albums i liked this year.

10. Clinging to a Scheme--The Radio Dept.
9. I'm New Here--Gil Scott Heron
8. Genuine Negro Jig--The Carolina Chocolate Drops
7. Brothers--The Black Keys
6. Be Brave--The Strange Boys
5. Age of Adz--Sufjan Stevens
4. The Suburbs--Arcade Fire
3. Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows--Songs of John Prine
2. Phosphene Dream--The Black Angels
1. High Violet--The National

Here's some listen:

for the love of our lungs.

please consider riding the bus, carpooling, riding your bike, you know, whatever.

http://airnow.gov/

forgive me my naïveté.

bobbing along.

consume this!

the best things about going to costco were:

1. being with my mom
2. seeing timp's white glory in the alpenglow.

i am not the bread and the knife.

i love this so. still.

in the fake plastic earth

chris jordan's artwork

Il faut être absolument moderne.

rimbaud, 1873.


in rebellion,

nap,
a cat,
friends,
my crochet,
debussy,
a book,
soup,
tea.

lifted from npr tumblr, now i must read it.

“The other afternoon, when you fell asleep on my shoulder, I drifted off too. But before I did, it occured to me, looking around at all your things, and all your work, and going through all the years of work in my mind, that of all your work, you are still the most beautiful, the most beautiful work of all.”

patti smith, just kids

crane your neck.

listened to rosalie winard talk about her fotos tonight. beautiful.





(i don't know what they want from me. it's like the more birds we come across, the more birds we see)

how do you get into the duck club? sounds prestigious.

first and foremost, one must be a duck.

tundra swan (numbering in the thousands)
common merganser
american avocet
marsh wren
northern shoveler
eared grebe
common grebe
american coot
nothern harrier
gadwall
canada goose
sandhill crane
red-winged blackbird
black-billed magpie
american kestrel
ring-necked pheasant rooster and hen

much to be learned.

futile devices by sufjan stevens

make it big.

Sufjan Stevens - Futile Devices Music Video from Freddie Paull on Vimeo.

worthy 18 minutes

Jared Diamond on why societies collapse | Video on TED.com

every full day.

the last week or so has been full of people who remind me to live every day at top enthusiasm.

effervescence.
joie de vivre.
vitality.
passion.
raison d'être.
vibrancy.
zeal.

poetry slam with Michael Dimitri and the other poets (why AREN'T we here?)
Terry Tempest Williams (her article on the BP spill)
Katie Lee (91-year-old sticks it to the man)
Sufjan Stevens (sincerity, and a song i am loving)
Subhankar Banerjee (exuberance)
Alexandra Fuller (you never know who you're waking up)

day of the dead.

i feel like i'm going through a breakup.






ps i love my dear friends.

in true halloween spirit

zim woke me today by sneezing in my face.

then he tried to bury my friend's coffee cup. the cup was sitting on the wood floor.

he then, with flashing eyes, climbed to the top of the ponderosa pine, meowed, and made his way slowly down.

and then, climbed as fast as fast to the top of the ash, meowed his triumph, and made his way down.

and now, he sits quietly in the sunlight, as if none of this ever happened.

he's a brlack cat.

things to remember.

no, you can't only love when you want to.

the strange boys

there's winter all over the floor here.

i like the snow when it is wet and sloshy and the windshield wipers swish it off without scraping. i like the gush gush gush sounds on the ground.

i've listened to the song heartbeats, performed by jose gonzalez, enough tonight, but i'll keep listening. quando m'en vo, heartbeats, repeat. weird combination.

i went to class tonight. there was no class. i locked my keys in the fat boy. a new friend called AAA.

there's an empty space between my sternum and my heart.

returning to high

i dreamt about notch peak last night, walking through the bristlecones, looking straight ahead at the cliff face, nearly falling over the edge.

not distracted.

abstracted.

go see "angels in america" performed by the salt lake acting company.

part one shows through the 31st.

in4mation

warmer longer.

colder soon.

ahora, sí, estoy enamorada

the serviceberry leaves are red.
the oaks are dropping acorns.
the bigtooth maple leaves are sugary and falling.
the male tarantulas are wandering.

today, i found a dead bumblebee clinging to a rabbitbrush stem.

everyday with the garden will be missed.

