Category: tunes

Music. Bands. Songs. Concerts.

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monkeys and soggy cigarettes

What a goofy mug.
To start my first blog while in India, a brief roundup of my impressions of the place thus far. India is: A symphony of honking horns. Free-range cattle, heads-bent to gutters looking for trash to eat. Dirty barefoot people walking dirty dirt streets. Riiich rich and pooor poor. More tropical than I’d imagined. Still very much British. Where I first heard the Strokes’ leaked 3rd full-length. Friendly. Yummy food that doesn’t fulfill many ne’er-do-well-wishers’ predictions of 24/7 toilet-guarding. Broken, dusty, randomly-laid out roads that seem to have been paved as a need to arrive at a new place arose. Families living in tarp-tents erected alongside the road wherever a spare piece of land can be found, outside cooking breakfast in the morning over a smoking fire.

Bought some cigarettes while I was here, y’know, to “sample” the local Indian offerings. They pretty much have the same ass-flavor as American, Taiwanese, and Chinese cigarettes. However, I found myself drawn to them a little too much – kind of blowing the “sampling” thing out the window and trading it for a different verb, “smoking.” So tonight I doused them with water and threw them away – thus rendering them unsalvageable and certainly un-smokeable. Good for me, bad for the Indian tobacco industry and millions of barefoot workers that sweat to bring cancer to the lit-up masses. I was planning to insert a picture of the sodden, broken cigarettes strewn about a table below this paragraph, but the dang five-star hotel housekeeping staff is too efficient and liberated me of my trash before I could do it – sorry, I had planned it to be quite the artsy offering.

And, from above, you likely guesses that the Strokes’ 3rd LP has leaked in its entirety – and I’ve been filling my hotel room with the horribly treble-heavy laptop speaker rendition of it for the past couple days. As for a review, I’m going to reserve an opinion for when I can actually hear it through once with some bottom-end to it – but from a catchy melody perspective I think it’s gonna be a winner. They’re a band I’d like to see live again, as I really enjoyed the Halloween-eve show we caught in the city a couple years back before Room On Fire dropped. Our concert attendance has really dropped off since we decided the frequent trips to the city just weren’t paying off, and reserved them for big or important shows. I am, however, looking forward to seeing the Wolf Parade in January – that one was sufficiently important to motivate both Ben and I to buy the gas, fight the traffic, and find the parking.

Sometimes I love traveling; I think partly because I know my dad did so much traveling when he was younger, and I feel like I somehow following in his footsteps. I would love to be able to have been some of the places he’s talked about, and I feel like my job has at least helped me experience a bit of the “world traveler” bag. Sometimes, waking up in a hotel room with no one to report to and absolutely nothing on an agenda can be a really liberating feeling – miles away from any “real” commitments and real people, for that matter. Especially here, where I can wake up and throw open my balcony door to the sounds of running water and some kinda tropical birds – really makes a guy feel disconnected and content.

Now that I’ve been assured you read my entire boring post, I’ll drop a link for you: here are some pictures from my first few days in India.

Until tomorrow, goodnight.

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cream of ’05

Thirty-three and a third.
Hey music fans. Huh? You’re not a music fan? Better just leave this one alone then and wait till tomorrow’s post, because it’s about as musicy as it gets.

To begin with, this is post #472, yesterday’s post was #565 – meaning I first drafted this nearly 100 entries ago. It’s been through some work since then; some shuffling and a couple drop/add sessions. But, I’ve been working on it so long, tweaking this and fine-tuning that, and I’m finally happy with how it turned out.

