I Love Virginia

Okay. I LOVE Virginia. I lived there my tenth grade year of high school, all last summer, and I think I might move back in the fall. There's just something about that place that makes me feel happy and okay with the world. I love the variety of people, the trees, the ocean, the cities, the tobacco farms, the mysterious forests, the fog, the big mansions, the winding roads, the endless shopping opportunities, my friends there, my family there, and the amazing restaurants to choose from. So I'm going to record here some of my favorite moments from my summer in Virginia.

Things I Want To Remember From Virginia:
-Descending the basement stairs of a friend of a friend's house to see that his ENTIRE basement is covered with Marvel comics memorabilia. Every inch of every wall and shelf after shelf were just jammed with action figures, posters, lunchboxes, music boxes, everything you could think of. I've never seen anything like it
-Me giggling about something, and the friend saying, in drunken wonder, "Oh my god. You hiccup EVERY time you laugh." I do. It's embarrassing.
-Sitting on the National Mall on the evening of the Fourth of July, eating cheezits and staring up at huge fireworks right above us, with people crowded all around us and cigarette smoke wafting through the air and mingling with firework smoke
-Walking back to the metro after the fireworks and just seeing thousands of people clogging the streets, with no regard for traffic or stoplights haha.
-Walking around the JFK airport at 6:00 am while I wait for my connecting flight to D.C. and feeling out of place among all the harangued-looking business men and cheerful morning employees
-Watching the sun rise from a random field while my friend plays guitar (Haha very hippie of me, I know)
-Having to pee while in that field and prancing into what I think is a nice copse of trees, only to find myself up to my thighs in a marsh. I dropped my phone, lost a shoe, and stumbled back to my friends covered in mud and little bugs. They laughed at me.
-Sitting in a circle on my friend's porch, basking in cigar smoke and having deep discussions about dying, aliens, color and other things
-Waking up in my aunt's house one summer morning and finding my little cousin Eva to be the only one home. She is precious, with big Italian brown eyes and tiny limbs and a raspy smoker's voice. We played games for like two hours :)
-Attending a party at my friend's big brick house and having him give me a sharpie tattoo that said "Dare To Be Different". That is basically my life philosophy so it was cool.
-Walking around Georgetown with my cousin, taking artsy pictures next to ivy-covered buildings and dark canals and random signs.
-Getting attacked by a sudden, violent downpour and having to take shelter in an indoor mall. If you haven't experienced east coast rain, then there is really no way of explaining it to you! It pummels you with huge drops. You are instantly soaked. It almost hurts, but it makes you feel alive! I miss it like crazy.
-Following a film crew around D.C. and Georgetown, watching them film an upcoming film starring Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Jack Nicholson and Paul Rudd. I was like twenty feet away from these people! It was so cooooool. Owen Wilson's nose is just as crooked in real life, Reese Witherspoon is TINY (like 5 feet tall), Paul Rudd is very nice (He came over and spoke to the watching crowd) and Jack Nicholson is very dapper looking.
-Going on a 3-mile run through the maze of neighborhoods and trees by my aunt's house. The humidity made it harder to breathe but it was cool!
-Going to an Irish pub with my some of my relatives. Eating beautiful shepherd's pie and Irish whiskey cake. To the sound of a raucous Irish two-piece band. (One on pipes, one on guitar)
-Spending the night at my uncle's Capitol Hill apt (very tastefully designed) and going to art museums by myself all day while my cousin went to his film internship. I love going to art museums by myself. I can stand in front of a piece as LONG as I want without feeling pressured or nudged onward. I went to the Hirshwin (Modern art, lots of lovely Warhols, Lichtensteins, etc), The National Gallery (so overwhelming but so good! Any artist you can think of has work there, and it's the only museum in America to have a Da Vinci!) and some other good ones as well.
-Driving through various forests