Por donde fuimos, islas o puentes o banderas,
violines del fugaz otoño acribillado,
repitió la alegría los labios de la copa,
el dolor nos detuvo con su lección de llanto.

Soneto XXVIII, Neruda.

afuera

The brushing of teeth, since he was a child, has always been for him an outdoor activity.

TEP, p. 86

to expose our follies.

i have around 500 fotos in my photobooth application. 85-90% of those fotos are of myself and zim.

success?

The plain fact is that the planet does not need more "successful" people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every shape and form. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane.

David Orr, What is Education For?, 1991

angle of repose

genevieve, a geomorphologist, explained to me last march that the angle of repose is the degree at which rocks and debris rest after mass fail, or erosion.

this weekend, i was down on the staircase, looking at the rocks, comme d'habitude. they are beautiful because they have fallen. they're at rest, but they'll fall again. and something new will be beautiful.

was the quiet i always felt in you really repose? i wish i thought so.
wallace stegner, AofR, 12.

i myself like the porcupine.

fenomenally simple animal fotografs here.

often enough

i wake up to myself rearranging the stacks of books next to my bed.

i should put them on the shelf.

one cannot fathom such things.

if texas was populated by only women, and they had to stand two feet apart at all times, would texas secede from the union?

(8 year old boy)

what are you doing?

i'm kicking my butt.

(i asked the question. a 6-year-old girl answered it.)

if we could.

The boy steadied his breathing and told himself firmly, "You are not afraid of this. This is just a human heart, that's all. Just like in the encyclopedia. Everybody has one of these. I have one."

WUBC, p. 420

i knew i was in for a good week when one of my small ones asked me, "do you want to enter a time and space portal?"

(child, kicking each thistle plant as he walks by)
you're no good at soccer.
you're no good at soccer.
you're no good at soccer, you don't even have hands, you couldn't even be goalie.

why did the chicken cross the road?
because he got ranned over.

why did the chicken cross the road?
to fart.

why did the apple cross the road?
applesauce.

knock-knock.
who's there?
banana.
banana who?
aren't you glad i didn't say banana?

knock-knock.
who's there?
boo hoo.
boo hoo who?
you're crying.

knock-knock.
who's there?
andrea.
andrea who?
don't you know yourself?
why would i be knocking at the door and answering the door?
i don't know.

knock-knock.
who's there?
andrea.
andrea who?
andrea rabbit head.

these children are not afraid to hold hands.

one little sweet babe squeezed my hand twice, and whispered "robin!"

and, walking up the switchbacks this morning, we came upon a rattlesnake. he was just off the trail. i wanted everyone to get a chance to look at him.
i thought we were done when i heard little sweet babe crying. i asked her if she was afraid of the rattler.
"no," she whimpered, "i didn't get to see the snake."

i keep referring to the "kids" as "people".

we all know that children don't become people til late in their fourteenth year. we all know it, except me.

no apologies.

allow me to nerd out.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!NESTCAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this one i remember.

saturday night, sleeping on a slab of slickrock hanging over fish creek, i dreamt i was sleeping under a blanket made of tufted evening primrose. beth says i startled her when i thought it was floating away.

i'm ok with my decay.

i quit. then i didn't.

but i might again.

in love with this song.

so our end of mabey drive is torn up. i'm living the american dream on a phreeking cul-de-sac.

two days ago, when the street got ripped apart and large machinery started to appear and orange safety signs materialized, etc, it was a beautiful day. i got home from work, drank iced mate and laid on the grass with my guitar and z-flavor. i watched as drivers ignored the road closed sign, tried to power through, and were forced to turn around. if i caught the driver's eye, i couldn't help but laugh.

well, joke's on me. and z. the czar has a weird thing for large machinery. just as beth and i were about to leave on a sunset bike ride, cub cub rubbed his face on the greasiest, narstiest tractor bits. and then he proceeded to let his tail join in the la brea fun.

