New album comes out today! Woohoo.
Book Recommendation: Heaven's Forgotten
10 years ago
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Music Exploration for 2/15
Today will probably be pretty short, considering the fact that I only brought one album, despite having a lot of (unanticipated) free time.
A concept album in a place where you wouldn't expect to find one, Zen Arcade (1984) is one of the intermediate works of the hardcore punk scene begun by Black Flag and D.O.A. earlier in the decade. The result varies a little, but in general is fast and grungy, lyrics shouted over the din of distorted guitar and uncomplicated rhythm. The result continues the trend of early punk rock artists further into "do it yourself" aesthetic and becomes more about energy than anything else. The usual punk lyrics of disillusionment show up here in spades; the entire album is about a protagonist running away from home and all the boredom it represents to discover that the world around him is even more bleak. There's actually not a whole lot to say except that Hüsker Dü is a good representation of hardcore punk, which, if you're into the genre, is a great listen. That said, there's plenty of variety, as well.
Artist: Hüsker Dü
Album: Zen Arcade
Genre: Hardcore punk
Hardness: 4-7
Rating: 8
Best Thing: Great for times when I'm not feeling so mellow. Also they're from Minnesota, woo.
Reminds Me of: Black Flag, early Bad Brains
A concept album in a place where you wouldn't expect to find one, Zen Arcade (1984) is one of the intermediate works of the hardcore punk scene begun by Black Flag and D.O.A. earlier in the decade. The result varies a little, but in general is fast and grungy, lyrics shouted over the din of distorted guitar and uncomplicated rhythm. The result continues the trend of early punk rock artists further into "do it yourself" aesthetic and becomes more about energy than anything else. The usual punk lyrics of disillusionment show up here in spades; the entire album is about a protagonist running away from home and all the boredom it represents to discover that the world around him is even more bleak. There's actually not a whole lot to say except that Hüsker Dü is a good representation of hardcore punk, which, if you're into the genre, is a great listen. That said, there's plenty of variety, as well.
Artist: Hüsker Dü
Album: Zen Arcade
Genre: Hardcore punk
Hardness: 4-7
Rating: 8
Best Thing: Great for times when I'm not feeling so mellow. Also they're from Minnesota, woo.
Reminds Me of: Black Flag, early Bad Brains
Monday, February 14, 2011
Music Exploration for 2/14
I averted disaster by inches this morning. I walked into my cube and apparently I hadn't left my headphones at work as I previously thought. My coworker Brian is out however, and stealing his headphones has been a common way of avoiding a boring day at work in the past. So we're up and running!
First up was Lungs (2009) by Florence and the Machine. Ever since I heard her single on the radio a couple months back, I've really found it to be particularly catchy and the vocal performance strong. Seeing her perform on the Grammys last night really lit a fire under me in terms of listening to more of her, and thus far I'm pretty impressed. Lungs has poppy hooks, a little bit of soul mixed in, and some nonstandard instrumentation thrown into the mix. The majority of Florence's songs are light and feature plenty of percussion, but usually a pretty buried bassline. Basically all the non-rhythm features of the music are provided by the vocals themselves, and occasionally a harp or what sounds like a xylophone/electric piano. At times, said vocals remind me of both Kate Nash (mostly in the inflections of her voice) and Bjork (during flourishes). All told, pretty good album. As a final note, how can you really not like eccentricity like this?
Artist: Florence and the Machine
Album: Lungs
Genre: Indie pop/rock
Hardness: 1-3
Rating: 7
Best Thing: Great voice and vocals. Fantastically done especially on the soul-inspired songs.
Reminds Me of: Kate Nash, Bjork
The next recommendation I got is Double Nickels on the Dime (1984) by the Minutemen. It's forty-five songs of punk-mixed-with-all-kinds-of-other-stuff. The majority of the songs are a minute or two long, a hallmark of punk. The vocals vary from spoken word over soft guitar melody to punk's trademark angry and matter-of-fact rasps. Many of the lyrics are oriented toward political concepts, rebellious as always toward war, materialism, and disillusionment in America. The title of the album itself is a reference to an imposed national speed limit of fifty-five, using it as a metaphor for being held back by authoritarian powers that be from one's real potential. What is pretty rare for a punk-rock album is the fact that the lyrics become positively abstract at times; metaphors in punk are rare enough, considering it's a staple of the genre to be pretty up front with your messages. Instrumentation is usually what you'd expect from a punk band, focusing on rhythm over all, though a funk influence can definitely be heard in the more complex basslines.
