your eyes are silent

Title comes from a Mondegreened line of Sigur Rós’ Gobbledigook. No idea what the actual line is.
Cannot think properly because my dad is playing the Strokes really loudly and Julian Casablancas is confusing my fingers. Baahhh.

I tried to write more songs today, all I ended up with were new lyrics for White Winter Hymnal, something based on Sun Hands, and the aforementioned mondegreens of Gobbledigook. Dammit! I wish I could write legit songs. Maybe over the summer something will click and I’ll be the new Zach Condon (No.) and write brilliant orchestrar stuff. Ppffft. Wish me luck.
On the other hand, I was looking through Goodbye Foom (the guy who does Pictures For Sad Children’s livejournal) and noticed that he’d put a link to the song he was listening to under the post. So I tried a few out. There was one (good) by Real Estate, but I’d already heard of them so I moved on. A few tracks later, I came to a song by…uh… I wrote them down, and the paper’s on my bedside table, but I don’t want to get up ‘cos I am really freakin’ tired. And comfy.
Taschen? Nothing to say about it. I am surprisingly warming up to the idea of being his accquaintance and nothin’ more. Hum!

hendumst í hringi holdumst í hendur

Durr.
What did I do today? Honestly, not all that much. I did make cupcakes and order some t-shirts from the lovely folks over at Sharing Machine (I got the I AM AWESOME hotdog, the one with the captain, and the koala farts one), and updated my iPod software over the course of a few hours. The pop-up said it’d take ten minutes. LIES.

Also, sorry for the lack of meaningful writing recently. I have been sick and floppy-feeling, and that flop has leaked its way into my writing. Daaang! What a letdown.
What else? Um, I have a Band Of Horses song stuck in my head, it is called Funeral and is not that bad despite suddenly being brought to the forefront of preteen minds thanks to this new show that features a character singing it for a talent show. It is pretty great. I always kind of wanted to listen to those guys, but then got distracted by Arcade Fire or Neutral Milk Hotel or some other band and left poor Band Of Horses in the dust. It’s okay! I haven’t forgotten about you! I’ll listen to you someday!
Jeez. Played six rounds of canasta wih my family, don’t want to be concious anymore so going to bed. Night!

somehow, everything has changed

what did I do today? um
changed the brake pads on the truck (my mom is getting insurance on it for me tomorrow or sometime soon, yay)
made garlic bread, ate a poached egg
laundry laundry laundry
decided to become a waterbuffalo
thought about drawing a comic
didn’t

that was about it.
currently looking up Icelandic bands on a whim, I have passed one heavy-metal one (Blod) and one ambient electronica one that was actually pretty decent, but not enough to download (can’t even remember his name) and right now listening to this guy named Toggi play something. He hasn’t actually gotten around to playing yet, so I’m actually just listening to him make funny icelandic comments (I’m assumming they’re funny, people are laughing)
OH WAIT HE’S SPEAKING ENGLISH.
ffffff wow. He has a very thick accent, that’s my excuse, and I wasn’t really listening.
Decided to listen to it later. here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwfRIQ6CiNQ&feature=related

I have a feeling this week is going to be one of those weeks spent boneless and spineless, as a jellyfish. I will blog about my journalism experiences. I will blog about my thoughts.
But there won’t be much else.

To everyone in Spain,
don’t get raped.
or pickpocketed
or shoehorned into running away from angry bulls.

forks and knives

Dammit Zach Condon, you make me feel all drowsy and European. I am lying under the covers of my bed, still dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, but In The Mausoleum is sapping all my energy. I don’t want to move.
“Berlin is so ugly in the morning light,” he sings. Is that true? When you wake up, shaking off the glory of the previous night, any city is ugly. Every city is its own story, whether stained with crime and corruption or lifted with culture. But there’s always a time in the day in any city where you feel a deep, crushing melancholy. In New York, it’s around four in the afternoon, when you realize you haven’t done anything but walk around all day hoping to find something unique and exciting, but instead your feet are sore and the bum across the subway car is mumbling rambling phrases to yourself. In Paris, it’s about midnight (or the first time you walk into Notre Dame), you realize how insignificant, how small you are. In new Orleans it’s a bit after four in the morning, when you trudge back to your hotel room and pass the people cleaning up from the night’s festivities.
I embrace the melancholy.
“it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you smile and put away my fright to thse morning light”
I felt the melancholy today, about five minutes into my art class. I sat there, staring at the squid scratched into the zinc, and wondered about truths of our existence.
It is painful to think about those sorts of things, isn’t it? It makes you feel so small, so insignificant and tiny. I occasionally find myself crying when thinking those things, but I do it anyway because I would like to know, kind of. I think it would terrify me, drive me crazy if I knew, but I am insatiable in my thirst for knowledge.

Thank you, Flying Club Cup, for helping me deal with these mental processes. It’s been a while since I’ve just freewritten like this.
‘night.

try to focus on the third eye

Title is from the song Temple Pressure by Alvin Band, it is like an Animal Collective expy except he does not use any instruments besides his voice. It is electroacapella! AWESOME.

So. Today was just jam-packed with nonsensical happenings: I did stuff! I walked places! I used Rayquan as an armrest (he is the perfect height for armresting, I hope he doesn’ t grow until after I leave)!