-Going to a Spanish restaurant in Arlington with my grandma, cousin and aunt. It was a Tapas style restaurant, which means you order three small things and it was so cool! I had delicious smoked salmon on toast and a baby octopus!
-Going boating with my Italian relatives on the Potomac. My high strung Italian aunt got into a screaming, swearing fight with her husband and everyone else just kind of sat there awkwardly.. but it was fun!
-Driving in my friend's BMW, listening to Lil' Wayne as the trees whipped by
-Going to the premiere of the new Iphone at 4 am in Alexandria. I sat bleary eyed on a chair while my friend and his brother discussed iMacs with an employee.
-Going with my cousin on his bread truck delivery route, which starts at midnight and ends at ten am! It was so crazy to go into empty grocery stores at like 3 am to restock the bread shelves. Afterward, we went to Red Robin and we were so starving and wired and brain dead that everything was funny.
-Having my Italian uncle come over and cook dinner for his kids. I love his cooking.
-Renting movie after movie with my cousin and binging on them. (They have one of those unlimited movie rental things at Blockbuster. Pretty much the best thing ever.)
-Seeing Coon Skin caps worn in total seriousness.
-Having my cousin sit in a state of total shock and then run around the house grinning when two of his films got into a festival.
-My friend pushing me in a shopping cart through an empty parking lot at 3 am
-Driving on this ridiculously windy road in the middle of the night. There were literally 90 degree turns and huge sudden hills and drops. So exciting!
-Eating Arabic sweets in my Lebanese friend's kitchen.
-My friend thinking my grandma worked at Pottery Barn, when really she is an eccentric poet
-Walking by a random beautiful lake
-Driving around eating Flintstones Push Pops and listening to summery tunes
-Sitting outside the Ford Theater in D.C. and thinking about all the things that have happened there. (Abe Lincoln getting shot, people getting out of their carriages in the 19th century to go there)
-My aunt telling me that the painting I sent her for christmas inspired her to finally be a dance instructor like she always dreamed.
-Eating Chinese food and discussing movies for like 3 hours with an old family friend.
-Staying at my aunt's adorable beach house in Delaware
-Seeing a scary man in the middle of the woods and everyone in the car screaming for about five straight minutes
-Going to an all-night diner at 5 am and being served by a fastidious man in a bow tie that bowed to us! Named Herman!
-Going to my friend's and learning that he has a Mastiff dog. There are no words to describe the size of those dogs! It could have eaten me whole! It was almost taller than me! Yikes!
-Walking into 7-11 on 7/11 without realizing it and getting a free slurpie
-Hitting a deer on the way home from Delaware and killing it! We went into a random family's trailer until the tow truck could come. There was nothing else for miles!!
-Finding out that my friend's grandpa got gored during the running of the bulls in Spain. Luckily he was too drunk for it to hurt too much!
-Going to the showing of Harry Potter at midnight and running into people I hadn't seen in years!
-Getting locked out of the house at 4 am in summer clothes and no shoes! I first tried to sleep in the backyard playhouse but it was cold so I slept in the back seat of my aunt's car haha.
-Swinging at elementary school playgrounds
-Thrift store shopping!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Showing my friend the band Beirut and having him say "Wow. I used to LIVE in Beirut!"
-Missing the last train in d.c. and having to walk 13 blocks at 2 am with homeless people around and people sleeping on the sidewalk and being scary!
-Watching the film Crash for the first time and being utterly speechless!!!!!
-Walking around Virginia Beach and seeing a man play a 7 string bass
-Witnessing a fight between two bros outside "Ocean Mystique Jewelry"
-Floating in the dark blue swells of the ocean
-Conquering one of my biggest fears (falling into water at night) and jumping into a reservoir at night! I was sooooooo proud of myself!!!
-Driving through an underwater tunnel and listening to Transatlanticism by Death Cab. The tunnel was so long that we got to hear the whole part that says "I need you so much closer....)