Artist: Minutemen
Album: Double Nickels on the Dime
Genre: Punk, Post-punk
Hardness: 2-4
Rating: 8
Best Thing: One to two minute songs are definitely easy on my ADD. Obviously, with 45 songs, you get plenty of variety. Also, Jackass theme is on here. Sweet.
Reminds Me of: Gang of Four, softer flavors of Rancid
Finally for today is Slint's Spiderland (1991). Basically the polar opposite of the last album, considering its songs generally come out to be 6-10 minutes apiece. The whole thing is a fairly standard post-rock affair, which makes a lot of sense - it was one of the first albums to be considered to fall squarely in the "post-rock" genre. It's pretty low key for the most part, but when it gets going, Spiderland tends to lend itself to plenty of distortion but also a lot of non-standard rhythm. Wailing guitars remind me of post-rock and shoegaze while the soft, repeating, and complex melodies seem to be forerunners of the math rock collective. Vocals appear a bit sparingly, but when they do, they tend to be soft and harmonic, blending into the background. It's fairly easy to see the connection between this album and its children. Slint in general and Spiderland in particular bridges a gap between post-rock's humble beginnings (Velvet Underground and various krautrock outfits) and its present, inspiring several high-profile bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky. Elements of ur-grunge can also be detected, particularly in "Nosferatu Man," where the lyrics are alternately spoken and shouted. Overall, a seemingly low-profile album thrust into the spotlight by its timing and innovation.
Artist: Slint
Album: Spiderland
Genre: Post-rock, math rock
Hardness: 1-5
Rating: 8.5
Best Thing: You can hear the influence of this album ooze from its lyrics and bassline and come thundering clear during the crescendo walls of sound near the end of several of the songs.
Reminds Me of: Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden
First up was Lungs (2009) by Florence and the Machine. Ever since I heard her single on the radio a couple months back, I've really found it to be particularly catchy and the vocal performance strong. Seeing her perform on the Grammys last night really lit a fire under me in terms of listening to more of her, and thus far I'm pretty impressed. Lungs has poppy hooks, a little bit of soul mixed in, and some nonstandard instrumentation thrown into the mix. The majority of Florence's songs are light and feature plenty of percussion, but usually a pretty buried bassline. Basically all the non-rhythm features of the music are provided by the vocals themselves, and occasionally a harp or what sounds like a xylophone/electric piano. At times, said vocals remind me of both Kate Nash (mostly in the inflections of her voice) and Bjork (during flourishes). All told, pretty good album. As a final note, how can you really not like eccentricity like this?
Artist: Florence and the Machine
Album: Lungs
Genre: Indie pop/rock
Hardness: 1-3
Rating: 7
Best Thing: Great voice and vocals. Fantastically done especially on the soul-inspired songs.
Reminds Me of: Kate Nash, Bjork
The next recommendation I got is Double Nickels on the Dime (1984) by the Minutemen. It's forty-five songs of punk-mixed-with-all-kinds-of-other-stuff. The majority of the songs are a minute or two long, a hallmark of punk. The vocals vary from spoken word over soft guitar melody to punk's trademark angry and matter-of-fact rasps. Many of the lyrics are oriented toward political concepts, rebellious as always toward war, materialism, and disillusionment in America. The title of the album itself is a reference to an imposed national speed limit of fifty-five, using it as a metaphor for being held back by authoritarian powers that be from one's real potential. What is pretty rare for a punk-rock album is the fact that the lyrics become positively abstract at times; metaphors in punk are rare enough, considering it's a staple of the genre to be pretty up front with your messages. Instrumentation is usually what you'd expect from a punk band, focusing on rhythm over all, though a funk influence can definitely be heard in the more complex basslines.
