Movies of Myself

Go ahead, say something dumb boy, there's no shame.

These days there's so much going on that even on days like this, when I can actually pause for a moment and enjoy our suddenly summer-like weather, I can't help but think of all that needs to be done. Even when I can look at the sun going down through the trees that shade the patio and call it a lemonade day and a beer day, my mind is racing with looming to-do list tasks and the slow but persistent call of grand plans and how to make them happen. I wonder how I can keep from letting life pass me by even when I'm trying to keep things going at a mile a minute. I have to keep remembering, all we have are moments.

Yo dawg, I heard you like music so I put songs in this song so you can listen to music while you listen to music. -Xzibit - Super Mash Brothers--Yes, this is the name of this song. Yes, it's from a free mashup album called Miley High Club that is AWESOME. I found out that these guys had a new one thanks to Stepth. So gone and grab it and get your party on. 

The Hours - Beach House - Can't get enough of this prettiness. It seems like I waited forever for this new Beach House album, Bloom, but it was well worth it.

Important - Maps & Atlases - There's something about this song. I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but it enchants me. It convinces me to do things I maybe shouldn't do and I can't even be sorry.

Lusitania - Andrew Bird - This song is vintage Andrew Bird, meaning the musicality is perfect and it's a lilting, charming, meandering brook of a song with just that perfect touch of wisdom and it makes you so happy Andrew Bird showed up to your party.And then Annie Clark comes on and I'm just like, why'd you bring me so many pretty presents, too, Andrew Bird??

The Biggest Balloon

The last couple of weeks have been exceptionally busy and stressful for me and, on a day when I was ready to freak out, throw in the towel, and set my computer on fire, I came home to a surprise package from my friend Carolyn. 

There were two cds enclosed, one of which was a mix that was oh so delightfully titled "I Want There to be Dancing at the Wedding". I kept reading the tracklisting over and over, pondering the wondrously perfect title, feeling my terrible week turning itself around. It was like she came up to me and gave me the biggest and brightest happy balloon. It was fucking awesome.

The music is, of course, totally kick ass. I only know two songs on it and one of them is basically the best song ever (Wintersleep's "Weighty Ghost"). And the other songs are interesting and grand. They have been my faithful companions since I received the package, making all the stuff that I'm doing that much more happy and bearable. That's the best kind of music mix. 

So the hugest of thank yous goes out to Carolyn. And a thank you goes out to you, too, for being tolerant of my unintentionally long periods of absence as I try to figure out many, many things. 

Can I Change My Mind - Tyrone Davis

Shine a little light, bring us back home.

Sometimes you don't even know you were waiting for something until you find it, until you trip over your own steps and fall howling into it.  Sometimes the world knows what's better for you than you do yourself (often, almost always) and you just have to let go. Trust me, I know this from an alarming amount of experience. 

It's been three years since the last Patrick Watson album came out and now he's back wth Adventures in My Own Backyard. It is extraordinary. I don't know how I waited this long; I don't know how the world did. I only know that this record has renewed my faith in music, and made me feel all the feelings. Trust me, these songs will dance in on their deceptively light and winsome feet and illuminate every corner of the rooms inside your mind. Trust me, this is what's good for you right now.

Blackwind - Patrick Watson

Step Out for a While - Patrick Watson

Everybody's got a secret to hide, everyone is slipping backwards.

It's only a little over 24 hours until my sister comes for a long weekend visit. I am excited beyond words! I know it's silly, but I'm most excited to take her prom dress shopping. How fun is that? I'm also hankering to cook up a great Easter brunch for us. Hash browns or tater tots are a must. Waffles, maybe. And a heap of bacon. Bacon waffles. Mmmmm.

Kill for Love - Chromatics The new Chromatics album is a must-listen and you'll see why when you hear this title track. Boom. Gorgeous.

The Knife - Great Lake Swimmers Is it just me or are the Swimmers starting to sound a bit like Andrew Bird? Definitely not a bad thing.

All Alright - fun. Okay, I know. "We are Young" is inescapable right now. But don't let its radio overplay keep you from listening to a great new album from a band that I simply love. This one's a catchy darling, too.

Into the Darkness - Delta Spirit This song grows and grows on you until you finally stop and realize, damn, this is an awesome song and Delta Spirit are a great band. I really need to sit down and get to know this album better. Maybe we can do it together.

I Couldn't Bear to Let You Go

Here's a couple of songs about friendship. An old song and a new song, both thoughtful and thankful. Because what would we do without our wonderful, amazing, life-affirming, life-changing friends?

Catching Up - Great Bloomers

A Gentle Reminder - The Jealous Sound

Sexy and I

For the last twelve hours this has been running continuously through my head. I even sang it to the turtles while I sashayed next to their tank:

Girl look at that body.
Girl look at that body.
Girl look at that body.

I work out.

Someone please punch me hard in the brain. 

I want to touch the light, the heat.

Here's a sneak peak at one of the projects I've been working hard on lately: our wedding save the date cards!

 Of course the Save the Dates are going to involve a music mix. How could I have it any other way? Working on them has given me the opportunity to listen to some of my favorite songs. Here are a few tracks that didn't quite make the cut, but they're such freaking incredle tunes and I fell so hard for them again, that I just had to play them for you now. I hope they bring a little love into your day.

That Teenage Feeling - Neko Case

Stupid - The Long Winters

In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel

It might be I always look out.

If you are like me (and I know we are not very much unlike), you will listen to this song over and over. Not because it's addicting or captivating, which in its own uncommon way it is. But because you can't take in feelings like this all at once. You can only drink in this much expression of hope and heartbreak, rapture and rue, in little gasping sips, like you're coming up for air. 

 

Give Out - Sharon Van Etten

There was your breath on the back of my neck,
the only one holding,
the only one I had felt in years.
It's not because I always hold on,
It might be I always hold out.
It might be I always hold out.

I am biting my lip
as confidence is speaking to me.
I loosen my grip from my palm,
put it on your knee.

In my way,
I say 
You're the reason why I'll move to the city or
why I'll need to leave.

We're together, now we're undone.

Patrick and I have made a vow not to eat out for the next couple of months. Not exactly sure how this is going to work since it's less than a week in and I'm already dreaming of how I am going to get hecka pizzas and also go to Bonchon Chicken and eat an entire family pack of soy garlic drumsticks. I better be so much freaking healthier at the end of this sitch.

Climax - Usher Only Usher could get away with a song called "Climax". Anyone else and I'd be all scoffing in their faces, but with Usher I'm just like, oh wow, good idea, yes wow. Love this Diplo-produced track so much!

You Ain't Alone - Alabama Shakes I've heard a lot of buzz about this band and I have to say I really like what I'm hearing. This song is all whiskey and honey and fire. A grand combination. 