some people get angry when it rains just days after washing their car. i get annoyed when the chug rubs on tractor tar just days after a bath. who bathes their kitten two times in one week?

and now, shivery kitten, still wet, huddles on my lap. poor fing.

the quiet.

sometimes things should speak for themselves.

the attention economy.

interdisciplinarity. made up, but i'm using it.

funny how when it gets dark you can't see out the windows. only dark reflections.

these glass rooms with kids studying, writing on the glass with markers, so intently.

give me litany or give me death.

michel foucault: a good looking human. archetypal, almost.

yes, i do see you checking yourself out in the reflection.

that stegner quote is bullshit. only being in the desert cures desert desire.

the waitress from indochine, who remembered everything perfectly without writing a word.

times like these, i'd like to be with my guitar.

how the hell did 552 fotos of me end up on phacebook? i have no privacy, and it's my fault.




sometimes the attention lapses into a catatonic informational philandering while one does one's homework in the library.

blood and dust.

i have to fill my tank today, or i will run out of gas the next time i drive.

(and i don't want to live through another "running out of gas" incident. always ridiculously embarassing.)

so here's the problem:

i started working at red butte garden (which is my new boyfriend by the way. i love it/him very much) and i haven't figured out the bus schedule/shuttle schedule/etc yet. so i've been driving. the fatty. fatty fatkins. and though he is a kind and reliable friend, i don't love driving him.

i miss my little walk to the bus stop. i miss seeing my favorite tree on 27th south. i miss my little friends, who wear rain bonnets and say HELLO so very loudly, who discuss the weather with me. i miss zoning out and staring out the window for approximately 15 minutes each way.

absence makes the heart frown, sometimes imperceptibly. i need to figure this out.

but this is a list you want to kiss.

in the garden yesterday.

a pair of red-tailed hawks
a pair of woodpeckers (hairy maybe, but maybe i don't know)
a pair of canada geese (courtship dance and mating included!)
a flocklet of ruby-crowned kinglets
a pair of quail (not california quail, but some big fat quail, maybe chuckar)

i wish i knew birds.

there will be no pictures of you and willie mays pushing that shopping cart

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised- Gil Scott Heron
Uploaded by larsen42. - Explore more music videos.

i am ready

for a barefoot summer.

the takeaways.

i have a crush on 65 year old woman who is deeply enthusiastic about geomorphology.

pleistocene rewilding is not a figment of my imagination and the nine-banded armadillo is a proposed species of the project.

sandbar willow has another name: coyote willow.

and finally, i don't know about this blog.

silence.

play a little.

thermals.

http://mrdoob.com/projects/harmony/#shaded


reading old blog posts. funny how things change.

date the landscape.

i'm pretty exhausted, but i think the exhaustion comes from returning.

i could stay out another week.

and now i'm pharting around on phacebook.

let's take and informal vote: should i go back to the desert in one week or two weeks, or bolth.

overhead.

The White Mountain (extended) from charles on Vimeo.

i'll take three earths, please.

my eco footprint

So Thoreau.

Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labour in.

a whole flock.

Cedar Waxwing

The Summer Day

Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

from http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/133.html

subconscious coleoptera

Last night I dreamt that I found a beautiful cerambycid on the curtain of an old house. When I went to get a bottle to hold him, I found a beautiful buprestid on my wrist.







The cerambycid was a powdery white color and had deep texture on its elytra. Its head was a powdery blue with a slight sparkle, like snow. Its antennae were powdery white and had cleary defined squatty v-shaped segments.

The buprestid was black underneath, black legs, dusty gold elytra. Some very faint lime green in the gold, near the head.

today we're all busdrivers.

singing loudly at the busstop is permitted, and appreciated.

and a joke that goes something like this:

x: let me see your phone.
y: ok. (hands x the phone)
x: guess who i'm gonna call.
y: (interrupted)
x: ghostbusters. (laughs a good laugh)

on the ride home i briefly considered becoming a bus driver during the summer.

it is a noble job.

and i miss my friend harold (or was it howard? how unreliable my mind!), who used to drive my route and tell me all about the charms of wendover.













zim is singing to the juncos and chickadees at the feeder.

ever

watching up in the air made me want to die a little bit. good movie; weird/sad commentary about how we live. the phrase "cocoon of self-banishment" hit me in the face.

in better news, i did a translation of the poem recited here.