Y’know, I would’ve thought that last year would’ve been a tougher year to pick a “top 10” albums, because for some reason I look back on it as a really good year for music. But, when I really think about it – the reason I see it as a particularly amazing year for tunes is just because it’s the year the Funeral came out. In reality though, 2005 was an amazing year for music. The year brought so many great albums, it was extremely hard to pick only ten… so, I picked 25 instead. And, this time, I decided to give a little blurb on why each of the top-15 LPs landed where it did (please don’t underestimate the stylesheet-wizardry that made this all possible). Enjoy:

15. Aqueduct – I Sold Gold

So people say it’s cheesy and thin; so it’s been on car commercials; so I “discovered” it on the OC – big deal, I still like it. Maybe it’s my affinity for the one-man-band, part of that little hidden dream in me – a closet Elliot Smith or Emitt Rhodes just holding out on his first stellar album. So, I don’t care what you say about Aqueduct, how low you rate it, because I like it – and that’s what counts.


14. The Cloud Room – The Cloud Room

I guess this is what you could call a latecomer for the two-not-not-nickel, but I still had plenty of time to digest it and decide that is definitely deserved a place in my list. For some reason, I lump this album with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! (not because of musical content, just for some I got ’em at the same time and they were in competition in my player reason) – but the Clouds just beat CYSHY all around for me. Sure, every song sounds a like some other band – but that’s not always a bad thing.


13. The Ladies and Gentlemen – Small Sins

So the guy likes to whisper, who cares. The craftsmanship here is undeniable. Short little pieces of one-man-band poptronica with the catchiest tunes. I liked this album as soon as it hit my ears, which is something of a rarity for me. With a sound that’s just “good,” not overly-complex or dense, I bet you’ll like it at first blush too.


12. M83 – The Dawn Will Heal Us

I love albums with no words, partially because most people don’t. Sharaun hates music with no words, says she can’t get into it. To me, some of the best music is that which can stand on it’s own without lyrics. And hey, bad lyrics can ruin great music – so wordlessness may be your best bet if you’re no Jim Morrison. Anyway, with each moody atmospheric track, this disc does not disappoint.


11. Clor – Clor

Squeaky, blippy, synth-pop-punk, vocals that, at times, recall Malkmus, and bouncy little tunes freshly thawed from the 1980s freezer. Oh, what, that’s all you have on this one D? You’d think 11th on the list would warrant a little more color, but I suppose if you can say it in a sentence then perhaps a sentence is all ya need.


10. The Decemberists – Picaresque

While not as strikingly brilliant as their first two full-lengths, Colin and crew’s 3rd strike at the iron is a slow burn. Although the mood set with Infanta doesn’t exactly permeate the entire album, there are more than enough rollicking sea-chanteis to keep the Ship In A Bottle set smelling pitch and salt. Actually, the more I go back and listen to this album, the better it sounds. Guess I just have a thing for mariner songs peppered with words from long-forgotten thesauruses.


9. Broken Social Scene – Broken Social Scene

You Forgot It In People was outstanding. So when Beehives turned out to be crap, I was really bummed. I think that’s what made me ignore this album for so long after actually getting it. I had it, just sitting there, waiting. I even started listening to it a couple times, but never paid it a proper amount of attention. However, when I finally did get around to listening to it with a critical ear – I found myself grinning ear-to-ear. Awash in buzzy guitars and singalong harmonies, turns out it’s just as good as You Forgot It In People, if not better.


8. Bloc Party – Silent Alarm

Hey, FM programming managers, check it out! Another one of those 2005-sounding bands sounding like that hot 2005-sound. Pick a catchy single and get it in heavy rotation stat. These guys have undeniable commercial potential, and as heads-in-our-arses indie elitists, we sometimes need to recognize that’s not always the kiss of death. This is good, folks, and even if you hate your kid sister singing hooks from your latest records – you gotta admit that this is one fresh effort. So get it, or listen for the 4:4 remix coming to a skating rink near you.


7. The Bravery – The Bravery

What can I say? 2005 saw the revival of 1980s synth-rock, and, to me, the Bravery did it best. This is rock music for everyone from the shrieking TRL set to the thick-rimmed-glasses, refuse-to- dance crowd; the kind of synth-heavy rock that’s dancey enough to make everyone happy. And, although there was no shortage of it this year – I like this go at it the most.