Oblivion - Grimes This song. Oh my goodness, this song. When I listen to it with headphones on, it is so intensely awesome I don't even know what to do with myself.

Fit Against the Country - Horse Feathers A new Horse Feathers album soon? Dulcet, folksy goodness and layers and layers of wisdom. Don't mind if I do.

What does it take to be lonesome? Nothing at all.

Things I love this week:

• Bbq chicken naan pizza
• Key & Peele on Comedy Central - I'm hoping it will fill the gaping hole that Chapelle's Show left in my heart
• the phrase "gaping hole"
• Jim Rome's sports radio show. Filling my days with so much funny. 
• random rants by my mother, including how much better daughters are than sons, and how she knows the best pants to wear when you are recuperating or just feeling lazy
• Sweet potato Pop Chips - Holy crow, they're delicious.
• Blake Griffin
• craft paints

Lonesome - Dr. Dog Dang, Dr. Dog. Way to draw me right into the serious low country goodness of your latest album from the very first note. The music world needs more of this in it right now and always.

Something Goes Right (feat. Sampha) - Sbtrkt The more I listen to Sbtrkt the more I'm convinced of the utter genius of it all. This song has a totally different feel than the ones I posted before, more upbeat and purely electronic, but still very cool.

Move Up (Wiz Khalifa vs Phantogram) - The Hood Internet Okay, I gotta lay it out there: I love Wiz Khalifa, especially when he's mashed up to perfection, like he absolutely is here. So addicting.

Your Eyes Were Shining - The Jealous Sound Maybe it's because The Jealous Sound were born from the phoenix flames of the 90's but their whole vibe reminds me so much of my high school and college years that it almost hurts. I'm really enjoying their latest, A Gentle Reminder.

Will you wait for me there until someone comes, to carry me, carry me down.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix 

Standing en pointe all morning
until your face is flushed
like a peach.

All of our yesterdays
are dances, all of our
present days are
a quick whipping fan
of images, a blur
of hours making my
eyes water.

The flush moves down
your hair, through your pretty
fingertips.

You take a running leap over the
porch fence. I say
nothing.

Dharma burns a path across
the noontime street, calling up
all our long tomorrows.

Follow You Down To The Red Oak Tree - James Vincent McMorrow Here's another song as promised from one of my new favorite singers. His poignant falsetto is at its bittersweet best here.

Blue - First Aid Kit These Swedish sisters, they know how to make beautiful music together. If you're in the mood for wonderful folk songs, look them up. Their latest, The Lion's Roar, is available now. 

Drifting In And Out - Porcelain Raft This is the solo project from Mauro Remiddi, a man of so many talents. This is a sweeping, looping, ethereal sound. Listen if you like Grouper or School of Seven Bells.

Kevin's - Sharon Van Etten A voice like this can bring you to tears through its sheer, brilliant emotion. Gorgeous. Sharon Van Etten's Tramp is out February 7th. It speaks volumes.

Year of the Dragon

via Legohaulic on flickr

Our New Year's Eve dumplings, fish, pork belly and lettuce wraps were consumed. We've got our brand new clothes on today. Our kitchen god is up in his place by the stove. We're headed out to the Buddhist temple later. Chinese New Year is a go!

Wishing you all a Happy Year of the Dragon.

Fireworks - Animal Collective

Could be there's nothing else in our lives so critical as this little hope.

 Mid Week Mini Music Mix

One night while we were in Yosemite we drove back into the park at night to look at the stars. We had dinner at the middling hotel restaurant and waited til it was as dark as it was going to get. It took about thirty minutes, wending our way through the pitch black curving roads, before we reached a meadow, a wide swathe of open relief from the obscuring trees.

And it was one of the most beautiful, amazing things I’ve ever seen. A bowl of stars hanging brightly, each one as singular and remarkable as the first word spoken on its own world. I’ve lived in the suburbs every day of my life, so to see even this small slice of the night sky without a wisp of smog and without a single light nearby was beyond comprehension. I truly don’t think humans have the capability in our little minds to understand the meaning of this wondrous, vast existence.

I remember spinning slowly around and around under this umbrella of memory and time, granite mountains in every direction, the twenty three degree air clear and windless, not a sound anywhere. I was thinking, what can I do to hold on to this feeling.

They say the devil is in the details but wouldn't you say,that heaven is in the details, too?

Simple Song - The Shins I can just tell that this year is going to be full of great music and there’s no better start than this. I am just bursting with love for this song and intensely excited about a new album from my long-beloved Shins.

Sidecar - Kathleen Edwards This is from a lovely album, Voyageur, by a great Canadian songwriter. Produced by Bon Iver and showcasing Kathleen Edwards’ talents in a remarkable way. I think you’ll really enjoy this.

The Moon Is Calling - Nada Surf Speaking of new albums from long-favored bands, Nada Surf, have got a new record out soon. Always dependable, always bringing that fascinating blend of sweetness and melancholy. I can’t wait to listen to this more.

Hear The Noise That Moves So Soft And Low - James Vincent McMorrow Sweet sassy molassey, are you all ready for this? This man’s voice and his incredible, timeless songs are going to sweep you right off your feet, and I just hope you’re ready for it. This is certainly not the last time I’m going to be raving about McMorrow. This album, Early in the Morning, is a true gem.

Why don’t you look around, show me what you’re made of.

I want to tell you guys all about the adventures I had in Yosemite this past weekend, but I have to wrap my head around everything first. It was such a spectacularly lovely time. The kind of trip that grips you with saudade while you're still in the midst of it, because you know it has to end soon. 

But it makes me think, if the year starts out like this, then we must have some pretty amazing things in store for us. Go outside, get the ball rolling. It's about to get loud in here.  

Comeback Kid - Sleigh Bells

Do What You Feel Now

Mid Week MIni Music Mix

Once in a while you need to do this, guys. Go into your music collection and talk to it. Look for a word, a phrase, a thought and let the songs give you their answer. Yesterday I opened up iTunes and typed "feel"* into the search box. Dozens of songs came to meet me, so many of them brash and sweet and interesting. So many of them forgotten over time and happily rediscovered. It's a great way to make little unexpected mixes that turn out unusually well and it's a good opportunity to get to know your music again.