Today I awoke outside myself
and I went to search for me.
I walked over ways and paths
until I found myself
seated on a mossy edge
at the foot of a cypress
chatting with the mist
and trying to forget
what I cannot.
At my feet,
leaves, only leaves.


Today, Humberto Ak'ab'al

gaga oh la la!

i want your love. love love love i want your love.

happy holidays

xoxo zim

as per your request:

at the risk of being shallow and unrepentantly gluttonous

the reasons i like christmastime are the following:

pistachios

clementine oranges

idle isle melbas

idle isle french mints

peppernuts

ebelskivers

jam thumbprints

peppermint ice cream (preferably with both green and pink gelatinous messes)

a lake and a bridge

Provo Bay was chosen for its beauty and accessibility, and because a great blue heron flew right over my head there on two separate occasions.

No tools were used at any step in the making of the bridge. We created the bridge using sticks, reeds, grasses and leaves. These materials were collected in the marshy areas around the bay. The plants were brittle and golden in color due to the coming winter. These materials were chosen due to their buoyancy as well as their proximity and connection to the site.

Connections were made by inserting reeds with smaller diameters into slits made in reeds with larger diameters. Sticks, grasses and leaves were woven into the framework. We had creative freedom and each person was allowed to make add or make changes to the framework as they saw fit. So, the bridge was a sum of individual parts as well as an overall collective effort.

When the piecing together of the bridge was complete, we put it out to lake.

Within two hours, the wind, waves, rocks (and perhaps unseen nibblings by fish and the infamous monster of Utah Lake) dismantled the bridge and the materials nestled themselves into the rocky side of the jetty.

As far as I can tell, no coots were harmed or even noticed the bridge.

A minimally intrusive natural bridge that preserved the integrity of the lake, it came forth from the lakescape and returned to it.





thanks and thanks to amy, wayne, clark, terry, my eh'ers, and a. bird for the musics.

bullsh*t

it's been over a month, and he is still my favorite.

UV Sierra Forum Bridge Meeting

Meeting tonight, Wednesday November 18, 6:30 pm, Provo Library, Room 201

It's a discussion.

Should be enlightening.



Questions and comments about the lake/proposed bridge can be sent to:

Reed Price, Executive Director of the Utah Lake Commission
rprice@utahlakecommission.org

i'll be honest.

because usually, i'm not.

my blog is lacking because i now put my miscellaneous thoughts on twitter.

some people hate twitter. i can't worry about that. we can talk about my twitter philosophy another time. i added a twitter thing on the side.

and then, sometimes, i nerd out on birds. tufted jay, plush crested jay, crested grebe, owl nest cam, dark-eyed juncos, kingfishers, oh my hell. i added a bird nerd thing on the side.



to update: still crushing on vincent price. and you can add carl sagan to the list.

because:


anybody have a copy of cosmos i can trip out to?

interpret.

dream 1
standing on a crowded street corner in slc waiting to cross the street. a man bumps into me and i laugh and say to him, "hey, give me three steps!" he looks at me confused. "do you know lynyrd skynyrd?" i ask. he just shakes his head, continuing with the confused look.

dream 2
i arrive at my parents house and see large canvas bags filled to the brim with gifts for various families and friends. i come to the conclusion that they must be sent off immediately. i attach a bundle of silver mylar balloons to each bag, and send them off. as i'm watching them float away, i realize that they will never reach their destinations.

Utah Lake Bridge Info

The first foto was stolen from Heather. The others are mine.

If you are interested in getting involved with the proposed bridge over Utah Lake, there are a couple of options.

I will be attending both public hearings. You are invited to accompany me.


RDCC--public comment period (until 10/25/2009)
Make a comment. Look for Project 10836.