6. Ratatat – Ratatat

I downloaded this album because I like the name, honestly – it wasn’t one of those read-a-review-first games of catch-up. Luckily, inside were some tunes just as awesome as the name. Another collection for the lyric-phobic, but decidedly more hip-hop bent at times. Set in my memory as a February trip to Taiwan – this album will always recall 2005 to me.


5. Little Brazil – You and Me

OK, so, commence finger-pointing and mocking. I know, I know, but I can’t help it. I really liked this album. It was kind of a “heat of the moment” thing, as, listening to it now, I can somewhat see through whatever it was that blinded me at first. Anyway, it still deserves a spot on my list, because, after all, I wore the grooves off this short album for a memorable little slice of 2005.


4. The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema

Know what? I didn’t even like this album. Nope; not at all. But, so many people online kept ranting and raving about it, I thought I’d go back and give it another chance to impress me. Call it peer-pressure or whatever, but that re-listen did the trick – and I was hooked. I love Newman’s song style, it’s an original thing today – unlike much else of what’s out there, and this album doesn’t disappoint on that. Who knew though, that an album you don’t even like at first can end up as your 4th best on the year – go figure.


3. The Most Serene Republic – Underwater Cinematographer

I have no idea why this album didn’t get more recognition, it’s absolutely brilliant, and, in reality, could just as easily change places with #2 and I’d be just as happy with the list. Reminding me a little bit of the Broken Social Scene’s best moments (which makes sense, seeing as they share BSS’s label), the record is wall-to-wall good without exception. For some reason tho, it went over without much fanfare. Don’t let that fool ya, it’s outstanding.


2. Architecture in Helsinki – If We Die

I left this blurb for last, because, for whatever reason, I couldn’t think of much to say about this album. I mean, it’s been nearly a year since I was taken in by it – so even my young mind has grown superlative-foggy. However, I only need a fresh listen to remember what it is I love about this album. I love the fact that people ask me if I’m listening to an album by Sesame Street’s Elmo, love the “gayness” of the songs (not the gaynesss-meaning-happy gayness, but the two-dudes-holding-hands gayness). Whimsical, fantastic, and even retarded at times – it never fails to make me smile. Now, how’s that for a review? “Retarded?”


1. Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary

When I first heard this album, I never thought it’d end up at #1 on my list. But, deeper listening brought on nothing but undying love. Near the beginning of the year, I can remember saying, “It’s really gonna take something amazing to knock that Architecture in Helsinki album out of my #1 spot.” It did.


And now, the shortlist of albums that were at one time either in the top-15 and slowly bubbled off the top, or hovering near the bottom waiting to receive their number – which never came. All these efforts come highly recommended, and in reality could’ve been on the list had I compiled it on a different night or published it a week or two later. So, if you happen to be Mr. Banhart or Mr. Stevens, please don’t be disappointed you only made the Honorable Mention list – you’re still alright in my book:

Now, for a twist, and because I’m on a roll, the top 3 albums that weren’t released in 2005 (and therefore wouldn’t be eligible for the above list) but were discovered by me in 2005:

And, even though I didn’t do “blurbs” about the “honorable mentions” and “discovereds,” I felt I had to comment on the Friday Night in San Francisco album. You may think, being the self-proclaimed music aficionado that I am, I would’ve heard this album long ago when I was in the frenzied-exploratory phase that every burgeoning music nut goes through. You know, right about the time you finally “discover” Bob Marley, acknowledge Dylan’s genius despite his whine, and realize that Miles Davis is a God. But, I didn’t discover this album until this year (The Kooper & Bloomfield is really just more Super Session, so you could consider me familiar with that already). Suffice it to say that I should’ve known about it earlier, ’cause it truly rocks tits.

OK folks, I’m completely typed-out. Happy listening, take care. (First “true” entry from India tomorrow.)

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vacating

Vacating.
Wrote some of this for the never-happened Tuesday entry, and some of it for an intended-to-happen Wednesday one… but I’m not gonna go back and change verb tenses or preface stuff by when it was written… you can figure it out. Seems crappy to have a solid week last week and then to fall off completely this one… but that’s how it goes. In Oregon today, returning early tomorrow – fast trip cutting into my normal weeknight sleep allotment. Bah.