All in all, it was definitely the best summer of my life. I cannot wait to go back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Concert Review: Iron & Wine/Okkervil River

Okay. This is LONG delayed. Haha this concert was back in August! But I really haven't had a steady internet connection until now. So anyway, this was a beautifullll concert. It was free and outdoor, which is a plus. Okkervil River opened, and they were really who I was excited for! I LOVE the singer's voice, and he writes such gorgeous lyrics! It felt surreal to stand there (on a conveniently placed cement slab) and hear his voice in real life! Here is one of my favorite songs by them, For Real:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydQfqqqQrD4
So that was great, and then Iron and Wine came on! I was surprised to just see Sam Beam come onstage alone! I thought Iron and Wine was a group but its just Sam and his guitar! But let me tell you, that's enough! He stood there and held his guitar lovingly as he sang. (See the picture above) Highlights included Boy with a Coin, Naked as We Came, and Woman King but the best moment was when he burst into his beautiful version of "Such Great Heights". The whole crowd went wild (if they weren't already), screaming along joyfully. He really was such a talented musician to see! He plucked his guitar so fast and never made one mistake! His beard was also quite the sight to behold. I'm so glad I got to see it in person.

I'm A Creep

Wow. I realize that it has been a LONG time since I've posted, but hey. It's not my fault. I was in Virginia all summer without reliable internet, and now my computer is broken. I write this from the awkward lab on campus. Anyway, I wanted to write about Radiohead's Creep because we analyzed it in my inequality class and it pretty much blew my mind. I mean, I have loved this song for years, but the lyrics just never clicked in my head. I didn't realize what an aching, brave, vulnerable song it was.
In this song, Thom Yorke basically bears his soul, saying he is hopelessly into this girl (You're just like an angel, your skin makes me cry) and he has low self esteem (I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo) and doesn't understand how she could want to be with him.
The girl totally has the upper hand in this relationship. He says "Whatever makes you happy, whatever you want" saying he will do anything for her. That is a dangerous thing to admit, because then the other person in the relationship could totally use you.
We talked about this song because it seems like the girl is usually the one in the relationship with the lower hand. Guys usually have more control because they don't act quite as interested.
But Thom is admitting that he's obsessed and saying he doesn't know why this girl is with him. So it's really interesting to hear this kind of thing from a guy.
Radiohead is an AMAZING band obviously, and I'm so glad I finally got the meaning of this song.
I used to think it was kind of mocking the girl, saying "You're so fucking special, I wish I was special", to mean like "Ohh I wish I could be special, you're SO special."
But it's actually sincere and vulnerable and just breath-taking.

Obsessed

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No, this is not a review of Beyonce's new film, although I would like to see that someday, if only for the cat fight scenes.

I LOVE this self portrait of Andy Warhol's. I can never get over how AMAZING he is, and what an influence he has on art, not to mention hipsters, to this day. I love high contrast, shadowy portraits. I saw a breathtaking Warhol exhibit a few years ago, and they had the self portrait of his with the bright blue background.... and I just stood and stared at it. I can't imagine painting something even 1% as good.

Anyway, the point of this post is not to blab about Warhol, but to share a few songs that I'm addicted to. These songs are like.. crystal meth to me right now. I can't stop listening to them. I worry that I'll get sick of them but... I just don't have the willpower to pull away. They call to me, drawing me in with their intoxicating aura and I'm just helpless.

1. Whispertown 2000- Atlantis (mp3)
This song! I have been a casual listener of w2k for a few years, but when I stumbled across Atlantis, I stopped in my tracks. Seriously it was like in the movies when someone sees someone and thinks "Where have you been all my life?"!! The aching, tender, rock-candy vocals just get to me so much. I love the way her voice cracks on the line "let me in!". The harmonizing, the unique vocals, the sad, plaintive melody and the imagery of the ocean and Atlantis are a lethal combination for me.