No Feelings - Handsome Furs 

Feel The Love - Cut Copy 

I Feel Better - Hot Chip

Electric Feel (Justice Remix) - MGMT 

*"feel" yielded wonderful results, but "dream", "love", "slow" and "water" are good ones, too

Let the year begin with music.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Things I love this week:

• drawing football fields
• catching up with my best friend about things that went on over the holidays
• Pinterest, which I am crazy obsessed with again!
• not making any New Year's resolutions. Fuck it, I'm gonna work on making positive changes throughout the year and adapting those changes to my circumstances. Keywords: balls, to, the, wall
• brainstorming for my 365(+1) photos project. Don't call it a comeback! 
• Sklarbro Country. If you like sports, if you like comedy -- if you like life, you need to listen to this Sklar Brothers show.
• being able to email your doctor so they can send your prescription electronically to your pharmacy. Booyow. 

The Hunt - Youth Lagoon

It's Real - Real Estate 

Genesis - Grimes 

Diet Mtn. Dew (demo) - Lana del Rey

If you let me, here’s what I’ll do. I’ll take care of you.

I can't decide which version of this song I love more. 

The original has a great back and forth between Drake and Rihanna and this really works as a mutual dialogue about love. But the cover is wonderfully done and Florence's voice conveys "I've loved and I've lost" as well as anyone's.

Either way the lyrics are really lovely and honest.

Cause that truth hurts, and those lies heal
and you can’t sleep thinking that he lies still.
So you cry still, tears all in the pillow case.
Big girls all get a little taste.
Pushing me away so I give her space.
Dealing with a heart that I didn’t break.
I’ll be there for you, I will care for you.

.....

When you’re ready, just say you’re ready.
When all the baggage just ain’t as heavy
and the parties over, just don’t forget me.
We’ll change the pace and we’ll just go slow.

I just can't decide which version I like more. So I guess I'll listen to them both over and over again.

Take Care - Drake featuring Rihanna 

Take Care (Drake Cover ) - Florence & The Machine

Top Ten Albums of 2011

Every year that I sit down to compile this list I find the method to my madness more and more inscrutable. This year more so than ever I cut albums that I knew were amazing, albums that I absolutely delighted in, because of a downright ambiguous feeling that they just didn't belong. 

But I'm strangely happy with this. I cut albums from this list that I believed would be certain inclusions all year long (Bon Iver) and ones that feature songwriting so much better than some of the albums I did include (Strange Mercy, St. Vincent) that I have to shake my head at myself. Yet, I feel like it's in the true spirit of music. We never know what songs will call out to us when we hear them, touching down on some part of the heart that needed to sing. 

10) Little Hell, City and Colour - The overall tone of acquiescent melancholy and longing on this album is so well-maintained that it becomes the simplest of tasks to sink into it and let it wrap around you. There is much love in Little Hell and repeated listens will bring you "cold December snow and warm July sun" both in good measure. 

Northern Wind - City and Colour

9) Circuital, My Morning Jacket - I know that life is good because MMJ continues to make records that make you want to gather your friends and have adventures to. Songs like "First Light" and "Holdin' On to Black Metal" make me know I've still got a whole lotta spirit in me and that is a good, good feeling. 

First Light - My Morning Jacket

8) Let England Shake, PJ Harvey - How can such a sweet voice pack such an incredible punch? PJ Harvey is a diamond blade polished to a fine and deadly point and what she has to say in this politically-charged album feels vitally important. This album contains my absolute favorite song of the year, "The Last Living Rose" but it has soft, quiet gems like this, too. A remarkable work.

Hanging In The Wire - PJ Harvey

7) Cults, Cults - The instant the first track on this record comes on I'm instantly transported to a more innocent time and place, where first heartaches swallow up your whole world and big life lessons are being learned. This album is utterly charming and unique. 

Oh My God - Cults 

6) Conatus, Zola Jesus - Dear gods, this album has such a big and sweeping sound, and I am completely enthralled by it. The sound space and the emotional territory it occupies is enormous. I feel as if I'm just starting to understand the breadth and depth of it and every time I listen I think, I have got to start living like this.

Skin - Zola Jesus

5) It's a Corporate World, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - This darling record, I confess, I've kept all to myself this year. It's my girl next door, my high school sweetheart. I thought it was simple and a little bit throwaway at first, but I kept coming back to it and all of its sweet charms. I hear Simon & Garfunkel in it and maybe some Kings of Convenience, too. They do many things so well. 

Skeletons - Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.  

4) Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, M83 - The things that make you feel alive - hold on to them. They're rare and fine, especially if they have the startling, breathless quality that Hurry Up, We're Dreaming has in droves. I was skeptical at first. A double album after so many years away? This could be a disaster or it could be amazing. Luckily, it was very much the latter. Stunning, beautiful as light. 

New Map - M83 

3) A Different Kind of Fix, Bombay Bicycle Club - The third studio album from British band Bombay Bicycle Club is modern indie rock at its finest. The songs are lovely and complex, full of feeling and a sense of story. Jack Steadman's voice chokes me up no matter what he's saying and I just want to listen to it forever. 

Your Eyes - Bombay Bicycle Club 

2) Kiss Each Other Clean, Iron & Wine - Sam Beam, no one does it like you. No one should even try. Thank you for this beautiful blessing of a record, for the birds in the trees and for grooving the summer night's away with fairy lights in the yard. For making me understand that the way things are are the way they should be.

Half Moon - Iron & Wine

1) James Blake, James Blake - When you strip all the trappings and illusions away, what you're left with is simply the truth. James Blake does this with everything he touches. There's no hiding. There's not a single extranumerary note or word in his songs and yet they contain whole worlds within them. His songs come on and I'm surrounded. Sometimes I'm drifting and sometimes I'm floating and sometimes I'm absolutely drowning. I wrote about James Blake more than twice as much as any other musician this year and I could talk about him for years to come. I can't believe this is his debut album and I can't wait to hear more from him. 

A Case Of You (Joni Mitchell Cover) - James Blake

The hand upon my forehead. The joke and then the laugh.

Sweet goodness, I love this time of year. Everything's in full swing now where the holidays are concerned. Christmas cookie planning has commenced. Presents are being rapidly purchased and wrapped. We went to the Charles Dickens Christmas Fair and we’ve got Christmas in the Park and other festivities coming up. I love it! I’ll also been crafting up a storm this year. Stay tuned for a couple of simple tutorials for sweet decorations.

Lifening - Snow Patrol This is a heartfelt list of things that make Snow Patrol happy. I think it might very well be the sweetest song I’ve heard all year.

Nova Baby - The Black Keys Jump, jive and wail. You guys have got to get on this El Camino bandwagon. The latest Black Keys album is groovy and it is oh, so hot.

Life's a Beach - Kurt Vile Vile just released an EP of songs that didn’t make the cut for the album he released earlier in the year. These tracks are just as smooth and unique and accomplished. I can’t get enough of his voice.    

Ghost Towns - Radical Face  I’ve been kind of obsessed with the album this song comes from, The Family Tree: The Roots. It’s the first of a planned trilogy and if they’re all like this, we’re in for a treat. This artist is an amazing storyteller.

