1. Fools - The Dodos 2. Window Seat - Erykah Badu 3. The High Road - Broken Bells 4. Paper Bag - Fiona Apple 5. Curs in the Weeds - Horse Feathers 6. Sunrise - Yeasayer 7. I've Seen It All - Björk featuring Thom Yorke 8. Alligator (Passion Pit Remix) - Tegan and Sara 9. Heart of a Lion - Kid Cudi
10. Love Like A Sunset, Part II - Phoenix
And as "they" say, last but not least, Doris Day by my favorite band, Jack's Mannequin. A little sold-only-through-amazon-find that I just found.
Listen to the new She & Him album. Nearly as magical as Nearly Headless Nick or Pepper Imps (That's for you, KG). Zooey Deschanel, where ever you are, MARRY ME. Volume 2 is full of breathy vocals from Zooey with bright and sometimes melancholic lyrics. Absolutely perfect.
Shout-outs to 'I Knew It Would Happen This Way,' 'Don't Look Back,' and 'Brand New Shoes.'
"Quietly took to the dark of the day and the hiss of the summer night.
The heat of the breeze was a cell block wall, and when I looked you were out of sight."
On my way to class some Thursday ago, my iPod played a song that caused my mind to slip from the mundane sidewalk littered with snow and dead trees to a time when I thought that I was invincible, with the sun beating and music blaring. The song was "A" by Cartel from the CD, Chroma. This disc of hope was constantly flowing through the speakers of my 1999 Toyota Solara in the latter half of my formative high school years. The song is an amalgamation of all of the other tunes on the album, a sort of mash-up if you will. It's funny, the lyrics that I loved back in the day were the ones I was living, and the lyrics I love now are the ones I have lived.
"Our days were numbered by nights on too many rooftops
They said we're wasting our lives
But oh, at least we know that if we died
We lived with passion
They said we burned so bright"
I can see these moments play out in front of me, like my eyes are a projector, and I'm watching my own life in front of me. I see my gang of friends and me climbing up old Mrs. Wilson's television antenna to sit on her roof and watch our small town fireworks. I see myself sneaking out the back door at midnight to take a moonlit stroll with the girl next door.
I realize that I'm not even twenty and still quite spry and youthful, but I feel like an era is over. When I was fifteen, I also loved "Soco Amaretto Lime" by Brand New. Lyrics of choice?
"I'm gonna stay eighteen forever So we can stay like this forever And we'll never miss a party cause we keep them going constantly And we'll never have to listen to anyone about anything cause it's all been done and it's all been said we're the coolest kids and we take what we can get"
I wasn't eighteen, and now I'm past eighteen. It's odd to think about. I'll never get that age back. Oh well, I'll stay nineteen forever. And twenty forever. And twenty-one forever. Ah, youth.
You're just jealous 'cause we're young and in love.
For the grand finale, The Beach Boys. Pet Sounds. Best ode to youth of all time. Ah, this song reeks of being strapped in the passenger's seat with my dad driving to our cabin on the lake. It's even more relevant now.
All it takes to make the world spin 'round is a few great friends. Recently, I found myself in a car packed to the gills like sardines. The sardines were, of course, some of my closest friends. Sure, it was dead winter when I had a startling realization with the dead trees, snow on the ground, and frozen streets and dreams staring at me directly in the face.
My friends and I sat in the car and unanimously decided to roll the windows down, in below freezing weather, nonetheless. We sang and sang and sang. Our favorite songs, about lovers, friendships, etc. & etc. I then appreciated what it means to have a shining moment. My week is full of lab reports and Friedel-Crafts reactions, fibroblastins and RAS-Gene mapping. In other words, my week is almost always dreary. But this moment... in which my friends and I sang to high heaven, dancing at random Asians in the car beside us, was life-altering. It made me realize that moments like that were what make life important. Moments where I make a fool of myself signing at the top of my lungs are what bring happiness into my life. Where I go doesn't even matter.
It's outlandish events like singing in the car or dancing in the streets on the way to my friend's apartment that get me through each day; laughing and learning with every breath I take.
In memory of this moment, I dedicate the song 'The Best Deceptions' by Dashboard Confessional to my closest friends.
Very recently, I've been playing phone tag with a very dear friend, my best friend. We both have busy schedules that, of course, conflict. I literally just got off the phone with her and had ten minutes of catch-up. I'm so glad we have this relationship where we go two weeks barely talking and then WHAM: ten minutes and it's like we never parted. Love you, Jacki :)
Blog shout-out: Jacki and her friends over at the University of Indianapolis just started a blog about their adventures during the 40 days of lent. Instead of giving something up completely, they decided to partake in a random act of kindness each day. 40DAYSOFKINDNESS.
Writer's block. When my axons don't fire. When my fingers lay motionless on the keyboard. When there seems to be little inspiration in my life.