Artist: Minutemen
Album: Double Nickels on the Dime
Genre: Punk, Post-punk
Hardness: 2-4
Rating: 8
Best Thing: One to two minute songs are definitely easy on my ADD. Obviously, with 45 songs, you get plenty of variety. Also, Jackass theme is on here. Sweet.
Reminds Me of: Gang of Four, softer flavors of Rancid
Finally for today is Slint's Spiderland (1991). Basically the polar opposite of the last album, considering its songs generally come out to be 6-10 minutes apiece. The whole thing is a fairly standard post-rock affair, which makes a lot of sense - it was one of the first albums to be considered to fall squarely in the "post-rock" genre. It's pretty low key for the most part, but when it gets going, Spiderland tends to lend itself to plenty of distortion but also a lot of non-standard rhythm. Wailing guitars remind me of post-rock and shoegaze while the soft, repeating, and complex melodies seem to be forerunners of the math rock collective. Vocals appear a bit sparingly, but when they do, they tend to be soft and harmonic, blending into the background. It's fairly easy to see the connection between this album and its children. Slint in general and Spiderland in particular bridges a gap between post-rock's humble beginnings (Velvet Underground and various krautrock outfits) and its present, inspiring several high-profile bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky. Elements of ur-grunge can also be detected, particularly in "Nosferatu Man," where the lyrics are alternately spoken and shouted. Overall, a seemingly low-profile album thrust into the spotlight by its timing and innovation.
Artist: Slint
Album: Spiderland
Genre: Post-rock, math rock
Hardness: 1-5
Rating: 8.5
Best Thing: You can hear the influence of this album ooze from its lyrics and bassline and come thundering clear during the crescendo walls of sound near the end of several of the songs.
Reminds Me of: Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Music Exploration #1
Last night I was in a strange mood. I was sifting through TVTropes as I am apt to do and discovered a band called Bull of Heaven, cited as having the longest recorded piece of music ever. In fact, they have a song called "Like a Wall in Which an Insect Lives and Gnaws" which clocks in at fifty thousand hours, or slightly short of six years. The band is in a genre known as 'drone' which is a minimalistic type of music, using simple patterns and having only slight variations over the long run. Obviously, the music isn't recorded live, but is rather designed by computer, which generates the ridiculously long piece.
Anyway, it sparked a pretty fervent search for other novel genres and music out there. I ended up re-reading a lot of information I'd read before, but it's always good to go back and read about Math Rock and Doom Metal, isn't it? What it all resulted in was igniting a bit more curiosity when it comes to music. So, who's the person I go to for more music to consume? The all-knowing Dana, of course!
I asked for recommendations and I'm working through them right now. Time to review.
The first album I decided to listen through today while working was Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996) by a band called Stereolab. My guess as to their genre would place them somewhere between ambient rock and indie rock, since much of their music is light (some songs have only drums and bassline along with vocals) and it serves very well as a background music to working. I noticed that many of the songs feature vocals in French, which adds to the already-reasonably-noticeable variation between songs.
Artist: Stereolab
Album: Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Genre: Post-rock, lounge rock
Hardness: 1-3
Rating: 7.5
Best Thing: They use moog pretty extensively in a lot of their songs. Awesome.
Reminds Me of: Hammock, Boards of Canada, Heavenly
Next up is Exploded Drawing (1996) by Polvo. The first two songs on the album are fairly standard indie fair, even crossing over just a little with noise at times. The true nature of the album comes out in its third song, though, "Feather of Forgiveness," which has dissonant chords and sine-wave-esque sound zipping off sharply angular guitar riffs. Certain songs also exercise several instruments more associated with Eastern music, with use of sitars and other Asian strings, before zipping off into more conventional indie fare. They seem to have a tendency to play with meter and pacing a lot, as is pretty expected with math rock. Polvo is also a fan of distort, pumping up the hardness of their music considerably at times ("High-Wire Moves") to contrast with slower, lighter pieces. The vocals are generally pretty good, much of the time half-spoken, half-sung over the music. The melodies tend to be fairly repetitive if quite complex.