You live your life as if you're one.

I'm usually not one for live albums. There's a detached air to them that turns me off a little. But leave it to Tegan and Sara to make a collection of live recordings that runs towards you from across the room and pulls you in for the kind of embrace that you get from the oldest and dearest of friends, one that knows all the good and bad there is in you. 

There is a stark intimacy to many of the tracks on Get Along that is astonishing to me. I thought I knew and loved these songs too well already, but the performances open up another layer of feeling that is utterly revelatory. It makes you remember how beautifully surprising life can be.

Any Tegan and Sara fan will love this album, but I think you'd enjoy it even if you'd never heard a note of their music before. 

Divided - Tegan and Sara

I Won't Be Left - Tegan and Sara

I won't mistake you for problems with me.
I won't let my moods ruin this, you'll see.
I won't take everything good and move it away.
I won't be left dancing along to songs from the past.

Would you stay home and keep our memories warm with me?
Would you give all your love for a run at the past with me?
I know you're sad even though you say that you're not.
I know you're scared even though you say that you're not.

Christmas Comes This Time Each Year

via e-jump on flickr

Now that people have been trampled and pepper-sprayed in a horrifying frenzy of Black Friday shopping, I think it's safe to say that the holidays are here. And that means we can listen to some Christmas music! Don't worry, it's from A Very She & Him Christmas, so it's sweet enough to melt even the Scroogiest heart. Leave it to Zooey Deschanel to ukulele a Christmas song and make it even cuter than it already was! This album will be the perfect soundtrack to all of your festive activities with family and friends. Tidings of comfort and joy to you all.

I'll Be Home for Christmas - She & Him 

Little Saint Nick - She & Him

Waiting In the Wings for You to Appear

Do I want to say the things I say
when I know that they are wrong?
Do I wait here forever for you?
Would you ask me to?

Ryan Adams has changed. I understand. Time passes, things happen. Life happens, and thank goodness for that. When you leave a place of deep sadness you can't express those kinds of feelings anymore. It's not quite worth it to reach back. It's too risky. 

So while Ryan Adams has still been making some great music the last few years, none of it has shot me straight through the heart and sucked the very breath from my body like his albums always used to do. But a song on his latest release, Ashes & Fire, does the trick.

Do I Wait - Ryan Adams 

The song so perfectly captures that slow, dreadful realization that something has been lost and things will never be the same again. It's the understanding that every additional minute spent hanging on will be the self-made insult on top of the injury. The hardest of lessons, beautifully and heart-breakingly rendered.

Do I wait here forever for you?
Did you ask me to? 

A Little Trust and Your Time

I've been wanting to tell you about Future Islands for months now. Their album, On the Water, has been slowly charming its way right into my heart and I've wanted so much to share it with you. 

But I couldn't find the words. It's a romantic album. It's fun and dancey, in an absolutely awesome 80's synthpop way. It has a touch of dark melancholy, too. It's strange and it's beautiful. Every time I think I know it, it does something else to surprise me. Maybe you can try to help me figure it all out. 

On The Water - Future Islands

Balance - Future Islands

Trust me as a friend
and I'll do all that I can do.
And I'd do anything for you
because I want to see you through.
It just takes time,
hard work and your time.
You can change your life.

I feel like it's raining all over the world.

Mini Music Mix

Despite my newfound focus on healthy eating this year, I've found myself floundering since Patrick and my join birthday weekend a couple of weeks ago. All I want to do lately is eat copious piles of amazing food. We've had delicious brunches, wine and candy, ice cream and burgers and Korean barbecue buffet, for goodness' sake. I keep saying this all has to stop soon, especially with the holidays around the corner, but then I'll go and bake up pumpkin cookies and that sure doesn't help my cause. Perhaps I'll have to kick my workouts up another notch instead. 

Rainy Night In Georgia - Ray Charles Nobody does it better. A classic, forever love.

Baby I Got The Death Rattle - Los Campesinos! I didn't realize quite how much I missed Los Campasinos! until I listed to their new album Hello Sadness for the first time. They're still twee and they're still sweet, but their whip-smart lyrics are maturing as they go along and it's a little bit breathtaking.

Stay Young, Go Dancing - Death Cab For Cutie Although this smacks of broken-hearted irony now, I still feel happy when I listen to this beautiful little love song from Death Cab's latest. It's a little cheesy, yes. But we deserve that kind of sincerity. DCFC is playing KFOG's Concert For Kids this year. If you're in the Bay Area, check it out. A great show for a great cause.

Make Me Proud - Drake feat. Nicki Minaj Oh I am loving this new Drake album with the love that I was hoping to (and didn't) feel for Lil' Wayne's last project. Introspective and clever, with great melodic hooks. I'm looking forward to getting to knowing Take Care a lot better.

Now I've Grown Up, I Wonder What Was That World I Was Dreaming Of

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Things very much worth reading:

"Adventures in Depression" on Hyperbole and a Half - THIS. This. If you have ever been depressed you need to read this. If you've never been depressed you really need to read this.

"The Way My Boy Sees The World" by Amelia on the Huffington Post - Love is love in all its forms.

"These Things Happened" by  Michelle Mirsky on McSweeney's - I was crying so hard by the end of this that I couldn't even see. Painful, raw, funny and intensely moving.

How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep - Bombay Bicycle Club They've been playing this quite a bit on KCRW and I'm so happy to have come across it there. What an absolutely delightful album A Different Kind of Fix is. 

Once We All Agree - James Blake Blake does it again on his new EP Enough Thunder. That soaring falsetto, that immensity of cool. You're going to love this.

When I Was Young - Nada Surf Very excited to hear new material from one of my longtime favorites. The melancholy sweetness of their sound is simply irresistible. 

Kimmi In a Rice Field - Twin Sister Twin Sister have a new record out that grows and blossoms with each listen. This song is just beautiful. 

Y'all know me, still the same old G.

"If a man was not on his way anywhere, if life was something else, entirely different, if life was a question of being, for a long continuous instant that was all one, then the best thing for him to do was sit back and be, and whatever happened, he still was. Whatever a man thought, said or did, the fact of his being there remained unchanged." - Paul Bowles

Decalogue (The Hood Internet vs The 2000s) - Totally obsessed with this insanely good mashup right now. Listening to it all day, every day, every damn day.

I've seen the future and it's coming in low.

This one's for all the rabble-rousers out there, the ones who are happy but never content. This is one of those slow-burning galvanizers, the type of song that makes you want to get out there and take some names. Listen to this song loud while you do it. Hit the ground running.