Haven’t talked about music much of late, guess I really only resort to that when I can’t think of much else to write. After all, who really wants to know what I like by the week anyway. But, in the spirit of writing for me and not you, I’ve been listening to the new-to-me (but in reality, dirt-old) album (link contains lotsa streamy goodness) by the Shout Out Louds lately, stuck it on my cellphone for the flight and general listenin’ while traveling. Damn fine album I think… right down to the Pole Position “doot-doot-doot-deet” rip that kicks the whole thing off. You should listen to it, it’s radawesome. That album and the truly-new Joggers, both been occupying my eartime pretty exclusively.

Hey guys, back from slackin’… no time to write Sunday as I was completely overwhelmed with a late breakfast, mid-afternoon nap, and dinner at Pat & Cyn’s. But now I’m back, writing. Power musta went out at the crib today, welcomed home by blinking clocks and a dead internet connection. And, no doubt as you read this, I’ll be jetting my way up north for a meeting and an overnighter. Don’t want to go, of course, but will go anyway… for wont of paycheck-continuity and all. If I had time I’d go see my folks, but with a one-day turnaround and a quasi-work evening engagement, there just ain’t time. It’s not that I don’t love ya, moms and pops, you just gotta understand the life of a young billionaire CEO.

Was working on finalizing the December travel plans today; India, up to Oregon to visit my folks, then over to Florida for the in-laws. It’s a pretty quick pace… I scheduled the flight out to visit my folks on the same day I fly in from India (tried to change my return, but they couldn’t do it without a hefty penalty). I don’t even leave the airport… fly in after 15 hours, pick up and re-check my bags, meet Sharaun and fly back out. Extreme, yeah… but it’s the only time we had. After blocking off my work calendar to reflect the travel, I was pretty surprised to see that I’m only at work three days the entire month… and only in town about a week. Not bad for a guy who likes his time away from work. Yup; nearly a week off for Thanksgiving; and December’s gonna fly by. Then January, then February, then six weeks off to spend with Lil’ Chino. Bring it on. I won’t even remember what it is I do come April.

Whatever, OK… whatever. Goodnight.

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where are the teeth?

Bless y'allz.
This weekend it felt like I had so much “binned” for today’s entry, I slacked in thinking up topics today. Then, when I logged in to check my almost-finished post – it was only a few topic-sentences and one fully-formed paragraph. Well, so much for not having to write tonight, to the keyboard the fingers fly. Lotta God-talk today, so my heathen brothers will simply have to bear with me.

First things first, thanks to those of you who started populating the sounds familiar Frappr page, it’s a good start (although, as of last night, Frappr’s little pushpins were noticeably absent). If you missed the link yesterday, I’ll be putting it in each entry this week to give you plenty of chances to add yourself to the roll. Hit it now! Be there or be somewhere else.

By luck the other day, I caught a preview for a two-part show on the History Channel called The Crusades: The Crescent and the Cross. I set the TiVo with anticipation, as the preview made the program look amazing… a mix of historical storytelling and live-action reenactment. I watched the first two-hour installment tonight and am happy to say it was excellent. A little reminder of the brutality that was the Christian vs. Islam battle of the initial crusade. The history of religion is simply fascinating to me – as are the concepts of religion and faith in general. Anyway, if you get a chance and there’s an encore presentation or something, I highly recommend the show. Whether or not you claim a God, it’s chock-full of world-altering history that provides the setup for so much of the modern global stage – you’re bound to appreciate it. One day, when I have tons of spare money and gobs of spare time, I’d like to take some college-level theology/religious-history classes… maybe this is worth another paragraph…