Artist: Polvo
Album: Exploded Drawing
Genre: Indie rock, math rock
Hardness: 2-5
Rating: 6
Best Thing: The meter changes are interesting, as well as the pacing - many of the songs begin with slow sitar and evolve into faster-paced, more punk-inspired bits.
Reminds Me of: Soundgarden, Nirvana
Animals (2010) by This Town Needs Guns is another math rock album, this one British. All the songs are named after animals, and as is almost a requirement of math rock, each one is pretty complex musically. From the debut song "Chinchilla," it becomes clear that the band is fond of strange time signature and has a style that seems to chase itself across the musical staff. Disjointed jumps from chord to chord are the norm, as are irregular stopping and starting of the tempos. It all comes together quite well with the vocals, which don't seem to follow anything but their own melody. Guitar strokes hop around the scale much more rapidly than in most music; the bass moves to become more guitar-like by playing the melody. This is particularly noticeable in songs like "Badger":
I'm a big fan of the complexity of the rhythms matched up with the mellowness of the lyrics and presentation. The juxtaposition of This Town Needs Guns and Polvo really illustrates each end of the genre - This Town Needs Guns is like jazz, constantly changing melodies, where Polvo sticks to the rock formula and chooses a very complex melody to adhere to.
Artist: This Town Needs Guns
Album: Animals
Genre: Math rock
Hardness: 2
Rating: 8.5
Best Thing: Really great vocals.
Reminds Me of: Incubus
The last album for today is Blonder Tongue Audio Baton (1993) by Swirlies. The title is certainly word salad, and the lyrics tends to lean that way as well. The music is interesting in a dream-like, wall of sound way, and sometimes the lead singer's vocal style and voice reminds me a lot of John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants. It's a bit strange moving from This Town Needs Guns to Swirlies, particularly because of the shift from no guitar distortion to heavy distort and use of the effects pedal. This is a signature of shoegaze, however, a method of blending the music into one long, 'bent'-sounding note that encompasses all of the instruments, sometimes even including the vocals.
Artist: Swirlies
Album: Blonder Tongue Audio Baton
Genre: Shoegaze, post-rock
Hardness: 3-5
Rating: 7
Best Thing: Another perfect album for background listening; very ambient and dream-like.
Reminds Me of: They Might Be Giants, Hammock
Anyway, it sparked a pretty fervent search for other novel genres and music out there. I ended up re-reading a lot of information I'd read before, but it's always good to go back and read about Math Rock and Doom Metal, isn't it? What it all resulted in was igniting a bit more curiosity when it comes to music. So, who's the person I go to for more music to consume? The all-knowing Dana, of course!
I asked for recommendations and I'm working through them right now. Time to review.
The first album I decided to listen through today while working was Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996) by a band called Stereolab. My guess as to their genre would place them somewhere between ambient rock and indie rock, since much of their music is light (some songs have only drums and bassline along with vocals) and it serves very well as a background music to working. I noticed that many of the songs feature vocals in French, which adds to the already-reasonably-noticeable variation between songs.
Artist: Stereolab
Album: Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Genre: Post-rock, lounge rock
Hardness: 1-3
Rating: 7.5
Best Thing: They use moog pretty extensively in a lot of their songs. Awesome.
Reminds Me of: Hammock, Boards of Canada, Heavenly
Next up is Exploded Drawing (1996) by Polvo. The first two songs on the album are fairly standard indie fair, even crossing over just a little with noise at times. The true nature of the album comes out in its third song, though, "Feather of Forgiveness," which has dissonant chords and sine-wave-esque sound zipping off sharply angular guitar riffs. Certain songs also exercise several instruments more associated with Eastern music, with use of sitars and other Asian strings, before zipping off into more conventional indie fare. They seem to have a tendency to play with meter and pacing a lot, as is pretty expected with math rock. Polvo is also a fan of distort, pumping up the hardness of their music considerably at times ("High-Wire Moves") to contrast with slower, lighter pieces. The vocals are generally pretty good, much of the time half-spoken, half-sung over the music. The melodies tend to be fairly repetitive if quite complex.