Repatriated - Handsome Furs

Don't you know I'd hold you, if I could find a way?

Things I am sick of:

• that “Moves Like Jagger” song (which I never liked to begin with) 
• watching my memory go down the drain
• persistent aggravating pollen residue on my car windshield
• Ke$ha on the radio
• not having a churro machine in my living room
• my distinct lack of wanting to communicate with nearly everybody
• book burning - we need to start being eternally grateful that people still read books
• warm October weather
• neck strain

What have I Become? - Loney, Dear This song is very different than the other quiet dreamers that share album space with it. This tune is upbeat and sweet and very dear. I love it.

Doors Unlocked And Open (Cut Copy Remix) - Death Cab For Cutie Two of my favorites in one fine remix. Yes, please.

A Long Time - Mayer Hawthorne My friend Michelle has been singing the praises of Mayer Hawthorne for a long time. I should have given in before this. This is groovy, feel-good music and it’s just what the doctor ordered.

Love Life - Girls It’s taken a loooong time for this Girls album to grown on me but I’m finally getting there. Their unique retro golden sound and songs like these make them unmistakable.

And Under Eclipse I Wait For Your Kiss

This is you in your quiet moments. This is you and I when we are each alone. The slow, lonely, wistful sound of a good folk song. The final acknowledgment that what is in our heads is all we really have. And what you find in our heads is at once uncertain and defiant, radiant and assailable. 

It's realizing that your work and your vanities may define you. That what you say to people and how you reach out to them might, too. But that the quiet moments might define you most of all. Walking by yourself under the gray skies of a clear winter afternoon. Singing happy songs to yourself on the long ride home, knowing that you love this life.

The songs on A. A. Bondy's latest album Believers sounds like a fable, like a myth. But it doesn't get more real than this.

Sunday now and I'm off my knees.
The albatross is in the breeze
and I am home. 
Wherever that may be.

Lay, lay us down. Down in the fire. 

Surfer King - A.A. Bondy

Down in the Fire (Lost Sea) - A.A. Bondy

You make me late for work, you make me late for church.

Mini Music Mix

September went by in a complete blur. I'm finally getting around to editing photos that I took at the very beginning of the month, though I swear I only took them a day or two ago. Seriously, where did the time go? It would make me furious if I wasn't using all my energy to keep from freaking out and also to rapidly recuperate from what I hope is only a badly strained muscle in my back. Trust me, I am literally bemoaning the fact that most everything I have to do requires sitting upright in a chair and looking at a computer.

Today I'm finally walking straight again and I'm ready for the weekend to come. Cool weather, more invitations, the first round of Halloween decorations to prepare, maybe some shopping and hopefully the patience to appreciate each minute.

Dirty Rain - Ryan Adams I can't tell you how excited I am over the new Ryan Adams album, Ashes and Fire. It is a return to beautiful, spare, striking form for him and will be just the thing for autumn. Love you 4ever, Ry Ry. Stream the whole album on NPR First Listen until October 11th. 

Weekend - Class Actress A Brooklyn singer who sets the sound of her lovely voice to electrosynth sounds, Elizabeth Harper is dark, energetic, dreamy and dramatic. What a great song.

Hikikomori - Zola Jesus Speaking of dramatic, Zola Jesus is my girl. Nika Roza Danilova performs under a stage name she made by combining Emile Zola with Jesus Christ. This is powerful and beautiful music. She reminds me of Natasha Khan (Bat for Lashes) in the best way possible and she is a force to be reckoned with.

I Might - Wilco To be completely honest, I wasn't thrilled by the last two Wilco albums. They were (gasp) kind of Snoozeville, IMHO. But The Whole Love? Yes, I will take some of that please. This brings me back to the Wilco I loved in college. The "Can't Stand It" Wilco. It's a shot in the arm. 

I won't hear one more word about changing.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

I have to apologize for being so remiss in my blogging lately. It seems that the television has got a hold on me the past couple of weeks.

It all started with the Emmys. Patrick and I ordered a pizza, popped some corn and drank our novelty sodas. I realized that I didn't recognize half the people on the red carpet and then I had the urge to get back into the swing of television.

Normally, I watch one, maybe two hours of TV a week. But when the fall premieres roll around I watch two to three hours every night. I just love trying out new series and checking out what developments have been worked into my regular shows. I'm obsessed with TV to the point of distraction right now and I'm quite enjoying it. I know it will be only a matter of (brief) time before I give it up again for other endeavours.

Changing - The Airborne Toxic Event I love these guys and I don't care who knows it. This song has a Grant Lee Buffalo sound about it that is very cool. 

Trials of the Past - SBTRKT SBTRKT, whomever you really are, I just want to say that you are really damn awesome. Your music is funky and it is unique and I want more and more of it.

We Are Young (Feat. Janelle Monaé) - fun. These guys put out an absolutely wonderful album a couple of years back and I am seriously anticipating a new record from them soon. Especially if each song is like this. Janelle Monáe guest action is just the cherry on top.

Higher Love (Steve Winwood cover) - James Vincent McMorrow I hadn't heard of the Irish folk singer James Vincent McMorrow before this cover off the mental health charity album Silver Lining, but I am very excited to check out more of his music. What a gorgeous, soulful voice!

Regrets Collect Like Old Friends

Mid Week End Mini Music Mix

Sometimes the center of the week gets away from you and it's the sweet, blessed weekend before you even know it. Work was crazy and I also found myself occupied with a number of lovely pursuits far away from the computer. 

But there is just SO much amazing and interesting new music right now that I couldn't skip this week's music mix. I hardly have time to listen to half of it, but I wanted to share some picks from what I've enjoyed lately. Hopefully it will brighten up your weekend, babies. 

Shake It Out - Florence and the Machine Pow, pow and pow. This song hits me straight through the heart and lifts me up like you wouldn't even believe. From what I've heard so far, the upcoming Florence album, Ceremonials, is going to be a doozy. 

By Your Hand - Los Campesinos! My beloved Welsh indie poppers keep doing their thing and doing it so well. They're as clever as ever, catchy and poignant, friendly and bittersweet all at the same time. I needed this goodness in my life. We all do.

Called Out In the Dark - Snow Patrol Speaking of U.K. bands who haven't strayed from a winning formula :) Snow Patrol songs aren't particularly complicated or experimental, but they catch the ear, they are intensely listenable and they draw you along, welcoming the kind of connection that you can forge with the best pop songs. So happy to hear new material from them. 

Paradise - Coldplay It kind of pains me to say this, but this second single from the upcoming Coldplay album sounds like a bad TV theme song to me. I'm definitely going to hold out final judgement until I can hear the record (a "concept" album) as a whole, but "Paradise" = drivel. It seems like so long ago that they were basically my favorite band.