Sharaun got a bit peeved with me this Sunday on the way to church, as I freely offered my opinion that I thought the pre-service “classes” we attend were of little value. To me, the classes are all the same – always the basics, perennially for the noobs. “God is love,” the Sermon on the Mount, the death, burial, and resurrection; Christianity’s Dick and Jane, the ABCs of faith. Over and over and over, the same simple stories are told, the same banal comments are made, a mass-hypnotized crowd nods in unison to tired themes taken out and trotted around since Reformation Day One. OK sure, so you have to properly indoctrinate the fresh blood… give them them sacred precepts, the bare-bones tenets; fine. But, what got under Sharaun’s skin was my comment, “Where are the teeth?” Where’s the real history, the interesting stuff: the politics, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnosticism, the scholarly review? How many times have you sat through a Sunday School lesson on the Prodigal Son? Tired of it? Know it? Me too. Let’s have a series of lessons on the defining years of Christianity, the first-thousand years AD, the ecumenical councils, the canonization of the Bible. Let’s get into the grey areas, let’s air the dirty laundry, let’s talk about all the stuff we’re afraid to talk about, the hard-to-reconcile, the obviously exaggerated; yeah, all that.

Why do modern Protestant faiths ignore the roads that birthed them? I can somewhat understand the focus: evangelize; win souls; spread the Gospel. After all, those who most need salvation are those least likely to care how 1st Peter came to be in the New Testament and more likely to care that their new God will take care of them in rough times. The problem here is that you end up with an army of blind followers… a mass of believers hooked only on the charisma of Christ, the hope of forgiveness, the promise of something better than today. Is this wrong? I have no idea… maybe not – but I can see how it could be dangerous. Simply flipping the faith switch, just believing – exactly the scenario Bible-toting Christians pray upon non-believers – could be cause for concern. Think about it: this “God,” this supreme being beyond all human comprehension – He will feed your hungry children, forgive you your deepest trespasses, provide for your every need; but what do you really know about Him? Would you die for Him? How about kill for Him? What does it even mean, where does what you hold dear really come from?

Wait.. what’s that? You’re tired of this crap, I’m not making sense anymore? You say that, instead of this junk, you wanna know what the hottest tracks have been in my personal rotation last week? OK, here’s a quick snapshot (more details in my ‘scrob link in the sidebar) of what I’ve been swaying my head and slapping my thigh to (all with linky goodness for the curious):

Arctic Monkeys – A Certain Romance
The Joggers – Night of the Horsepills (sadly linkless)
The Strokes – You Only Live Once
Rogue Wave – 10:1
The North American Halloween Prevention Initiative – Do They Know It’s Halloween? (wait for it to load, or grab it impatiently with this nifty Firefox extension)

Ummm… OK, I have nothing more to write (actually, I do, and did, but once again “binned” it for tomorrow). Goodnight.

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candy candy candy

Wetter... better?
Happy Halloween!

Wracked with guilt knowing I didn’t have anything but sentence fragments and idea outlines set to auto-post at midnight last night, I actually set my alarm for 40min earlier than normal this morning. All so I could wake up and come back to the familiar web-interface that is the behind-the-scenes of this page. Turns out though, that my host is down, or flaky, or something… and I couldn’t even access the tool. So here I am, drafting this in Thunderbird in hopes of mailing it to myself at work and doing a quick post once I’m back online. Even getting up early, I’ve not left myself much margin to write… so the pressure is high. Will he or won’t he? Likely he will, but it won’t be stellar. Enjoy.

Party was good, cleanup was lighter than years past. Hosed some puke out of the garage, steam-cleaned some beer out of the carpet… but other than that it was just garbage collection and general tidying. Good turnout too, judging from people-counts done on pictures I’d say there were around ~60 folks at the busiest time, pretty much the same as last year I think. The costumes were great, you can check them out over here. There were a few costumes that didn’t get full pictures, but I think most of ’em are here. Expect more snaps of the goings-on as I have time, or don’t… see if I care. Update: check out some candid party shots.