Artist: Polvo
Album: Exploded Drawing
Genre: Indie rock, math rock
Hardness: 2-5
Rating: 6
Best Thing: The meter changes are interesting, as well as the pacing - many of the songs begin with slow sitar and evolve into faster-paced, more punk-inspired bits.
Reminds Me of: Soundgarden, Nirvana
Animals (2010) by This Town Needs Guns is another math rock album, this one British. All the songs are named after animals, and as is almost a requirement of math rock, each one is pretty complex musically. From the debut song "Chinchilla," it becomes clear that the band is fond of strange time signature and has a style that seems to chase itself across the musical staff. Disjointed jumps from chord to chord are the norm, as are irregular stopping and starting of the tempos. It all comes together quite well with the vocals, which don't seem to follow anything but their own melody. Guitar strokes hop around the scale much more rapidly than in most music; the bass moves to become more guitar-like by playing the melody. This is particularly noticeable in songs like "Badger":
I'm a big fan of the complexity of the rhythms matched up with the mellowness of the lyrics and presentation. The juxtaposition of This Town Needs Guns and Polvo really illustrates each end of the genre - This Town Needs Guns is like jazz, constantly changing melodies, where Polvo sticks to the rock formula and chooses a very complex melody to adhere to.
Artist: This Town Needs Guns
Album: Animals
Genre: Math rock
Hardness: 2
Rating: 8.5
Best Thing: Really great vocals.
Reminds Me of: Incubus
The last album for today is Blonder Tongue Audio Baton (1993) by Swirlies. The title is certainly word salad, and the lyrics tends to lean that way as well. The music is interesting in a dream-like, wall of sound way, and sometimes the lead singer's vocal style and voice reminds me a lot of John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants. It's a bit strange moving from This Town Needs Guns to Swirlies, particularly because of the shift from no guitar distortion to heavy distort and use of the effects pedal. This is a signature of shoegaze, however, a method of blending the music into one long, 'bent'-sounding note that encompasses all of the instruments, sometimes even including the vocals.
Artist: Swirlies
Album: Blonder Tongue Audio Baton
Genre: Shoegaze, post-rock
Hardness: 3-5
Rating: 7
Best Thing: Another perfect album for background listening; very ambient and dream-like.
Reminds Me of: They Might Be Giants, Hammock
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Friday, November 5, 2010
Where I End and You Begin
There's a gap in between
There's a gap where we meet
Where I end
And you begin
I'm sorry for us
The dinosaurs roam the earth
The sky turns green
Where I end
And you begin
I'm up in the clouds
I'm up in the clouds
And I can't, I can't come down
I can watch but not take part
Where I end and where you start
I will eat you alive
There will be no more lies.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Guiding Light
Impure hearts stumble
In my hands they crumble
Fragile and stripped to the core
I can't hurt you anymore.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Pandora Adventure
I have a confession to make. Despite loving the internet and adoring music, I've never even bothered to try Pandora. Now, to make this a bit more interesting (to myself and my poor, unattended blog), I'm going to take a look at what kind of shaping Pandora does to my tastes. It might be boring, who knows.
When asked for an artist to start with, I put in Of Montreal. They're one of my favorite bands, and sufficiently indie. In response, Pandora started playing "Gronlandic Edit," a song from Hissing Fauna... that of course I've heard before. A
Next up is New Slang by The Shins. A nice, slow paced song and similar to Of Montreal, appropriately. Very easy rhythm, basic rock structure, slightly less centered on the vocals, though this might just be because it's not Kevin Barnes. With a voice like his it's easy to get distracted. B
Love Like a Sunset Part II by Phoenix. Reminds me a lot of the Dandy Warhols with the dream-like qualities of the sound. Also, I discover why Pandora is free - ads popping up all over the place, ack! Anyway, I'll give that one an A-
Ah, something I've heard a billion times before. Young Folks by Peter, Bjorn and John. Lyrics also somewhat dreamlike thanks to the reverberations. The whistling in this song infects my brain to an insane degree. I've always had an affection for this one. A
More Of Montreal, earlier era this time, Look at the Bell. Not as much a fan of this one; vaguely Beatles-esque, but not quite what I'm in the mood for when I think "indie". Thumbs down! Still not a terrible song. C
Time to Pretend by MGMT. Always loved this song; actually I enjoy pretty much everything by MGMT. Discography download anyone? A+
Thus far I'm really enjoying the intricacies that Pandora Radio keeps track of when it's tracking my likes and dislikes. I can pull up any song and ask why it was selected, specifically the different aspects of the song that I enjoy. Things like "electronica influences" and "subtle vocal harmony" unconsciously tug at my ears!