2. CSS- Knife (Grizzly Bear Cover) (listen)
For some reason, Grizzly Bear's Friend EP was the first album of theirs that I heard. For some bands, EPs are just left-overs or second rate cuts, but since Grizzly Bear is Grizzly Bear, all the songs were amazing even on the EP. I especially love this cover of Knife by CSS. It is such a pure, simple song. Short and sweet and intense. CSS definitely perks up the song, adding electronic elements and their signature touch, but the angst is still there, and I love it.

3. Beach House- D.A.R.L.I.N.G. (mp3)
It took me a while to get into Beach House, because I am automatically averse to super-hyped bands, but I have to admit, they're good. I really love d.a.r.l.i.n.g. especially. The song is dark, sexy, and foggy. Rodarte said "Beach House is an amazing band that manages to sound like a glass box filled with sand, metal, rain and thunder" and I think he's right.

Cool Remix: Lykke Li

It's no secret that I love Lykke Li... and I also love remixes.. so the combination is really dangerous and delicious.
This is an awesome remix of Dance Dance Dance done by the always solid Buraka Som Sistema.
It's short and sweet, with a nice thumping, almost tribal sounding beat that really compliments Lykke's delicate vocals.
Download: Lykke Li- Dance Dance Dance (Buraka Som Sistema Remix)

Ulrich von Lichtenstein!

Artwork by Roy Lichtenstein
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I'm in a really good mood. Which is weird, considering how much stuff I still have to do before school ends. I have three more days of school, then exams! I have a final project in art due Wednesday (yikes) but it's going really well! I'm doing a dramatically shaded charcoal portrait of Jenny. She is positioned kind of like a Roy Lichtenstein girl, looking over her shoulder at the viewer. I am really excited about it. For the other part of the project, I'm probably doing a brightly colored acrylic painting of Blake. I figure it will represent both the bright and dark elements to their music... and relationship. Haha I love pretending that I know what's going on with them.

Random Thoughts:
-I hope I can go to Whispertown 2000 on Sunday.
-I can't wait for Rilo Kiley's rarities album to come out!
-I can't wait to see Jenny this summer! FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-I am glad I'm going home this weekend. I miss my family.
-I sat by a hilarious European named Vlad in Art History today.
-I got told that my animal look-alike was an English Spaniel. Not sure how I feel about this...
-I'm excited to get a job for the summer.
-I hope I can go to Virginia this summer at some point.

Anyway, I'll stop babbling. Here is a really cool remix of Midlake by Cassettes Won't Listen. Straight from CWL's twitter page!
Download: Midlake- Young Bride (Cassettes Won't Listen Remix)

Future Reflections

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Lately, the hazy clouds that shroud my future have began to part, and it's a really good feeling. The future is still very unsure, but at least I know what I'm majoring in. I just finally nailed down what I'll be taking next semester. It's taken me a long time, but I think I've found the perfect schedule!

I will be taking:
*Biology
*Elementary Chemistry
*Statistics
*World Music
*Self Defense

Fifteen credits in all. They all fulfill Generals/Nursing Requirements except Self Defense, but with the number of drunk people I've had encounters with just this week, I think I could use some self defense skillssss.
Download: Shout Out Louds- Hurry Up, Let's Go
Photo Credit: Renoir- The Skiff

Artist Appreciation: Broken Social Scene

Photo from Exclaim.ca
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Ah. Broken Social Scene. How I love you.
Canada exports a ridiculous number of amazing bands, but BSS pretty much tops the list. They are a band (more of a supergroup, really) that was founded in 1999 by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning. Their roster of musicians shuffles, and they currently have 19 members apparently. Feist, Emily Haines and Amy Millan are all one-time collaborators. So you know it's gotta be good!
BSS has a truly unique sound. The combination of instruments and vocals creates dense, atmospheric, beautiful music. I really can't say enough how much I love this band. Seeing them live was like a religious experience. When Kevin Drew sang Lover's Spit, I teared up. I admit it. I think Lover's Spit, 7/4 (Shoreline), Anthems for a 17 Year-Old Girl, and Backyards are some of the most beautiful, gorgeous, wonderful songs ever written. Seriously. Listen to them.
Here's a lovely instrumental track off their 2002 album You Forgot It In People:

Download: Broken Social Scene- Pitter Patter Goes My Heart
Broken Social Scene's Myspace
Buy their albums at Insound. You won't regret it.