Ah, but there is behind the surface. Music, books, thoughts, ideas, events scratch me every waking moment of my life. I just don't notice it. So this post is dedicated to the small things that have opened my eyes a little wider over the past few weeks, not including the wonderment of my friends. They deserve a post all their own that I will surely post on some idle Tuesday.
Fantastic Mr. Fox:
Easily on my personal Top 10 list of 2009 films. It was passionate, simple, funny, and everything a film should be. It also boasted a great voice cast (Jason Schwartzman, Meryl Streep, George Clooney, etc.), great director (Wes Anderson shout-out!), and, well, heart.
My favorite line was when Mrs. Fox says to offspring Ash Fox, "We're different. We all are. Him especially. But there's something kind of fantastic about that isn't there?"
Sums up my life.
"Under The Milky Way" by Sia:
I have always liked her, but I would have never known this song if it wasn't for the beauty of televeision. Thank you, Lincoln car commercial.
Six Feet Under:
I'm only on episode 3, but I can already tell you that I wish I caught this gem while it was still on Showtime. I come home yearning to know what happens at the Fisher & Sons funeral parlor. In three words, I am addicted. It's a thought-provoking dramedy with Michael C. Hall and Lauren Ambrose. Could I ask for more?
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius:
I got this book for Christmas, and have devoured it since. I've been meaning to post about it, but I haven't found the proper way. I have no words to describe it. It's truly what the title says. Barnes & Noble it.
A fortnight or so ago, I saw a film titled Up in the Air. The overall story is about a man, Ryan George Clooney Bingham, who basically is relationship-less. He travels the Midwest (a place of my heart) and fires people for corporate bigwigs who don't have the bravado to do it themselves. He practically lives and thrives on airports, novelty airline bottles of alcohol, and collecting sky miles. He has absolutely no problem being alone. He stumbles upon and finds love with a female version of himself in an airport bar. Ryan is then told by his greasy boss to take the "new girl" under his wing and show her the ropes, and that's all there is to say without giving anything away.
The script was sublimely crafted, and George, along with love interest Vera Farmiga, were fantastic. Many scenes were stolen, however, by a veteran of the horrendous Twilight franchise: Anna Kendrick. Of Twilight, Anna isn't one of the big hoody hoo stars (she's just one of the angst-ridden female's human friends), but in Air she is the magnetic, hysterical, and green protégé. My eyes were literally glued to her when she was onscreen. Incredible. So clearly I loved the film directed by Juno's Jason Reitman. On to the next subject...
After my second viewing, I traipsed over to the local Barnes & Noble for some paperback grub where I find none other than my high school English teacher. The woman with the plan: Trudy Duvall. Here's the conversation we had, verbatim:
Mrs. Duvall: Oh! Steven. What are you up to?
Steven: I just got out of Up in the Air.
Mrs. Duvall: Me too!
Steven: For the second time.
Mrs. Duvall: Me too! I didn't like it the first time. Then I read some stuff about it, went back, and really liked it. I'm taking you liked it?
Steven: Loved it.
Mrs. Duvall: Really? I find that hard to believe.
Steven: Why?
Mrs. Duvall: Steven, it was an adult dark comedy. How did you resonate with it?
Steven: [Shrugs] I don't know, but I loved it.
[Conversation continues, Mrs. Duvall makes a Precious joke, so on.]
The film made me ponder about my life and what I've made of it, what I will make of it. It made me feel both stark and saturated at the same time. I loved the film because I think I could be Ryan Bingham. I think I could easily find my home in hotel after hotel after hotel while I briefly touched the ground. I think I could nest in American Airlines, up in the air. I think I could pick up and go from place to place.
Then I wonder, where would I be without the connections I've made in my life? Without the lifelong friends and family. Without the people I can bump into at Barnes & Noble. Without the man that dumpster dives outside my apartment.
But alas, each day is a different day. Perhaps tomorrow I'll feel differently.
I'm starving. My stomach is currently rumbling, and I have that weird feeling like I could just hurl all over everything. Although I'm hungry? Never quite understood that. I bet Wikipedia knows. It probably says "A person feels like he or she must throw up when they are very hungry because when lions eat olives the world quakes. This shaking of planet Earth is constant because when DON'T lions eat olives. Said shaking moves particles into your stomach through your pores and effects* your stomach but only when you are irrevocably, utterly starving." I love Wikipedia especially when there's a mistake and I can fix it. I feel so brainy. "Oh here I am. Telling this fucking website what's up suckers."
I'm rambling. And rumbling. Lunch to nurse tequila-induced hangover. Starting... NOW.
Look out world.
*I purposefully put effects instead of affects because, let's face it, Wikipedia would have it wrong. Damn. I hope I'm write.