We talk of miracles, of undelivered letters written years ago.

There is a sadness in the new Slow Club album Paradise that breaks my heart every time I listen to it. Not the gentle, regretful kind of sadness that comes with the end of things, although it offers that, too.

It's the kind of sadness that fills you when you still think something (or someone) can be saved, if you could just find the right words. The desperate and almost innocent sadness that you draw tightly over a last shred of hope, knowing all the while that you're a silly duck for hanging on to that little shred.

The folk rock songs are sweet and graceful, resonant and echoing. Full of feeling. Slow Club have made something wonderful and I hope you will take it and make it your very own.

If We're Still Alive - Slow Club

You, Earth Or Ash - Slow Club

I asked to hear of your garden
to take each of my limbs and gently plant them.
Til' I can grow again.
Til' I can tauten, bend and flower anew.

And I know
soon you'll go
and all will pass.
You, earth or ash.  

Making the Best of What's Left

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Every single week I meticulously plan out our dinners and lunches, usually on Sunday or on Monday at the latest. I make a careful list of everything we need and try not to stray from that list when I'm at the store unless a new snack item catches my eye. I have to do this; I am just so extremely loathe to waste ANY food. 

Maybe it's because I come from a refugee family and grew up hearing stories about my parents scouring markets with almost completely empty shelves. Maybe it's the old school cheap Asian quality of making use of everything. But I am so entirely racked with guilt when I have to throw away even one onion that it's terrifying. That's why I put time and effort into making sure I have just the right amount of ingredients and no more. This past week was bad for me. I cooked a bunch of new recipes and failed miserably at my estimation. I had to get rid of a quarter head of red cabbage, some chicken, two scallions, half a cucumber and a bag of lemons that went moldy in the heat. Plus I didn't finish some restaurant leftovers from the long weekend, which in and of itself is enough to send me into an abysmal spiral of self-hatred.

So I've started researching not only regular recipes but ideas for leftover ingredients, too. For instance you can make this delicious Zucchini "Pasta" ,and enjoy the fact that it doesn't involve one single second of standing near a hot stove, and then take the invetibale leftover veggies and make this luscious Zucchini Bread. You're welcome :)

Surgeon - St. Vincent Oh, Annie Clark, how I love you! How I adore your elegant, quirky music and your pretty, whip-smart ways.

Loney Blues - Loney, Dear Loney, Dear is Swedish musician Emil Svanängen. His latest album is beautiful, moody brilliance. You're going to be seeing his music featured here again soon, you can count on that.

Fall Creek Boys Choir - James Blake & Bon Iver And here we have the indie falsetto pairing of a lifetime. I don't think this collaboration lived up to its potential, but it's still a very nice song.

Audio, Video, Disco - Justice Justice gets this partied started right. I'm very excited for some new dancey goodness from them! Word.

Don't you know the pain, it's a part of the healing?

Some things just go together. Wine and cheese. A bat and a baseball. Summer days and long, winding drives. Salonpas and my endless string of strained neck muscles. You know what I mean.

Some songs go together, too. Songs that you discover at very different times in entirely different places. They just fit together, like these two dear songs do. They echo each other's poignant, bittersweet refrains. They take you on a southbound train down to the south side of heaven and they have you thinking all the while of how you got there. 

Song For Leaving - Brett Dennen

Southside of Heaven - Ryan Bingham

Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

Are you ready to fly? Are you ready to get lifted? 

M83 has a new double album coming out soon and it is spectacularly beautiful. This is the sound of hope.

Intro (ft Zola Jesus) - M83

Wait - M83

I don't remember, were we wild and young?

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Why does August always fly by so fast? It has thirty-one days with no U.S.-observed holidays in it. It's usually hot and muggy and tired-making. You think it would drag on like a wagon with a broken wheel. 

But no, it always begins and ends before you know it. School starts. Everyone starts talking about new fall TV. You wake one day to realize there are only three months left of this entire year. 

I have been volatile lately. I have flown off the handle more than once. August was a month of work, both physical and emotional and in that one sense it did feel a little long. Maybe I had to work all the little knots out before I move on to the next season. Maybe we have to continously meet and get to know the world again .

This week I have four new songs from some of my absolutely favorite artists who all have new albums coming out soon. I'd like to draw special attention to the Ryan Adams track. It holds the promise that the Ryan I knew and dearly adored is back. I'm terribly excited for his new release.

Lucky Now - Ryan Adams

Cruel - St. Vincent

Sophia - Laura Marling

How To Love - Lil' Wayne

Like I'm on Cloud Nine and I'm Making it Rain

via cakefucker.tumblr.com

Today Patrick and I are planning on doing some much-needed house cleaning. It's a chore (literally) but I'm gonna blast these tracks and make it as much fun as possible. Party on, babies.

The Birds Part 1 - The Weeknd

I'm A Goner - Matt & Kim featuring Soulja Boy and ANDREW W.K.

Santa Rosa Bound

We've decided to take an impromptu day trip up to the Charles M. Schulz museum today. Peantus, here we come! I hope you're all having a lovely weekend, too. 

Carries On - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

When you're happy like a fool, let it take you over.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

This week I am 

• missing the beach.

• working out like I mean it. Seriously, my thighs are screaming today.

• talking that trash.

• cutting my bangs short again. My Zooey Deschanel complex is back, I guess.

• craving macarons and baking nectarine pie instead.

• anxiously awaiting my Pottermore entrance email. Come on, guys. I'm going through major Harry Potter withdrawals here.

• enjoying our new mattress and my new office chair.

• hoping that the abovementioned items will help banish the neck and shoulder pain that's been plaguing me for weeks.

• reading a great article about natural and artificial food flavorings. It's cool but really scary at the same time.

• listening to so much great music.

How Come You Never Go There - Feist (removed by request) New Feist, new feist! I've been waiting for this album for years. It feels like a lifetime ago that her last one came out.

What The Water Gave Me - Florence and the Machine Here's a taste of something new by Florence. It's dramatic and powerful and you won't be disappointed.

Good Life - OneRepublic I don't know why but I am obsessed with this song right now. It makes me feel so happy and so lucky. It makes me just feel so much.

Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye This is such a cool track from an Australian artists that blends the gorgeous sounds of XTC, the Police and Crowded House. A great summer night song.

Follow the day and reach for the sun!

Okay, can we just touch briefly on the fact that my little sister started her senior year in high school this week? 

Maybe I need to clarify. When I started my senior year in high school, my sister was almost four months old. I was the only person in my class who ever babysat an actual baby which had the same parents as they did. At seven a.m. I'd have cheerleading practice and at 5:00 p.m. I'd be throwing a baby around. Okay, maybe not actually throwing. At least not very hard.