Yeah, I’m sorry, but I’m going to talk about it again. A good friend said something to me recently which I found profoundly brilliant. “Dave,” this good friend said, “If I got some poop on my hand, I wouldn’t just wipe it off with with a dry piece of paper… I’d put some water on that thing.” Man, what a brilliant statement. Who in their right mind would wipe poop off their body with a piece of paper and call it clean? Well then, why is it acceptable for my butt? My friend only offered this revlation to me in response a question I’d asked. The question? “Hey,” I said, “What’s that container of baby wet-wipes for in your bathroom?” A personal question, sure, but a fair one. My curiosity was piqued, so I asked. That’s when he laid it on me: TP first, then finish up with a wet-wipe. Brilliant. So, for weeks now I’ve been meaning to try out his next-best-to-a-bidet methodology. Today, I asked Sharaun to pick me up some wet-wipes at the store. Instead of asking me what for, she just said “OK” and brought them home (yeah, I thought that was odd too). So, if I remember – I’ll let ya know if it’s worth the effort.

Our daughter, who we haven’t officially met yet as she currently resides somewhere inside my wife’s belly, has been quite the active fetus of late. Kicking and spinning and doing all sorts of stuff that blows my mind. Fascinated, I keep asking Sharaun what it’s like. What does it feel like to have something… else… squirming around inside of you? I try to put myself in the situation, and I come to the conclusion that I’d likely be so amazed by it that I’d ignore the world around me in favor of just staring down at my own stomach trying to comprehend it. Sharaun suggests that maybe woman are “tuned” to be more ho-hum about it… it’s in their genes, they can roll with it because their kind have been experiencing it forever. Maybe she’s right, because, as hard as I try to imagine a little thing wriggling around inside me, sandwiched in between my guts somewhere, I still can’t come close. But, it is cool to get those tactile signs that your spawn is alive and well; maybe even reacting to your voice – since all the books tell me she can hear us now. Today, by the by, is the 1st day of her third trimester; the home-stretch if you will. I know, the math doesn’t quite work out to me either – but that’s what the doctors say…

Listening to the new Rogue Wave, which is garnering praise from all corners of indie blogdom. At first, I was a tad surprised how much attention the album was getting, having heard a few tracks leaked here and there and not being overly struck by them. But, as things tend to go, I’ve listened a few more times and am getting more attached with each go-round. Kinda reminds me of the Shins at spots. I dunno, I’m not jumping on the “one of the year’s best” bandwagon with this one just yet, but at least maybe I’ve got something different than the Wolf Parade to listen for a while.

I’m off to work. Good day to you.

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that stupid 9/11 fee

Energize.
Wow, can’t believe I’m actually coming back to this. I gave up on doing an entry tonight, after several longish staring-sessions with no words. And, since I was nodding off to sleep while dicking around the web… I decided to pack it in and call it a night. Turns out I walked around the house, switched off some lights, and got some inspiration. People read this right? Tell me people read this. Somewhere, there must be someone who notices when I miss two days in a row. If it wasn’t for you, you imagined daily readers, I dunno what I’d do. On to the waste of typing.

Every day before I leave for lunch, or start thinking about leaving for lunch, I do a quick calendar-check on my afternoon, just to see what lies ahead. Tuesday, I noticed that I had a 3-5pm appointment to switch from DSL to cable internet. Noting that I didn’t have anything from 1-3pm, I decided it was a good day to phone it in and play hooky for the afternoon. I used the extra time to make massive progress on the cleaning out of the eventual nursery room for Lil’ Chino. Stopped by the store, bought several of those big tupperware storage things, and headed home to consolidate and pack away – the 1st phase of transformation from guest/junk room to nursery. Moved most of the stuff into the garage, filling up a new shelf I hung a few weeks ago. As I began to neatly pack things away, I realized that we have a lot more storage here than I normally think we do. I mean, we packed nearly this same amount of material into a little apartment for years – so it stands to reason we’ve got much more room here. And we do; we’re just using the space wastefully right now. As Lil’ Chino pushes the junk out of the junk room, however, we’ll get more optimized. Wow, what on Earth am I writing about?