Concert Review: Mirah/Tender Forever

Photo by Louisa Bradford
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Yay! I finally got to see Mirah on Tuesday. The band Tender Forever opened (which is really just one person) and I was so pleasantly surprised by them! Tender Forever is Melanie Valera from France, and she has a really cool electronic/pop sound paired with strong, earnest vocals. She is signed to K Records in Seattle, which is the same label as Mirah. She has been compared to The Blow a lot, and I can definitely see the resemblance, but I think Tender Forever has a rawer, more emotionally honest quality to her music.
Here is a photo of Tender Forever:

Doesn't she just look so French?

TF was so, SO hilarious and her French accent made the things she was saying sound even funnier. She did an adorable cover of Justin Timberlake's "My Love" and told funny stories about her adventures in America. She was visibly nervous, but she put on a great show anyway. One highlight was when she expressed her love for Beyonce, dedicated the next song to her, then played it to a slide show of (photoshopped) photos of her and Beyonce.
She just had a really original, inventive quality to her music that I loved. She played the drums with a wii remote, danced around in a cape, joked that she was allowed to be a snob because she was French, and played a mean ukulele!
By the end of her set, Tender Forever had completely won over the crowd. We were laughing, cheering, screaming, and hanging on her every word! It was so great to see her relax and bask in the attention instead of being nervous and quiet like she was in the beginning. I got to meet her after the show and she was so nice! I really hope she comes again.

A couple (crappy) photos I took:

Note the Wii Remote dangling off her keyboard!

Note the cape.

Then, Mirah came on! She was just so cute. Her voice reminds me of.. cinammon sugar. So delicate and soft and beautiful. It sounded even better live! I also liked how comfortable she was on stage. She was perfectly cool, calm, and collected. Cool as a cucumber you might say.
Mirah had an extremely fun, talented band. She had a violinist, a drummer, a bassist, and a clarinet/keyboard player, while she handled vocals and guitar. The rest of the band backed her up on some songs with "oohs" and "ahhs" but they wisely let her voice shine.
Some highlights of her set included "Light the Match", during which Mirah would march in place all cutely, "The Forest", which gave the band a chance to really jam, and "The Garden", which was the final song. During The Garden, Tender Forever came on stage to play the bongos, and everyone just had a LOT of fun playing it. The keyboardist was jumping up and down while he played, the drummer had a nice drum solo, and Mirah was grinning the whole time. The audience loved it as well haha.
Overall, it was one of the best concerts I've been to in a long time. I even got a picture with Mirah!
-Mirah's Myspace
-Buy their stuff on Amazon!

The Men of LOST

I freaked out when I stumbled across this picture. I love it so much!! Haha well I hate Michael but everyone else looks so good. Especially Sayid, Jack and Hurley. I am so excited for tonight's LOST. It looks like we're going to actually see the smoke monster tonight! It's been quite some time since we saw Smokey.

Since I'm seeing Mirah on Tuesday, and since the LOST characters are like my "familia", here is one of the best remixes ever:
Mirah- La Familia (Guy Sigsworth Remix)
It is already such a good song that it would have ruined it to drown it in pulsing beats or something. Guy really let the song breathe, and I love that. It also shows how good her voice sounds in a sparse, electronica-esque atmosphere. She could make a Postal Service style album with someone! Love Mirah!

Meet: Dead Leaf Echo

Dead Leaf Echo, or DLE, are a an attractive four-piece from New York City. For some reason they only have photos of three of them, so that's what you get. The word I would use to describe their music is.. shimmery. My favorite song is "Act of Truth", the title track off their new new EP "Truth". It's the kind of music they play in movies when something important happens. Kind of like Sigur Ros's Hoppipolla. I can picture it playing when two long lost lovers run towards each other in the airport.. haha.