And now she's almost an adult. She'll be a fully-licensed driver in a few short months. She's the yearbook photo editor. She's been to high school dances. In a lot of ways my sister is already wiser and smarter than I am. But until she's out of high school I still want her to have the kind of carefree, hopeful fun and happiness that only a kid can experience.

The picture above came a little while after my senior year started, perhaps just as I was finishing high school. But I think it's a sweet picture. (Also, Shamu's Night Magic? That sounds like a problem begging to happen.)

Who knew that seventeen years could pass by in what feels like less than the blink of an eye. And who knew that she and I would be such good friends when it did. 

Here's to an amazing year.  

Light And Day - The Polyphonic Spree

Red Velvet Snow Ball

The new Pepper Rabbit album that I mentioned in last week's mini mix? I seriously cannot stop listening to it, you guys. It's wonderful, like a combination of Ra Ra Riot and M83, flowering in an overgrown field. It's sweeping and uplifting and touched by that perfect mixture of shimmering warmth and melancholy that is so compelling to me. This album is a grower and a changer and I hope you'll get to know it with me.

I have sifted through the dirt
and I've found out just what hurts
and I'll use it.  

Lake House - Pepper Rabbit

The Ballad of Alessandro Moreschi - Pepper Rabbit

When we kiss it feels like a flying saucer landing.

Mid Week Mini Music Mix

Some things are so damn pretty that they become powerful, a shield that deflects everything that is bringing you down. A lifesaver that buoys you up above the most chilling wave. If something can bring a tear to your eye because of the sheer, joyous beauty that it fills you with, that to me is true power. That's how this poem makes me feel:

"The Emperor"
by Matthew Rohrer 

She sends me a text

she's coming home

the train emerges

from underground


I light the fire under

the pot, I pour her

a glass of wine

I fold a napkin under

a little fork


the wind blows the rain

into the windows

the emperor himself

is not this happy

Rose Mary Stretch - Pepper Rabbit What a wonderful surprise this album is! I listened to it knowing nothing about the band or the music and found an experimental pop record that I was instantly drawn to. Love at first listen. Now I can't stop listening and it is just getting better and better. Red Velvet Snowball, you guys. It's a beautiful thing.

See Thru Eyes - Active Child I have been anxiously anticipating You Are All I See for months. Active Child's soaring falsetto combines with the electro beats and lovely instrumentation in songs that sound like pure heaven. This is a very impressive debut.

Ritual Union - Little Dragon The title track from Little Dragon's latest that I was raving about previously. This is the good stuff. If this song doesn't get you dancing, then I'm gonna have to ask you to talk to the hand.

Strange Powers (Magnetic Fields Cover) - The Shins This version of "Strange Powers" is from a compilation of Magnetic Fields' covers that my fave music tumblr put together. If you're thinking that Stephin Merritt's songwriting talents and James Mercer's voice would make a good combination, then you are most certainly correct.  

If you think you're special, you're probably not.

It's been a busy week and it's going to be an equally busy weekend. I've got lots of custom party pieces to design and print in the next little while and I'm also apparently trying to make sure roly poly animals become the in thing. 

Luckily I've got some great music to listen to while I work away. I'm pretty sure I'll have these two wonderful, wonderful songs on repeat all weekend:

Cinema (Skrillex Remix) - Benny Benassi feat. Gary Go - Thanks, Steph! Yes, this is a good one to dance your heart out to.

Why Even Try feat. Sara Quin (RAC Remix) - Theophilus London - Sara Quin (of Tegan and Sara) sounds lovely on this song, which is sweet and funny and chill at the same time. 

I’m about to go H•A•M.

This week I am:

• dealing with a weird cold that is coming on slow and lingering like a real jerk.

• thinking quite a bit about the riots in England and what it all means.

• making another potato, rosemary and bacon pizza, because this shit is for real. The whole wheat crust from Fresh & Easy market is delish:

• reading Catching Fire, the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy. The first book was insanely compelling. It was such a nail-biter I woke up at 5:00 a.m. one morning to finish it, after I'd stayed up til almost 2:00 a.m. reading it the night before.

• drawing monkeys and lions. It's actually pretty fun!

• falling crazy in love with everything in the upcoming Kate Spade holiday collection.

• really wishing I could take a trip somewhere tropical.

• listening to Watch the Throne which I am really, really digging. Now we all know that a Jay-Z and Kanye West collaboration can't really go wrong, but I was really curious to see how they would blend their styles. So far it sounds like Jay-Z is doing most of the rapping and Yeezy is in charge of the stylized sound. Most of my friends do NOT like Kanye, but I have been staunchly behind him since "Through the Wire" and I'm not changing my mind anytime soon. I'm looking forward to taking a closer look at the lyric book all this week.

No Church in the Wild (feat. Frank Ocean) - Kanye West & Jay-Z

H•a•m - Kanye West & Jay-z

The Difference Between Shooting Stars and Satellites

Even though we're still technically in the middle of summer I can feel it already: a hint of crisp arid air, the sun going down just a touch sooner, longer nights, the reckoning of all we've done and haven't done so far this year. 

But I'm trying very hard not to get ahead of myself. Summer is the time for taking things slow and easy, for being outside and feeling young and reckless, beautiful and thoughtful. I hope that my mix for you reflects all of this.

This is also the time for road trips, or at least a long drive just for the sake of listening to music, and I'm very much looking forward to taking one with Patrick this weekend to visit friends and family in Los Angeles. I hope you'll listen along and make some happy memories for yourself while I'm gone.

You can download the Movies of Myself Summer Mix in its entirety over on Mediafire 

or listen to them here first:

True Love - Friendly Fires     Another fresh and fine dance track from Friendly Fires, this one with a touch of innocent wistfulness thrown in. I've been enjoying their latest album, Pala, very much. It's perfect for summer weekend afternoons with friends.

Wildfire featuring Little Dragon - SBTRKT This is the freaking coolest song I have heard in a long, long time. The beat is irresistible and it is incredibly addicting. This one's hot like fire. 

Go featuring Karen O. - Santigold Anything that involves Karen O. is fine by me and Santigold's talents are nothing to sneeze at either. Together these two ladies have made a song that still has me on my feet after months of listens. 

Crystalfilm - Little Dragon I cannot rave enough over Little Dragon's latest album Ritual Union. The songs are interesting, diverse and just so damn groovy. This is a can't-miss record from a Swedish electronic band that knows how to rock you. I have to thank Steph for letting me know about it.

You Know What I Mean - Cults Here's another track for you from my sunny, doo-wop-influenced album of the summer from Cults. This song is my favorite of all off of their self-titled debut.

