be here and now always, put yourself second, envision, believe, breathe, and most of all take a step back and look around at the world you are probably missing out on.
Enjoy the opening of your eyes.
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