At this moment...
1.31.05:
January is over, and I'm happy for it being done. New month equals new things.
I had two things to write about, and while I can visually see them in my head, I can't get the words to come out properly, which is no surprise since it's Monday morning and I'm a shitty writer.
Listening to: Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan (Masterpiece. Has to be one of my Top 10 albums of all time.)
1.30.05:
Yesterday I...
Finished reading Eleanor Rigby
Listened to a lot of the Jesus and Mary Chain
Ran 6 miles
Watched Basquiat
Had an anxiety attack
Went to the grocery store
Went to the record store
Watched The Usual Suspects
Dreamt that I was a painter
Listening to: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco (Greatest American album within the last 20 years. This album makes me cry.)
1.27.05:
There are mornings, like this morning for instance, when the coffee is fresh and perfect. I've never trusted those who don't drink at least one cup of coffee in the morning.
Watching: Supersize Me - I knew there was a reason I cut fast food out of my diet ten plus years ago.
1.26.05:
I was thinking that it was snowing, but it wasn't.
Listening to: La Mer, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, Danse, Nocturnes - Debussy (I really should just turn out all the lights and fall asleep to these sounds. I wonder what my neighbors think. After work it was Saint Etienne, and now Debussy.)
1.23.05:
Reading Douglas Coupland's latest book, Eleanor Rigby, I come across this line:
"...death without the possibility of changing the world was the same as a life that never was."
Last night I watched Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, and I enjoyed it more than Napoleon Dynamite. I'm not saying it was great, no, it was bad, but I still thought it was the better of the two. Maybe I'll try Napoleon Dynamite again, but probably not.
Listening to: Tiger, My friend - Psapp (Gitchy, yet human and sensual, electro pop.)
01.22.05:
Last night I watched Napoleon Dynamite and Wet Hot American Summer. Of the two, Wet Hot American Summer was far more the superior. With everybody raving about Napoleon Dynamite I thought it would be excellent, but I found it tedious and, well, boring. There really wasn't a plot, and not since Chasing Amy I have found characters so unlikeable. My impression is that all the characters were trying too hard to be something that they aren't, hence none of the actors were believable. I had a difficult time being empathetic toward Napoleon.
Listening to: Season EP - Neil Halstead (There's a comfort to Slowdive, Mojave 3 and Neil Halstead that I can't find in other bands or musicians.)
01.21.05:
If I were a recipe, where would I be?
Taken out of context and put on the web, the above statement makes little sense. A year from now I'll reread that statement and I'll have forgotten why I even thought it.
The vegetarian chili at the Whole Foods in Deerfield is outstanding!
Song: Help! - The Beatles (If forced to pick the best pop song ever I would pick Help! Lyrically and melodically Help! is flawless. It set the standard for the importance of urgency in popular music. Brilliant in every imaginable way.)
01.20.05:
...
I am a microphone.
01.19.05:
Now it's a new day, as opposed to the continuous day that occured yesterday.
Listening to: The Tired Sounds of Stars Of The Lid - Stars Of The Lid (Where has this double album of gorgeous drone symphonies been all my life? I spent last night listening to this album and at times the walls were vibrating. I'd like to see if it's possible to run to this album, especially since it lacks beats and almost feels static.)
It's still 01.18.05. It's snowing. From an earlier thought:
I have these moments, and they mostly occur at work, where I'll walk past an empty conference room and all I want to do is crawl under the table. It's like that with boxes as well. I'll see an empty box and think that it might be nice to crawl inside and dream of something more exciting.
After work I stopped by the bookstore to pick up the latest books by Douglas Coupland and Haruki Murakami. I keep telling myself that I need to read something a bit lighter than the non-fiction that I've been burying my nose in for the last few weeks. Not that Coupland and Murakami are light fiction, but I don't expect them to be as intense as the stuff I've been reading.
Tonight I've been listening to Stars Of The Lid and as I placed a piece of pineapple on my tongue I thought, "Sometimes the best melody is no melody."
01.18.05:How I will be spending the night...
I just had a strange Donnie Darko type moment.