Next up is Jennifer Louise by Of Montreal. I like this one quite a bit; it really reminds me of the Hissing Fauna stuff with a little bit of an instrumental twist. Rhythm piano, woo! B
Is This It by The Strokes. Doesn't really do it for me for some reason. C
The King of Carrot Flowers Part I by Neutral Milk Hotel. I like the vocals and it's a little folk reminiscent. Nice and mellow and acoustic. A-
The progressive nature of Ratatat's Loud Pipes is going to be stuck in my head. B+
You get the idea, anyway. I probably shouldn't keep writing like this because I'm sure it's just going to bore everybody who normally reads my scrawl. Thus far, Pandora seems like a great listening-at-work option.
When asked for an artist to start with, I put in Of Montreal. They're one of my favorite bands, and sufficiently indie. In response, Pandora started playing "Gronlandic Edit," a song from Hissing Fauna... that of course I've heard before. A
Next up is New Slang by The Shins. A nice, slow paced song and similar to Of Montreal, appropriately. Very easy rhythm, basic rock structure, slightly less centered on the vocals, though this might just be because it's not Kevin Barnes. With a voice like his it's easy to get distracted. B
Love Like a Sunset Part II by Phoenix. Reminds me a lot of the Dandy Warhols with the dream-like qualities of the sound. Also, I discover why Pandora is free - ads popping up all over the place, ack! Anyway, I'll give that one an A-
Ah, something I've heard a billion times before. Young Folks by Peter, Bjorn and John. Lyrics also somewhat dreamlike thanks to the reverberations. The whistling in this song infects my brain to an insane degree. I've always had an affection for this one. A
More Of Montreal, earlier era this time, Look at the Bell. Not as much a fan of this one; vaguely Beatles-esque, but not quite what I'm in the mood for when I think "indie". Thumbs down! Still not a terrible song. C
Time to Pretend by MGMT. Always loved this song; actually I enjoy pretty much everything by MGMT. Discography download anyone? A+
Thus far I'm really enjoying the intricacies that Pandora Radio keeps track of when it's tracking my likes and dislikes. I can pull up any song and ask why it was selected, specifically the different aspects of the song that I enjoy. Things like "electronica influences" and "subtle vocal harmony" unconsciously tug at my ears!
Next up is Jennifer Louise by Of Montreal. I like this one quite a bit; it really reminds me of the Hissing Fauna stuff with a little bit of an instrumental twist. Rhythm piano, woo! B
Is This It by The Strokes. Doesn't really do it for me for some reason. C
The King of Carrot Flowers Part I by Neutral Milk Hotel. I like the vocals and it's a little folk reminiscent. Nice and mellow and acoustic. A-
The progressive nature of Ratatat's Loud Pipes is going to be stuck in my head. B+
You get the idea, anyway. I probably shouldn't keep writing like this because I'm sure it's just going to bore everybody who normally reads my scrawl. Thus far, Pandora seems like a great listening-at-work option.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Departure
Be it sight, sound, smell, or touch
There's something inside, that we need so much
The sight of a touch or the scent of a sound
Or the strength of an oak with roots deep in the ground
The wonder of flowers, to be covered and then to burst up
Through tarmac to the sun again
Or to fly to the sun without burning a wing
To lie in a meadow and hear the grass sing
To have all these things in our memory's hoard
And to use them
To help us
Find
Hahaha. Hahahahahaha!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Cath...
Cath...