Public Hearing--Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 6:00 pm in Room 2500 of the Utah County Health and Justice Building, 151 South University Avenue.

Public Meeting--Wednesday, November 11, 2009 from 6:00-8:00 pm at Saratoga Shores Elementary School in Saratoga Springs.

Direct Mail--Utah Lake Bridge Crossing, Dave Grierson, Forestry, Fire and State Lands, PO Box 145703, SLC, UT 84114-5703

Web site--information, join mailing list, submit comments, read other comments:
http://www.ffsl.utah.gov/sovlands/utahlake/bridgecrossing.php

for y'all.

something small.

in the head.

i watched harold and maude for the first time the other day, while sewing together my crochet squares.

lovely film.

cat stevens has once again taken over my brain.

The Knife

This is an excerpt from a book I'm reading.


. . . perhaps it was a story in the Haida sense in which time operates more like a spiral, or like the rings of a tree. There is a saying among the peoples of the Northwest Coast: "The world is as sharp as the edge of a knife," and Robert Davidson, the man responsible for carving Masset's first post-missionary pole, imagines this edge as a circle. "If you live on the edge of a circle," he explained in a documentary film, "that is the present moment. What's inside is knowledge, experience: the past. What's outside has yet to be experienced. The knife's edge is so fine that you can live either in the past or in the future. The real trick," says Davidson, "is to live on the edge."


The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant

(i highly recommend)

that's just the way it is.

abby's take.

amy was walking around the garden with abby when they found an ant. abby excitedly pointed out the ant. "what's its name?" amy asked. "forever," abby replied.

she is three.

abby found two dead baby starlings that had fallen out of their nest. the parent birds and their other offspring were neatly tucked into the eave just above where the two fallen lay. she asked about the birds, and i told her they had fallen out of their nest and they were dead.

"what about the mama and dada birds, they pick them up?"

jera explained that the mama and dada birds couldn't pick them up because they don't have arms, they have wings.

"what if abby falls down?"

oh dear abby. are you a baby bird?

"then we pick abby up, because we have arms, like this." and i picked her up.

funny girl.

let's all go.

the first status says, "thinks this is the start of something newww! :)"

the status right on top of it says, "hates change."

i like that juxtaposition.

good days. i have a cute stamp on my hand from a lovely show, the which reminds me what i like and why i like things. people who do things because they love it. and friendly. i wish i were friendly.

and the students in guatemala are all organized and ready to start summer life there. stress relieved.

i read plato's allegory of the cave for the first time the other day. i read it with some students at heritage. chord struck.

i love you.

i tried the same thing with stella. no response.

happy easter.

three ways to melt a chocolate bunny from dirtyrabbit on Vimeo.

a quick one from computer basics class

one of the boys was explaining that he already knew powerpoint. these are his words.

andrea, you should have seen it. i made a powerpoint in biology. 28 slides. it was so nice, had transitions and everything. (exhales admiringly). i got 43 points out of 40. 130 percent.

disreconciliation.

"bill gates says, 'look at what your computer can become.' but it's you that should be doing the becoming, not the damn fool computer."

vonnegut, in man without a country



i am done with my relationship with technology.

(i realize this is a silly statement considering that i am writing on a weblog, but this is more about frustration)

my computer kaputsed, and i am not leaving any room for hope that my fotos will be salvaged. i feel a great loss.

heaven forbid i ever have to deal with a real loss.



i'm considering adding nyc by interpol to my list "aaasongs i'm not allowed to listen to." i heard it again recently, after a long while. i've listened to it around 20 times in the last two days.

i have things to look forward to this weekend.

mother's revenge

This conversation (verbal altercation?) took place between two boys this morning:

x: Egypt!

y: Africa!

x: Egypt!

y: In Africa!

x: EGYPT!

y: Which is in AFRICA!

x: (pauses) WHAT THE HELL?!

y: Are you f***ing retarded?

x: (pauses thoughtfully) Are you telling me EGYPT is in AFRICA?

y: Africa is a continent, dumb*ss.

x: Are you f***ing kidding me?