Anyway, it's really good music and you should check them out. If you live in the New York Echo, they have a show coming up on 5/9 at Public Assembly (With Apollo Heights and Weird Owl)

Dead Leaf Echo Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/deadleafecho
Download: Dead Leaf Echo- Act of Truth

Meet: The Ropes

Meet The Ropes! They are a very talented duo from New York that is composed of Sharon Shy (Lykke Li lookalike!) and "Toppy". They remind me of The Knife and Shiny Toy Guns. Melodic.. atmospheric...
Sharon may look like Lykke Li, but she doesn't sound like her. Her vocals are purring, fuzz-drenched at times, and undeniably sexy!
Anyway, I really like them. They've released an album, What They Do for Fun, and two eps, and have a new ep coming out soon called Be My Gun. Here's a couple of their songs to check out. My favorite is Be My Gun, the title track off their new ep! The bassline is delicious.
Buy their stuff on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com
Their Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/theropes
Download:
Kitty Get Down
Be My Gun

Artist Appreciation: Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer

I've decided to start a new feature: Artist appreciation posts. Whenever I feel like it, I'll write about one of the artist I love. To "switch it up", I'm going to start at the bottom of the alphabet. So Zolof it is!

I was really into Zolof when I was in 11th grade. Anthony Green sang with them for a while. The funny thing is I never liked Circa Survive or Saosin really. But anyway. They are just... cute. Haha. I love when there are male and female vocals in a band, and their instrumentals are way catchy. My favorite song was always "Plays Pretty for Baby". I think it captures adolescence so perfectly. Especially the lyric:
"I feel your smooth skin slightly brush against the backside of my arm."
I think everyone can identify with that feeling of electricity between someone you're "crushing on". Even when they just barely touch you it's exciting.
The song is short and sweet, adorable, and has some feel-good "do-do-do's" in the chorus. What's not to love?
Download:

Plays Pretty For Baby

My Heart Explodes, Or, Jenny Tours!!!!

I'm feeling sparklehappy. Jenny Lewis is playing a free show in the summer with Bon Iver. I am going to cry. I already know it. I cried last time I saw Rilo Kiley. It will be sad to see Jenny without Blake Jason and Pierre though. Also amazing: Last night's LOST episode. It was so glorious to get a Sayid-centrique episode. It was about time!! Sayid is sexy sexy sexy. Ben looked hilarious in that fedora in Moscow haha. and I knew I hated Ilana... haha. Here are Jenny's Tour Dates!!! (Copied from BrooklynVegan)
3/28 Sydney, AUS -V Festival - Centennial Park
3/29 Gold Coast, AUS -V Festival - Avica Resort
3/30 Sydney, AUS -Hordern Pavillion
4/1 Adelaide, AUS -Adelaide Entertainment Center
4/2 Melbourne, AUS -Palais Theatre
4/4 Melbourne, AUS -V Festival - Melbourne Showgrounds
4/5 Perth, AUS -V Festival - Claremount Showgrounds
4/7 Sydney, AUS -The Lair @ The Metro
4/10 Honolulu, HI -Pipeline Café
4/13 Pomona, CA -Glass House
4/14 Solana Beach, CA -Belly Up
4/15 Sacramento, CA -Empire
4/18 Indio, CA -Coachella Music & Arts Festival
5/27 Santa Cruz, CA -Rio Theatre
5/28 San Francisco, CA -The Fillmore
5/29 San Francisco, CA -The Fillmore
5/30 Portland, OR -Roseland
5/31 Seattle, WA -Showbox at Market
6/3 Minneapolis, MN -First Avenue
6/4 Madison, WI -Barrymore Theatre
6/5 Chicago, IL -Park West
6/6 Columbus, OH -Wexner Center for the Arts
6/8 Philadelphia, PA -Trocadero
6/9 Brooklyn, NY -Music Hall of Williamsburg
6/10 Boston, MA -House of Blues
6/11 Washington, DC -9:30 Club
6/12 Carrboro, NC -Cat's Cradle
6/13 Manchester, TN -Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
6/14 St. Louis, MO -The Pageant
6/15 Lawrence, KS -Granada
6/17 Omaha, NE -Slowdown
6/19 Telluride, CO -Telluride Bluegrass Festival
6/20 Sante Fe, NM -Sante Fe Brewing Co.
6/22 Austin, TX -Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheatre
6/23 Dallas, TX -Granada
6/24 Houston, TX -Warehouse Live
6/26 New Orleans, LA -House of Blues
6/29 Orlando, FL -Plaza Theatre
7/1 Athens, GA -TBA
7/3 Richmond, VA -The National
7/5 Pittsburgh, PA -Mr. Smalls
7/6 Louisville, KY -Headliners Music Hall
7/7 Fayetteville, AR -George's Majestic
7/9 Salt Lake City, UT -Twilight Concert Series