It seems that you live in someone else's dream
In a hand-me-down wedding dress
With the things that could have been are repressed
But you said your vows and you closed the door
On so many men who would have loved you more
Friday, June 26, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
The Ice is Getting Thinner
I wish there were a studio version of this on YouTube, but Gibbard's a good performer so it works.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Shattered Faith
Right or wrong
The main criterion
Is what you do
And not what you say
The roads you take
The friends you make
And those you throw away
The method is a simple synthesis
Of the past and present state
You never lose
If the path you choose
Is one you can easily
Navigate
I had a dream
Light and carefree
But now there's doubt
And gravity!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Last Call
So, happy belated Memorial Day, although it ended nearly three hours ago. I figured an exceptional day deserved at least a quick post.
Curtains rise on me getting up rather early, at least for me. I slept until about ten-thirty and was showered and out the door by noon-ish. My first quest of the day was to head to Wegman's and pick up some supplies to make meals. You see, as of my birthday (this past Friday), I've been telling myself that I need to set aside time for cooking and controlling my intake. I don't particularly need a diet, but avoiding things like cholesterol and fat can't hurt, and I want to try something a bit more vegetarian. It might be a bit more pricey, but it's worth it for my health.
I managed to find a nice collection of low fat and organic foods, including what became my lunch, a lovely primavera pasta with tofu cubes flavored a bit like steak. I'm honestly not all that familiar with tofu, and the texture was strange at first, but it was easy to make and wonderful.
While I was enjoying said lunch, I was invited to a Memorial Day barbecue by Nicole. Apparently a friend of hers that normally resides in Brooklyn, NY moved down to Philadelphia for the summer, and was throwing a little party for some of his friends and acquaintances. Nicole and I got there first, and after I met Matt and Becky, some others started arriving and they prepared the food. I showed off my Midwestern corn-huskin' skills and it was an overall enjoyable evening. Many of the attendees worked on something akin to "Computer Science freelancers," where they would hop from project to project doing work. Day faded to night, and we ended up staying until a little after ten. Tremendous thanks to Nicole for inviting me and Matt and Becky for having us!
The rest of the evening was both a nice cooldown from the party mindset and an incredibly engaging few hours of conversation, and a nice glimpse of what I don't know. I love knowing what it is I don't know, considering it's like opening a door into a room you've never seen before. Next comes the scrutinizing every inch of said room and gathering all the information it can provide. The best part? The room talks.
Curtains rise on me getting up rather early, at least for me. I slept until about ten-thirty and was showered and out the door by noon-ish. My first quest of the day was to head to Wegman's and pick up some supplies to make meals. You see, as of my birthday (this past Friday), I've been telling myself that I need to set aside time for cooking and controlling my intake. I don't particularly need a diet, but avoiding things like cholesterol and fat can't hurt, and I want to try something a bit more vegetarian. It might be a bit more pricey, but it's worth it for my health.
I managed to find a nice collection of low fat and organic foods, including what became my lunch, a lovely primavera pasta with tofu cubes flavored a bit like steak. I'm honestly not all that familiar with tofu, and the texture was strange at first, but it was easy to make and wonderful.
While I was enjoying said lunch, I was invited to a Memorial Day barbecue by Nicole. Apparently a friend of hers that normally resides in Brooklyn, NY moved down to Philadelphia for the summer, and was throwing a little party for some of his friends and acquaintances. Nicole and I got there first, and after I met Matt and Becky, some others started arriving and they prepared the food. I showed off my Midwestern corn-huskin' skills and it was an overall enjoyable evening. Many of the attendees worked on something akin to "Computer Science freelancers," where they would hop from project to project doing work. Day faded to night, and we ended up staying until a little after ten. Tremendous thanks to Nicole for inviting me and Matt and Becky for having us!
The rest of the evening was both a nice cooldown from the party mindset and an incredibly engaging few hours of conversation, and a nice glimpse of what I don't know. I love knowing what it is I don't know, considering it's like opening a door into a room you've never seen before. Next comes the scrutinizing every inch of said room and gathering all the information it can provide. The best part? The room talks.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
When You Were Young
You sit there in your heartache
Waiting on some beautiful boy
To save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now, here he comes
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