At this moment...
03.31.06:
The other day I was running an errand during my lunch hour and I couldn't help but notice how one intersection was littered with trash. I couldn't believe all the empty soda bottles, pop cans, wrappers, and garbage that was strewn all over the place. It made me really sad. I thought about going back there and cleaning it up but figured that would be futile. It's becoming more and more evident that people just don't care about the Earth, or even where they live. Have we become a culture of filth, garbage and junk?
And speaking of junk...
Song:
Life Amazes Us Despite Our Miserable Future - The Robocop Kraus
Album:
Birdsong Over the Interior Castle - The Ecclesia
03.30.06:
Kids are outside riding their skateboards and doing the types of things kids should do when it starts to get warmer outside. What a gorgeous day, enough to give me Spring fever.
Song(s):
Joga - Ben Gibbard with Ben Barnett
You Remind Me of Home - Ben Gibbard
03.29.06:
I'm going to bed.
Song(s):
And We Lean In - Trespassers William
Don't Look Back Into the Sun (Mick Jones Version) - The Libertines
Weirdo - New Order
Blue Moon - Big Star
03.28.06:
Pardon me while I sound like I've gone absolutely crazy for a minute. As I was brushing my teeth before leaving for the day I looked up (usually I look down at the sink while brushing my teeth, don't ask why) and as I looked up I noticed hundred of tiny little balls of light hanging in the space around like tiny baby lightning bugs. Everywhere I looked these small little lights were just floating. It was a very strange feeling. Obviously my eyes were playing some type of trick on me.
Spent the afternoon wandering around Chicago with KK. First, we went and picked up Sigur Ros tickets at the Civic Opera House. Then, we walked over to Millennium Park and took some photos at the Bean. KK needed a new gadget/phone/palm pilot, so we stopped at the store where she bought a fancy new device that looks confusing to me, but I know she can't wait to use. Then, it was a great late lunch at Bistro 110. I had some outstanding crepes with chicken, mushrooms, bacon, and Gruyere. For dessert I had the cheery clafouti with creme fraiche that was just amazing. After lunch we stopped the MCA to see the Warhol exhibit, and finished up the night at the Gene Siskel Film Center to see Blow Up. Quite a fun day. Photos below.
Garret sent the first mix of Uptown and it's incredible. Damn, it's such a great song.
03.27.06:
03.26.06:
Today I set out to do three things:
- Laundry - I woke up at 6 AM, earlier than I do even during the working week, to get to the laundromat before everyone else (I know, that makes me sound crazy>
- Clean my apartment
- Go for a run (Ran 4 miles)
Song(s):
Something to Live For - Ed Harcourt
Walking Over You - David Thomas Broughton
Your Ex-Lover is Dead - Stars (Even when I'm out for a run this song still manages to destroy me.)
03.25.06:
Spent the majority of the day at the recording studio with Garret, Jason and Mikey. We finished up Uptown. As usual Mikey was wearing the guitar playing hat that grants the wearer super recording powers. The food of the day was pretzels. We started tracking at around 12:30 and finished a little after 6 PM. Even though it's yet to be mixed it sounds amazing. As usual Moody wrote a fantastic song and Garret did a spectacular job engineering and co-producing the track. Photos below.
This morning, when I woke up, I went to make some coffee only to find out that I was out of coffee beans. I had enough for one cup, but one cup of coffee does not get me moving in the morning. Before going to Garret's I stopped off at Starbucks, and let me tell you, Starbucks does not have good coffee. I know everybody loves it, but it's become sadly average and it's always been overpriced.
03.24.06:
KK.com and I went out after work. Good times. Drinks (two nice sized martinis for me) and dinner at Big Bowl, and then a tour of AH, which is so weird because I grew up here, and well, I'm still here. After dinner we went for some ice cream, and we were probably the oldest people in Cold Stone. I even wondered if the kids working the store knew what NPR was since we used Kelly's NPR card to buy one sundae and get one free.
Listening to:
Look! It's El Perro Del Mar! - El Perro Del Mar
03.23.06:
Album(s):
The Ways We Try - Birdie Busch
S.T.R.E.E.T. D.A.D. - Out Hud
In Sides - Orbital
03.22.06:
Album(s):
Laced with Romance - The Ponys
Celebration Castle - The Ponys
03.21.06:
Watching American Idol. I still can't believe that I'm watching this show. I mean, earlier I picked up the new Liars album, and the new Sondre Lerche album, yet I watch this show. I will say that a few of the contestants are pretty okay. Barry Manilow?!?! I'd love to know what Barry thinks of The Liars.
This morning I mistakingly poured orange juice into my coffee. Not good. I'm sure there's a lesson in there someplace.
Song(s):
Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers
Trains to Brazil - Guillemots
God Knows - El Perro del Mar
Life Line - Harry Nilsson
I Melt With You - Modern English
I'm Tired - Field Music
I Want You to Stay (Field Music / J Xaverre Mix) - Maximo Park
Uptown (Where the Breeze Blows) Rough Mix - Zerostars
Album(s):
Everything All the Time - Band of Horses
Drums Not Dead - The Liars
Duper Sessions - Sondre Lerche and the Faces Down Quartet (Very few musicians/songwriters are making albums like this these days. Great stuff, probably a fantastic album to fall in love to.)
03.16.06:
The snow stopped.
Listening to:
Having - Trespassers William
Periphery - Christopher Bissonette
Minima Moralia - Chihei Hatakeyama
03.13.06:
I've decided that I'd very much like a job that involves music in some capacity, be it being paid to listen to, play, or write music.
I feel strangely out of sorts today, but I can't say why. Maybe it was the taste of Spring. It was warm when I left for work, but now it's cold and windy.