That's Good! That's Bad!

(Chuck/Blair PLUS Muse! Overload!)
Snow= Bad
Neko Case's new album= Good
Chuck and Blair in tonight's Gossip Girl= Bad
Having my feelings for a certain someone gradually fade= Good
Having three tough midterms in the next week or so= Bad
Slumdog Millionaire= Good
Insomnia attack last night= Bad
My dad being in japan the whole time I was home for spring break= Good
Looking like a fool and having someone cancel plans on me= Bad
Reading Love in the Time of Cholera in the library today= Good
Having to clean the bathroom today= Bad
Spending hours in a hot tub over spring break= Good
Getting emotionally invested in every tv show I watch= Bad
Building bridges with someone I thought hated me= Good
Grandma telling me I'm beautiful and "the belle of the ball"= Good
Not being able to find Jenny's iTunes only bonus track Pelican Bay= Bad
Getting back into a hardcore, intense, obsessive Muse phase= Good
Having to write a two page, single space paper comparing a bowl with a cup= Bad
Spending hours watching those Chuck/Blair youtube fan videos= Good

Rk- Spectacular Views (Live)

This is one of my favorite music videos EVER. Jenny and Blake all close and cute playing Spectacular Views! I love how they slowed it down. They look so incredibly happy.

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

Woo! Spring break is from tonight to the 22nd! I am going to sleep and sleep and eat and eat. My grandmother is staying at the house, which will make sleeping arrangements rather cramped, but I don't care. And I had a good birthday! I had some nice lamb coconut kurma at a random Indian place for lunch, then delicious sushi (See above) for dinner (The one on the left is shaped like a dragon fly, with lemon wedges. So cute.) then cheesecake for dessert with my best friends. I got a gorgeous digital camera in my VERY favorite color (blue violet) and some soap shaped like an owl, and jewelry and other nice stuff. I love my grandma's gifts. They're always frivolous and wonderful. She gave me a giant paint brush made of goat hair and cow bone. Yeah.

I just found out Peter Bjorn and John are opening for Depeche Mode on their tour this year, and I really hope I can afford tickets! Also, Neko Case will be here in May at an outdoor theater, and you can pre-order a picnic basket for the night! I think that would be the funnest thing ever, eating a picnic and listening to Neko's out of this world voice.

I am pretty pleased with life, especially since this paper I've been dreading isn't due till the 24th now!

Chopin Lizst

Chopin.

I am constantly thinking of new ways to make music-related lists, and I have found another! Woo! I love music obvi, and lists are another passion haha. I want this notepad I saw once that said "Chopin Lizst". I find that highly amusing. But anyway. Here are my favorite artists from A-Z. Please don't make fun of me. What's yours?