y: No.

x: (remains speechless, with a jaw-dropped facial expression mixed with anger, surprise, and incredulousness)

phat tuesday.

is there anything sweeter than a baby lamby with white wool and black legs?




they are so dear.




i'm giving up sugar for lent. but not sweetness. oh! those little lambs!


lupe and stella are jealous of little lambies because these cats are evil.

this side of provo.

someone, a man, outside, in a grit growly voice, just yelled, loudly, "everybody lock up your daughters and wives 'cause i'm hitting the town tonight!"

me gusta el barrio mio.

this morning i ran out of gas. no metaphor here. in the middlest lane of university avenue almost to the intersection of foothill drive. i guess i should say that little fat boy ran out of fossil fuels, not me, really.

i immediately phreeked out a little.

a gentle sir in a nice truck stopped and waited with me to push fatty out of the middle of traffic.

another gentle young sir wanted to help push. we tried, but without power steering, it was a lost cause.

at the moment of slight despair, a huge blue (that very lovely bright blue) truck pulled up in the turn lane next to fatty, window rolled down. a wild-red-headed-and-bearded man asked me what i needed.

i needed gas.

he parked the car in the turn lane, told the honkers to shut the f*** up, and proceeded to fill my tank with just enough gas to get me to work only 5 minutes late.

the sir in the first car followed me to heritage (he works at scenic view).

what tender souls of altruism and kindness!

the idiot in me thought there was at least one more little trip of gas in fatty's belly. incorrect! this has happened enough times that i have learned that i don't learn my lesson. test me.

but what tender people were to be found on university ave this morning! and i'm not talking about npr reporters alone!

and least of all my dad, who jumped in his truck to get fat boy some fuel. he's the best.

people are born every few two hundred years

happy birthday! 200 is the new 50!

i wished my class happy chuck and abe day. one of the girls looked at me, not only like i was crazy, but completely perplexed, "what is chuck an egg day?"

happy chuck and abe day.
happy chuck an egg day.

ps only a dreamboat like abe can pull off hair like that. abnormazing. and striking. i'll bet he didn't even use that much product. maybe a can of bearwax?

last night.

i was in a bad/evil mood.

sue me.

jk.

i'm sorry, i love you, world.

an ode to an ode.

anode to anode.

mmmmmmmmk.

i saw the delta spirit at urban lounge in salt lake on tuesday.

it was perfect.

i was cut in line at walgreens while waiting to buy a bag of goldfish crackers that i didn't want but felt compelled to buy because we were going to park in their parking lot. but, i am not passive and guilt-stricken!

we ate at slouvaki, a greek place; a gyro. geez it was good.

we saw an enjoyable local band! the furs! of salt lake city. wild west suburban psychedelic jammage.

and the delta spirit! ode to these boys! this is grindy grubby bluesy grit americana at its best! matthew vasquez has a voice that rasps out the final breath over and again. they started out with strange vine and people c'mon. i love the music through speakers, so nice. but the throbbing reverb of the sternum is payment and repayment. the atmosphere was light and happy and breezy and we were like good friends, weren't we?

we didn't get home til late late late (early?), and i was so tired the next day.

songs we never wrote
seeds they wouldn’t sow
we’re taking it all to the end
and we’re planting our own garden

my iron knee

running 2 miles is suddenly an accomplishment.

i am really losing patience with this *$#@'d knee.

i'm doing it, again.

again i find myself slowing down toward the end of my book. i hate finishing good books, a conundrum.

the head was mine, but not to use, not to think with, only to remember and not too much remember.
ernest hemingway
a farewell to arms

i like having time to read. glory be.

curse borders for it's seductive 30% off coupons. times is hard, but i'm still spending my monies on books.

it's all so clear, suddenly.

i was driving west on 500 north, homeward bound. as i crossed through the light on freedom boulevard, a black car pulled a u-ee in front of me, causing me to slow to a near-stop.

twit.

bumper sticker: i ♥ switchfoot

on the subject of reading.

we should talk about books. i have a few i'd like you to read.

best musicks of 2008

The following are the 2008 albums of musicks I fell hard for this year. Shortlist. I give them in some sort of semi-numerical order. Forgive me my trying to put this into words. Listen as you go if you care to.