For the past couple nights I’ve had the strangest dream, two nights in a row now. I’m at home getting ready for work in the morning, and have to take some extra stuff in with me. Rather than pack it up and bring take it in with me though, I instead pull out this little gun-looking device. I then proceed to point the fun thing at whatever it is that I’m wanting to bring along with me. A thin red line, much like what you see on those UPC reader guns, comes out and I move it back and forth over the item. By doing this, I’m able to just think of where I want the item to go and it disappears from in front of me and is magically transported there. In my dream, I go around sending all sorts of stuff to all sorts of places, and showing off my teleportation thingy to everyone I see. As cool as it sounds, no one is really that impressed or surprised by the little gadget – despite my efforts to sell them on it’s coolness. As much as I expect people to be as excited as I am over this miracle gizmo, no one is and I’m frustrated by it. Who knows… what a strange dream.

The brake light on the Ford has taken to turning on randomly again, I have no idea what that’s about. Maybe it’s low on fluid, or maybe it’s part of the great electric haywire that is the Ford. Move the seat too far back, and you blow a 30A fuse rendering all electronic window/door/seat control useless; press play on the stereo and it mysteriously “reboots” (I didn’t even know car radios could reboot). Anyway, it was raining this morning and I was watching that little red light flicker on and off: BRAKE… BRAKE… BRAKE. Then, the low fuel light decided to get in on the dance: “CHECK GAUGE” lighting up when I took any incline. I was hypnotized by them. The rain fell outside and I listened to the new Broken Social Scene as the dashboard came alive. No idea why I wrote about that, but I took a note about it when I got to work this morning – so it was somehow significant to me.

Sharaun and I worked on the music for the Halloween party tonight, lining up folders of illicitly-gained MP3s for the occasion. Oh yeah, I haven’t really mentioned it as yet – but our 3rd annual Halloween party is this Friday (tomorrow, as you read this). Last year’s was such a success that I got a keg and a half for this one. Anyway, I always like assembling playlists. We worked on putting together two different tune-queues, each with different goals. Sharaun’s goal is to encourage dancing in the living room, and of course maintain the dancing once it’s broken out. Her list is heavy with body-moving classics and high energy favorites. My list is for the garage, where the keg is, and where there won’t likely be dancing. My list is full of music that encourages talking, stuff that’s good for the background; enjoyable, recognizable, but ultimately enjoyable white noise. Heavy with my favorite tracks of the year, it’s a more rock-based mix. Anyway, we’re both excited about the party. Keep your eyes peeled for pictures of the event post-weekend.

Bought our tickets to fly back to Florida for Christmas, cost us $20 after taxes and that stupid 9/11 fee. Hooray for skymiles. Looking forward to a travel-crammed December, with India and Florida and back from each as well. I feel like I traveled more this year than ever before, and that’s completely warranted too – because I totally traveled this year more than ever before. I bet, if I went back and did some research, that I was on a plane at least one time each month.

Me me me… can’t I write about something other than me?

No? OK then, goodnight.

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kicking

Knock knock, I'm here.
This entry jumps in time a bit, since I wrote some Saturday and the rest Monday. Deal with it. Quite a few links today, some good extended reading for those left with an empty feeling over yesterday’s missed post. Enjoy.

Sunday night around midnight, I felt my daughter kick for the first time. And man was she kicking, she was squirming all around in there. Sharaun said it was because she could hear us arguing (we were, she’d gone through my closet as she tends to do every so often and packaged some of my clothes for Goodwill… she always picks my favorites). Anyway, Lil’ Chino heard the bickering and decided to shut us up with a tactile distraction. We were in the middle of a: “You never wear that, and the collar is all stained brown!” “What are you talking about?! I wear this shirt all the time!” When the kicking began. Quieted us right up. And for the record, I don’t think it’s fair that the poor and homeless have to wear my browned-up-collar threadbare shirts anyway.