A- Amy Winehouse and Arcade Fire
B- Beirut/Broken Social Scene/Bright Eyes
C- Cursive/CocoRosie
D- Death Cab for Cutie/DeVotchKa
E- The Elected/Ella Fitzgerald
F- Feist/Fleetwood Mac
G- Grizzly Bear/The Good Life
H- Her Space Holiday/Hellogoodbye
I- Islands/I'm from Barcelona
J- Jenny Lewis/Joanna Newsom
K- Kool & The Gang/Kings of Convenience
L- Lily Allen/Lykke Li
M- METRIC/Mates of State
N- New Pornographers/No Doubt
O- Of Montreal/Obi Best
P- Postal Service/PAS/CAL/Pony Up!
Q- Queen (For lack of a better alternative)
R- Rilo Kiley/Radiohead/Regina Spektor
S- Stars/Sufjan Stevens/The Shins/Sea Wolf
T- Tilly & The Wall/Tegan and Sara
U- The Unicorns
V- Velvet Underground and Nico/Vampire Weekend
W- Whitest Boy Alive/The Woods
X- Xiu Xiu (For lack of a better alternative)
Y- Young Galaxy/Y.a.c.h.t.
Z- Zach Condon/Zooey Deschanel

There is a disproportionate number of excellent bands that start with S! That one was a very difficult decision lol

The Winds of Change

For the past couple of days, there have been howling winds. So forceful that I have struggled to remain upright while walking, and so loud that they roar over the noise of my iPod. I am a superstitious person, and I can't help feeling that they are the winds of change. That sounds cheesy I'm sure, but whatever. Over the weekend, I decided what to do with my life, broke up with my boyfriend, cleaned my room and my e-mail inbox, and discovered how to watercolor flesh tones, among other things.

I feel like I'm on a whole new track in life, and it feels good. I know what I want to do with my life! I'm going to major in Nursing. I think it's perfect for me. It involves science and medicine but not math, and I'd get to help people, and work wherever in the world I wanted to, and make enough money to support myself :)

Tomorrow is my birthday! I'll be nineteen years old. That is so weird to me. 19. I'm going to lunch with my dad and grandma, then going to dinner with my mom and sisters, then getting dessert with my best friends :) It will be a food-filled day. Haha. I feel happy right now. I am so so lucky to have a functional family that loves me and accepts me for who I am. I not only didn't appreciate them when I lived at home, but I was hostile to my parents all the time. I'm sure raising me wasn't easy, and I feel bad now haha. But I'm just feeling really blessed. I have great friends, great family, rilo kiley, and my art to fall back on during hard times. It feels so nice to have that insurance. Yay! :D

I finally saw Milk today. It was so beautiful and sad. I was already crying when Milk got shot but the candle scene completely undid me. It was so amazing how so many people got together to mourn him! I hope I do at least one great thing in my life. Here is a video of Milk's big rally speech.

Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl

Rilo Kiley: "Miami was pretty, before we were bitter, before we let our sadness litter the streets"

I wish I was younger. I'm almost 19 and I already wish I was younger. How am I going to feel when I'm 39? 56? 96? Assuming I live that long. I don't know what to be when I grow up or what to major in. At all. I guess that's me resisting the whole process.

I had more fun in high school than I do now. By far. It's not like I was a jock or popular and miss my glory days.. I just miss living with my family and letting other people absorb my consequences and make decisions for me. I know I have to grow up and step into my adult shoes one of these days, and I really hate it. My adolescence feels so long ago and my childhood feels even further, much more like a dream than anything.

I feel like since I've moved out, people don't care about me as much. There aren't best friends and siblings around to keep an eye on me and give me advice. I'm surrounded by strangers who don't even notice me, much less worry about my safety. I have to deal with everything on my own, and it's hard for me.

I guess it's just my ego being crushed :) I want people to

park that car
drop that phone
sleep on the floor
dream about me.

In an semi-related note, seeing BSS live was one of the more incredible experiences of my life.