Safety Bricks - Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew "Safety Bricks" is one of my most dearly beloved songs from an album that gets stronger every year. Drew has said that this song is about love and responsibility and I also think it's about change. Either way, it's warm and sweet and an instant modern rock classic.

All My Friends - The Bilinda Butchers I discovered this San Francisco shoegaze dream pop band on Tumblr and have been endlessly delighted with the EP they're selling on bandcamp. This song is pure happiness.

Sun Hits - Memory Tapes Dayve Hawk's music has always reminded me of hanging out with my peeps on a summer night, so it's no wonder that this album and this song especially feels so perfect right now. 

You Still Believe In Dee - Bullion Bullion put together a nice little tribute album to J Dilla a few years back on which he blended Jay Dee's beats with the Beach Boy's Pet Sounds. The result is laid back and chilled out goodness.

Wilhelms Scream - James Blake If this album, perfectly showcasing Blake's pretty falsetto, isn't one of the best records of the year, then I don't ever want to talk about music again. I have really fallen for this and I hope you have, too. 

Next Train - Miracle Fortress This Canadian indie band has a new album out this year but my pick for Summer Mix is from their 2007 Five Roses. It's a beautiful song that will make you believe in new beginnings.

Sweet Disposition - Ellie Goulding Although I can't claim to love this Temper Trap cover nearly as much as the original, their is something piercingly simple and plaintive about it that give it its own power. I guess this song is always awesome.

The Harvest - Teen Daze The lovely hush of this reminds me that the fall months are just a step away. Gorgeously introspective, painstakingly meditative, this is a song that can carry revelations to you. 

Blue Eyes - Middle Brother Middle Brother is one of those collaborations between members of three different bands and one of them happens to be Matthew Vasquez of Delta Spirit and holy crow do I love his voice. This is a good old-fashioned folk rock song of love and longing, bringing the best type of blues along with it. 

Silver and Gold - City and Colour A song of apocalypse that somehow lulls you out of fear. I love this new City and Colour album more and more each time I listen to it. Dallas Greene believes in putting his heart out their and the results are sincere and very moving.

Passenger Seat - Death Cab for Cutie I hope that you will have the opportunity this summer to experience what this perfect song describes: a quiet night drive with someone you trust and the sense that life is an incredibly precious thing. 

Happy summer, my dears!

May good luck find you at your worst and back luck lose you at your best.

A picture, a poem and a song for summer:

"Epithalamium"
by Bob Hicok

A bee in the field. The house on the mountain 
reveals itself to have been there through summer. 
It's not a bee but a horse eating frosted grass 
in the yawn light. Secrets, the anguish of smoke 
above the chimney as it shreds what it's learned 
of fire. The horse has moved, it's not a horse 
but a woman doing the stations of the cross 
with a dead baby in her arms. The anguish of the house 
as it reveals smoke to the mountain. A woman 
eating cold grass in Your name, shredding herself 
like fire. The woman has stopped, it's not a woman 
but smoke on its knees keeping secrets in what it reveals. 
The everything has moved, it's not everything 
but a shredding of the anguish of names. The marriage 
of light: particle to wave. Do you take? I do.

Devil Knows You're Dead - Delta Spirit This song is a warm and gentle blessing, full of the sincerest love that we feel for our dearest friends and, if we're lucky, the same love that they feel for us in return. 

I'm wishing you all blue skies and green fields and all the good that summer can bring. 

I could see for miles, miles, miles.

Last weekend I had a sudden urge to go up to Berkeley and hang out around my old alma mater. I usually hit up the East Bay to buy scrapbook paper or to eat pizza, but this time I really wanted to stroll down Telegraph Avenue and peek at the campus buildings.

Sometimes college seems like a strange dream to me. The more time that passes between graduation and the present, the more I feel that those years never happened to me, that perhaps it's only the vague plot of a forgettable novel that I recall. It seems silly to mark the changes in town now that so many years have gone by. It's more remarkable that Fat Slice and Bancroft Clothing Company are still around than it is that the Gap has been replaced by a Walgreen's.

Still, I can't help but mark the same memories and locations each time I'm there. That's the building where I had the Comp. Lit. class that made fall in love with Italo Calvino. That's the coffee shop where Kerry told a rude girl wearing a WWJD bracelet and who stole Kerry's seat that she didn't think Jesus would have done that.

And there are all the places I lived. The semi-abandoned room in Unit Three. The pretty condo on Arch Street. The basement room with the solid wood furniture, the disco ball and the tiny guppy called August. I lived in these places. I was as much myself in them as I am right here, right now. How did I feel then? How much of my current life did I see? I can barely remember.

Maybe I saw myself walking these same streets with only the rare and minute need to look forward or back. Maybe I looked into the thousands of miles of time between then and now and saw that happiness comes a minute at a time, an hour or two at most. And that we just need to keep moving along, stringing the happy and sad beads together, twining them around our wrists and up our arms and watching them catch the sunlight as the past grows soft and sweet and becomes, simply, a place where you once lived.

Holocene - Bon Iver

Day 30 - Your Favorite Song At This Time Last Year

What a difference a year makes. What was I doing on this day last year? Getting read for a baby shower. Making lots of favors and decorations:

And now that baby is about to turn one!

It's entirely wonderful and panic-inducing at the same time.

My favorite song from this time last year was one which I listen to regularly still. It's a curious and cynical song about modern love and survival. It has a most glorious rhythm and it is just so fucking cool. It will make you think and dance at the same time; a singular and marvelous feat.

A Mind I Knew - Suckers

Day 29 - A Song From Your Childhood

When I was little my favorite after-school pastime was to sit with my back against the wall and listen to records on my Fisher-Price record player. My two favorite albums were Smurfing Sing Song and Disco Duck Dance Party, and out of both my most beloved song was Captain and Tenille's "Love Will Keep Us Together" from the Dance Party. I adored that track and must have listened to it a million times. I distinctly remember my best friend and I making up a choreographed dance to the song right around the time of second or third grade. 

Strangely, I completely forgot about "Love Will Keep Us Together" for an entire decade after that and was delightfully startled to hear it in a restaurant in Berkeley. I ran out immediately to find it and for some absurd reason they had a CD single of it for sale. I still think it's a pretty darn cute song!

Love Will Keep Us Together - Captain & Tenille

Some fun facts about the duo garnered from their Wikipedia page:

• The Captain's real name is Daryl Dragon

• Toni Tenille was a backing vocalist for Elton John, The Beach Boys and Pink Floyd

• Love this: "In July 1976, Captain & Tennille were invited by First Lady Betty Ford to perform in the East Room of the White House in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and President Gerald Ford during the Bicentennial celebration."