Released in 2007, but I couldn't leave it alone
Radiohead.In Rainbows
Reckoner
I love this album. Moving on.

12.Jenny Lewis.Acid Tongue
Acid Tongue
Tired and a little achy, but willing to cope and go on. Jenny Lewis seems to open the door on this album, and tell the story. I've never been a big fan of Rilo Kiley; a few songs here and there were all I could handle. This is different. Good different.

11.The Duke Spirit.Neptune
The Step and the Walk
"She has a sexy voice. You say she has stage presence? Wow, she has a really sexy voice." Actual quote from Tony, and not far off. Sets you spinning from the gecko. The get-go. The Greco-Roman. Her ooh's and oo-ooh's turn the table over.

10.MGMT.Oracular Spectacular
Weekend Wars
So spooky and lost teenagery, you'll forget where you are and start a weekend war. Altogether creepy and atmospheric, while maintaining a down-to-earth realistic feel.

9.Notwist.The Devil, You+Me
Gone, Gone, Gone
Oh so tender and moody. Light and dark, wrapped into eachother. Experimental and quietly jabbing you in the brain socket.

8.Hot Chip.Made in the Dark
Ready for the Floor
A dollop of fun. Will shake yourself for you if you were previously unwilling to do so. It is pure and absolute Hot Chip, with all the quirks and blips and wooky-wookyness to make you feel like you are jiving in the homiest, most comfy.

7.Sigur Ros.Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
Gobbledigook
Voted by Caitie and I to be the "Most Indie Band Out There, Ever", I'm almost glad I don't understand the words they sing, as I can make up my own meanings. This album is a little different from their others, which works out well for me. It has a more acoustic, and overall quiet feel, though some tracks offer the crazed deep drummings and running themes. Good ambienttttt.

6.The Dodos.Visiter
Eyelids
I found this a little late as well, but it took me and my house by storm. The click-clacking of the drums with the impossibly rich (and sometimes ridiculously fast) brassy, tinny guitar is layered perfectly with the gentle voice. Urgent. These be insane children. Insert dumb extinction joke here.

5.Vampire Weekend.Vampire Weekend
Walcott
Goofy, happy, tender. Ultimately catchy and different than everything. That alone doesn't entitle it to praise, however, there is something to be said about a couple guys making music that doesn't sound like anybody else's. Sticks in the head like a cat to catnip.

4.Ratatat.LP3
Shempi
Anything for this music. What is this music for? People have been known to drop everything and begin riding a horse while listening to Ratatat, and this album has the bruises to prove it. Will drip through every crevice in your brain.

3.Black Keys.Attack & Release
Strange Times
Gritty, coarse, beautiful. Incites rocking out. Energetic to the point of neurotic. This duo is a powerhouse armed. Do not operated heavy machinery while listening, though you'll want to.

2.Bon Iver.For Emma, Forever Ago
Creature Fear
The wintry sadness of this music is enveloping. This guy must have gone through some heartbreak. I could feel it in my bones. The tunes are very minimalistic, which works to our benefit. This album can be seen as a surrender. This album should be listened to as a whole, at least twice in a row. I discovered this one a little late, but it was the perfect timing as winter was setting it.

1.Fleet Foxes.Fleet Foxes
Blue Ridge Mountains
The pinnacle for this album came when we drove up to the cabin, and arrived just as blue ridge mountains began playing. The six of us in the van sat and soaked in the cold mountain air while listening. Robin Pecknold's voice is a clear stream of spring water. I could listen to the Fleet Foxes while reading The Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard and get high. Naturally. Tiger Mountain Peasant song is from a different time. As Nate said, must like Fleet Foxes, must have a fleet of foxes. The harmonies are engulfing.

What did you like?

amy remember

when we ate nectarines on the sandstone at upper calf creek falls on the fourth of july?

regret.

regret not finding humberto ak'ab'al's poetry books while i was in guatemala.

early hours

In the high hours of the night
stars get naked
and bathe in the rivers.