I’m constantly asking Sharaun what it feels like to have a human growing inside her, as if she could explain it to me in any way I could approximate it. She says that, right now, it’s just like little flutters, almost like gas bubbles. Doesn’t sound quite as exciting as I imagine it feeling. But, I just think it must be an amazing thing to feel a little person moving around inside your belly. For her though, she’s breezing through this pregnancy. For the most part, it’s hard to even realize she’s knocked up. If not for the growing belly and being able to feel the squirmy little girl inside it – her behavior wouldn’t be that much of a tipoff. She doesn’t complain of much, and her routine is largely unchanged. It just seems “easy” for her or something. I guess I shouldn’t say that, she’ll be jinxed with horrible pain and suffering now.

Last week we were supposed to go see Architecture in Helsinki in San Francisco. However, come the morning of the show, folks weren’t feeling too into it – and we made the call to call it a loss and just not go. I was kinda bummed, but also kinda OK with it. I’m just not really into driving all the way to the city to go to shows anymore. Maybe it’s a sign I’m getting old, but it’s gotta be a super compelling show for me to want to drive out there. Now, considering I consider AiH’s album one of the best released this year, I was willing to make the long haul to see them. But, the stars were not aligned, and the $30 seemed a little too write-offable – so we it was a no-go. Also in shows, tomorrow (Sunday as I write this) I will accompany Sharaun to a show of her choosing – Gwen Stefani and the Black Eyed Peas. I’m not that excited about it, I really don’t like the BEP at all, but at least I’m half-interested in seeing Gwen… some of the Ocasek-produced tracks on her latest album are catchy. The one thing the show has going for it over the AiH show though, is that it’s actually right here in town. 20min to and 20min back, you can’t beat that. Dang, I am old.

So, let’s fast-forward to Monday (since I didn’t write enough over the weekend to build an actual entry). The show was surprisingly enjoyable. Still not he world’s biggest fan – but there is something to be said for a show that can motivate people to their feet, rather than have them standing and swaying with the occasional head-bob. Indie concerts can be kinda mopey at times, a whole bunch of thirty-somethings all reveling in their deep pain at being misunderstood by society while they nod along to dirges about self-doubt and ruined romance. But, at this show, thousands of whorishly dressed young women were instead up out of their seats, shaking and bouncing and jiggling… yes my friends, there is something to be said indeed for the virtue of music that makes the ladies dance. Let’s get the picture indie bands, we can learn from the likes of the Go! Team and even Arcade Fire – both of whom inject a good amount of energy into their live shows. Now if we could just pull the same level of talent, I’d be at show after show after show.

This weekend the Halloween decoration efforts paid off in full. With some help from friends, we were able to repair the original ghost motor and get her moving again (only for a few hours though before she broke again, so we now have to re-fix her today). We also managed to setup the coffin in it’s final place. We routed the air hose, and rigged up a motion-trigger mechanism to set it off. Now, when someone walks by, a bright light snaps on spotlighting the corpse as it pops up out of the coffin. The effect is great, and the motion is really good. For non-Halloween or party nights, you can aim the motion sensor toward the road and it will trigger the action when cars go by, drawing their attention as the prop lights up and corpse snaps to attention. It really is gratifying for the project to be working so well. If you want, I put together a little movie so you can take a look at the completed effect in action, enjoy.

Coffin Popper for fatty pipes (~3MB)

Coffin Popper for dialuppers (~800KB)

Now that looks nice!

Let’s do a link roundup, apologies if you’ve seen these elsewhere:

Here’s a funny piece about the real marketing gold that is the video iPod; and here’s a good little rant on religion and modern society – although it’s pretty low on respect for said faith… so if you have a less than steel constitution when it comes to what you worship and hold sacred you may want to skip it. Oh man, before I go I had to share this one. Members of several illustrious indie bands (Wolf Parade, Arcade Fire, need I say more?) got together and made this excellent send-up of the “Do They Know It’s Christmas” song called “Do They Know It’s Halloween.” Indie music and Halloween, it’s like peanut butter and jelly y’all. Not only is the song awesome, but the video is super entertaining too, check it out here. I’ve always wanted a fun Halloween anthem, and this could totally be it. You know what suck about linking in blogs? These links will likely be long-dead in a year or so… bummer.

Goodnight my friends.