Okay, note to self, never walk away from my work desk while music is playing. For a brief moment I stepped away to fill up my bottle of water. When I left Yo La Tengo's Deeper Into Movies was playing from the tiny Powerbook speakers. It's an incredibly hushed song, at least this version, so I had turned it up to hear it. When I returned to my desk Fuck The Pain Away by Peaches was just starting. Luckily the lyrics had yet to come in. This is the song playing in the background of the strip club in Lost In Translation, but it wasn't included on the soundtrack so I downloaded it from iTunes. And of course now Neko Case is on...
Listening to:
Country For True Lovers - Eleni Mandell (Another one of those artists who should be huge. I guess this is country, but not that neu-country crap.)
Good, Jason doesn't hate the photo I took of him playing guitar in my apartment.
This will probably be my final installment of my Hawaii photos unless I receive any additional requests:
Listening to:
A Short Album About Murder - Styrofoam
Miami - The Go Find
I really should be asleep, but it's slightly cold in my apartment, which means I'm not sleepy. Tonight I will use the nice, and rather expensive, goose down comforter I bought back in November when the heat was totally out of commission. Thankfully I can't see my breath.
I'm certain that Jason will hate the above photo, but as this is my website I can do as I please. On Friday Mr. Moody stopped by my apartmengt to look at the photos I took in Hawaii. While here he debuted his latest song. In my opinion it's his best song ever, and I'm super excited to get working on it tomorrow at rehearsal. It's seriously a great song and I can only hope that the band will be able to do it justice.
More Hawaii:
Listening to: Smoke & Fire - Neulander
01.14.05:
This whole idea of work just isn't sitting well with me today. I'm still jet lagged and insanely drowsy. I could use a nap, a drink, or both. It's odd being back in the world where people drive fast and rush around.
I forgot to mention that before I left for vacation I signed up for the 2005 Chicago Marathon.
01.13.05:
More pictures from my Hawaiian vacation soon... Congratulations to Callie and Robert on their marriage, and thanks a million times over for inviting me to join you and your families in such a beautiful place.
I'm really sleepy. My flight arrived this morning from Oahu at 5 AM. We left yesterday at 5:20 PM. I'm already planning a way to move to Hawaii for good.
The highlight of the day was opening up a package from London that contained my membership card to the Saint Etienne fan club, as well as a three song Christmas CD.
01.04.05:
Welcome to the working week. Tuesday. I've been off work for over a week now, but today I go back to work for two whole days and then I'm off to Hawaii. However, the weather service is predicting a snowstorm for tomorrow, starting tonight. Let's just hope I can escape from Chicago come Thursday morning.
01.02.05:
Still hung up on fate.
The Fates
The Daughters of Necessity
The Goddess of Necessity, Themis, brought forth three lovely daughters, known as The Fates. All living things must eventually submit to these divine daughters of Zeus and Themis. Their names are: Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos.
Life is woven by Clotho, measured by Lachesis and finally, in a very literal sense, the thread of life is cut by Atropos. They laugh at our feeble attempts to cheat them because they always prevail.
I was out and about and the world seemed darker, and it hit me that everybody has turned off their Christmas lights. Things felt sad.
01.01.05:No hangover to nurse. Oh happy New Year. Of course I'm feeling more like that Death Cab For Cutie song The New Year.
Last night it hit me that I leave for Hawaii in six days, really five, and I'm totally disorganized.
2004 Top Ten Albums
10. Now Here Is Nowhere - The Secret Machines
09. Young Prayer - Panda Bear
08. Emblems - Matt Pond PA
07. Milk Eyed Mender - Joanna Newsom
06. Nolita - Keren Ann
05. Escondida - Jolie Holland
04. A Boot and a Shoe - Sam Philips
03. Misery Is A Butterfly - Blonde Redhead
02. S/T - Franz Ferdinand
01. S/T - A Girl Called Eddy
It was hard to get the list down to these ten. The Degados album should have been in there as well, but these ten spoke to me the most. I just love these albums, each one for its own reason, and my album collection would be empty without them...