Owls desire them,
the little feathers on their heads
stand up.




i wish you could understand the spanish. my translations are inadequate.

http://akabal.com/

this is worth it.

amy's sick of this song because of me.

polyvore.com play

desi showed me this site where you can create collages. fun.

this piece is entitled jugular.

jugular

all my love was down, in a frozen ground

hum-drum.

i miss the summer something awful. i was just thinking about how amy and i spent the fourth of july down on the white sandstone next to the emerald pools at upper calf creek falls. and how we listened to jimi hendrix rip out the star-spangled banner in a mangled mess of electric ax. and how some byu kids showed up, and we took pictures for them. and then, when they left, we made fun of the one wearing byu crocs. i make fun of what i don't understand.

i can't complain about the weather. it's been nice. mild november. it's been mild enough that we can go out and watch the kids who dress up medievally in their capes and chainmail and manufacture large jousts and thwackers (i don't know the term for long stick thing used to hit the enemy) out of large-gauge pvc pipes and old foam mattresses hit eachother with said weapons. and eat scones. scones and drones. i make fun of what i don't understand.

we've missed them the past two thursdays, which are flying like hotcakes. weeks are. work is busy, and enjoyable, and time passes like a swift bunny. the children are funny as funny be.

boy-my family is from czechoslovakia.
other boy-oh, czechoslovakia. that's puerto rico, right?

boy-who are the strokes?
other boy-that's why they're called the strokes, cause nobody knows them.

boy-blah blah, blahblablah, VIVA LA KFC!

and then there's the boy that refuses to say "hey" like a normal human. he lets it flow like an r&b singer. things like that don't translate well over bloghood.

tell me if this is weird. yesterday i found myself standing in front of my bookshelf staring at my books. i had just finished the history of love by nicole krauss, which enrapt me greatly, and was looking for The Next Good Thing. as i scanned the shelf i saw the david sedaris book that i haven't read yet, me talk pretty one day. i picked it up and put it in my bag. i walked out to the little fat boy, turned the ignition, and guess whose unmistakable voice is speaking loud and clear on 90.1 fm npr. that's right. david sedaris. i will now start believing in signs and other wonders.

in other news, the weather lends itself to a good album full of good and tender music. bon iver's for emma, forever ago is just just just.

and here is a picture of baby owl chicks sitting in a bucket.

albrecht durer etches the owl.

i love this owlet.

a foto for caitie.

i feel compelled to do this, because of caitie cruel. fourth foto from fourth album, and explain it.



this is the fourth picture from my fourth iphoto album:

sunrise over lake peten itza near flores, guatemala.
wires, pole, shrub, 9 hour 7 hour bus ride, tikal in the future.
love.


i tag tambo, army nelson, cami h. if you care to?!



p.s. and caitie, i loved that santi cat. and he loved my hand flesh, what.

rest in peace.

elliott smith died five years ago today.

someone found the future as a statue in a fountain
at attention, looking backward in a pool of water
wishes with a blue songbird on his shoulder
who keeps singing over everything
everything means nothing to me
everything means nothing to me
everything means nothing to me
i picked up the song and found my picture in the paper
the reflection in the water showed an iron man still trying to salute
people from a time when he was everything he's supposed to be
everything means nothing to me
everything means nothing to me
everything means nothing to me
everything means nothing to me

just another sad commentary on the e-con-oh-my!

http://brokershandsontheirfacesblog.tumblr.com/

by cholla

cholla is a horse, and he created these paintings.


href="http://www.caladangallery.com/v2/thumbnails.php?album=27">


href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/10/16/horse.painting.exhibit.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories">

true. TRUE!

i'm all about bright colors.









and this guy:




what would it take to make me into that for halloween?




and i haven't blogged about austin (and the austin city limits music festival) because it has put me in a severe funk that can only be cured by moving there.







however i am doubly doubly doubly excited to relive a bit of the fest by seeing the fleet foxes on the 16th! i just got my ticket in the mail!








and this is an owl:


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