I was sitting at work earlier, and something triggered memories of my trip to SF with KH before she became KF. Weird considering that trip was over five years ago . Must have been a sound I heard that triggered the memory.
03.12.06:
Song:
Stars of Track & Field - Belle and Sebastian
03.09.06:
We commenced recording a new song at Noise Floor with Garret. It's good to be back recording. Last night we tracked acoustic, or as JS used to call it, autistic, guitar. Sounds good. I'm excited about the bridge of the song as it has huge potential. Plus, I think it may well be the best bridge that Moody has ever written. Here are some photos from the session. Most of them are of Jason since he was the one playing the guitar.
03.07.06:
Only 68 more years until I make it to 100.
I asked The Book of Answers a question and it said, "It cannot fail." Thank you. Mmmm, watermelon gum.
Listening to:
Birthday Mix from RL
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - Neko Case
Fab Four Suture - Stereolab
03.05.06:
It's barely 10 AM and I'm already eating peanut butter filled pretzels along with my morning coffee. I woke early after getting a full night of uninterrupted sleep. I think a lot has been on my mind, and my radiators have been quite noisy with all their clinking and clanking. I went for a four mile run. I wanted to do more miles, but I'm just not as ready as I'd like to be. Overall it was a good week for running, just shy of 20 miles, so not bad, but I would like to get that up to about 25 miles a week. Once warmer weather arrives I think it'll be possible to get myself out of bed earlier for a run. I just prefer running in the morning, somehow it sets the tone for the day. And if I don't run for any extensive period of time I somehow become a complete wreck, which would explain my moments of self doubt and depression.
Tonight KK and I are going to see Isobel Campbell. Should be a good show. Too bad I never got to see her when she was still in Belle and Sebastian.
Answer: Black velvet pants/sweat pants, beige Uggs with fur atop them (black velvet pants tucked into the top of the boots), and black leather coat with black fur trim.
Question: What should never be worn and what should never be worn simultaneously?
Song(s):
Honey Don't Think - Grant Lee Buffalo
Your Sweet Voice - The Reindeer Section
Album:
You See Colours - The Delays (Wow, wow, and wow. First track, You & Me, is an absolute stunner. This is really exciting stuff. And Valentine, the first single, is brilliant stuff. This album could really break them in the states. Even better than their first album, which had some amazing singles on it.)
03.04.06:
There are times I think I should completely abandon technology. Sometimes I just feel that this high-tech world isn't for me (and no, the irony isn't lost on me). Life was much simpler before the internet, wasn't it? I miss the slowness of life, of relying on the US Post Office to deliver your mail across the country or even overseas. These days we rely on a digital stream of ones and zeros to get our messages to others. And sometimes technology fails with unintended consequences. Distance, like time, is a tricky thing.
Song(s):
What If We Do? - Mia Doi Todd ("...I say stupid things when I get nervous." Such an amazing song.)
Since You've Been Away - Jenifer Jackson
Pressure's On - James (One of the most gorgeous songs ever written.)
Eve, the Apple of My Eye - Bell X1
Gangsters - Longpigs ("Gangsters don't cry / when they shoot you to die...")
03.03.06:
What a pleasant day. Work was enjoyable and not stressful. Then, I got to have a pre-birthday (I've been told my birthday is some day next week) dinner with my brother, sister-in-law, and nephews. Nathan, my god son, was antsy and couldn't sit still, but the kid is cute as hell (Jack, my other nephew is cute as hell, but he pretty much slept the entire time). We went for pizza at Gino's. It was really nice to spend time with them, especially since I don't see them enough. It was the perfect way to cap off the working week. My sister-in-law told me that if I came up to Wisconsin to see them on Sunday she'd bake me a birthday cake. I might just take her up on the offer as it would be nice to spend more time with them.
Listening to:
The Blue Notebooks - Max Richter (Stunning album that blends classical music with electronics. A rare thing of beauty.)
03.02.06:
The law of diminishing returns states that if one factor of production is increased while the others remain constant, the overall returns will relatively decrease after a certain point. Thus, for example, if more and more laborers are added to harvest a wheat field, at some point each additional laborer will add relatively less output than his predecessor did, simply because he has less and less of the fixed amount of land to work with. The principle, first thought to apply only to agriculture, was later accepted as an economic law underlying all productive enterprise. The point at which the law begins to operate is difficult to ascertain, as it varies with improved production technique and other factors. Anticipated by Anne Robert Jacques Turgot and implied by Thomas Malthus in his Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), the law first came under examination during the discussions in England on free trade and the corn laws. It is also called the law of decreasing returns and the law of variable proportions. (Source: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05.)
Makes sense to me.
Got out for a five mile run. I ran to Ivy's In the Clear, and I have to say it is one of my favorite 2005 releases, and it's a great album to listen to while running.
I just made some risotto with artichoke hearts and fresh mozzarella. Quite delicious.
Song(s):
Last Night You Said Goodbye. Now It Seems Years - The Remote Viewer
My Life Is a Succession of People Saying Goodbye - Morrissey
Album:
S/T - A Girl Called Eddy (I could listen to this album on endless repeat. Heartache justs tears me apart.)
03.01.06:
I originally planned to run after work, but I didn't. Instead, I did something totally out of the ordinary. I went over to the little Italian market by my apartment, bought a filet mignon, some fresh mozzarella, artichoke hearts in olive oil and garlic, a bottle of Merlot, and fennel crackers, brought it all home, and cooked up some dinner. It's so unlike me to eat steak, let alone cook one at home, but it was damn good. And paired with the wine and artichoke hearts, it was outstanding. I finished it all up with a few pieces of dark chocolate. Oh, and the fennel crackers were amazing.
Song:
Wiled-Eyed Soul - Mayonnaise