AND HERE ARE SOME POEMS, BECAUSE TOPICS ARE FAILING ME ATM:
===================================

into the deep

we fall/
straight down
know not where
/and we will never land

through stratospheres and windy pastures

until/I wake
and
you push me/
i fall again—/

==

waves lapping over our souls
you turned to me, quiet, sincere
and planted a sticky kiss on my cheek

i didn’t move to wipe it away
in that moment i was paralyzed
subcutaneous breakers sending
white foam over my nerves

==

underneath the verdant skin
underneath the brown dirt
there is life.
rolling and flowing
beneath our feet,
it connects our hearts
with so many thin wires

electricity flowing
or something else
more intimate and sharp

we cannot see this energy
but yes, the feel is there
running through our veins
so many tiny shocks
dancing and dancing.

=====================

I keep telling myself I need to write more, but the spark has bled (kudos to anyone who gets that reference) and I’m out of creativity. Third quarter apathy can do that to a body, it really can. Hopefully I’ll get some ideas over Spring Break and will be able to pass them on to YOUUU!

Ffffffffff, things could be better.

On the plus side, though, I found today that I have pretty much memorized all the lyrics to “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal”, which  is quite an achievement as that song is eleven minutes long. Haha! Kevin Barnes, I can do it! Now let me design the cover for False Priest!

Speaking of which, False Priest is their next album, coming out probably at the end of the year. I like how they’re doing the titles of them: they all come from this lyric in Fauberge Falls For Shuggie: “Skeletal lamping/false priest/the controllosphere/oooOOOhh!”

Baah out of things to write about.

Later.

back to the life

What did I do today?
Let’s see…

-Finally ripped Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, though I’ve had the CD for probably five years. It was about time I’d gotten around to it. A Day In The Life? Yes!

-Checked my formspring three hundred billion times, no one is asking me questions. -tear-

-Did Chem homework. Hess’ Law! Yay!

-Did Art homework, the assignment was something along the lines of painting something with colour, I did a self-portrait but since I cannot draw realistic noses (especially mine) I have a bandanna over my face, not that you can see much of my face anyway. I’ll take a picture of it and put it up here later.

-Phoned someone about possible job opportunity.

-Made tuna salad.

-Read about six cheesily dramatic short comics, they made me giggle. It’s one of my guilty pleasures in life.

-Listened to Contra maybe five times, skipping Giving Up The Gun (I cannot stand it, cannot stand it.)

-Tried to think up song lyrics, failed, went back to reading cheesy drama comics

-Read the rules for the France programme. Suprisingly, they say nothing about having the opposite sex in your dorm room, or doing questionable things with said member of opposite sex. Hm.

-Downloaded an excellent cover of Animal Collective’s “My Girls”, it is called “My Boys” and is by Taken By Trees. It is not electronic in the least, there is an accordion, the singer’s voice is angelic and sweeping. If you like the original, try this one out. It’s a good redo.

-Tried to learn some Black Keys songs, but I am not nearly good enough as Dan Auerbach at playing speedy licks. Dang! Maybe I need to get an electric guitar…eventually.

-Fed the dog.

-Thought about doing some facepainting, but lost interest.

Suprising lack of angsting, but then again I’ve got nearly nothing left to angst about. Sweet!
Will probably write more later tonight, or tomorrow morning.

born on a day the sun didn’t rise

Title is from the eponymous Black Moth Super Rainbow song, it is lovely and smoothly electronica, much like basically everything else they’ve done. I love their music, it is psychadelic but soes not force itself on you.
So! Today was alright, besides the terrifying Chem test that turned out not to be quite as terrifying as most of us expected. Thanks, Mr. Summerhayes. That was kind of you.
Also brought out my headphones, they were met by much oohing and aahing, mainly culminating in asking me “Aren’t they the same kind as Jake’s?” (they are, just bright purple). Billy wanted to buy them from me. Um, no.

Apart from all that, though, I’m feeling a little disjointed about that reoccuring issue. Um, I don’t have anyone to angst about anymore. It is a weird, weird feeling. I kind of want something embarrassing to happen to me so I can have more material to write about. Unfortunately, I am outside any drama that is currently happening, and kind of enjoying my apathetic jellyfish-like state.
It is not nearly as bad as I thought, this lack of love business.

Trying to get my Last.fm thing to show how much I really do listen to Sigur Ros and White Denim, unfortunately they have no way of tracking how many plays you’ve logged on a CD (hundreds for Takk…, at least 50 for Exposition/Fits) and so I must use my iPod far more often than usual to listen to things. (Well, I don’t really have to, but why not?)

Had a dream last night, I will type it up as soon as my little sister gets off the large computer.

Also: Hello, all you who’ve come here from Facebook. Thanks for clicking.

climbing up the walls

So I decided, when I walked in the door today, to listen to Radiohead.
I have neglected them recently, what with my sudden influx of strange electronica and fuzzy blues. It is nice, you know, to go back and listen to an album you loved way back when. I guess OK Computer isn’t a very good example (as I still love it), but it holds to more ancient things.

Basically, this is how my music taste came about:
From birth till about first or second grade, I was weaned on 80s madness and Dave Matthews and The Smiths and Counting Crows. Once I realized tha I could choose my own music (around the end of first grade), I fell in love with the Spice Girls. I thought they were awesome; I can still sing some of their songs. I have fond memories of jumping on a friend of mine’s trampoline while singing at the top of my lungs.
Well, that went on until we moved down to St. Croix (middle of second grade), and I guess I went back to my regular diet of 80s and 90s mush. I have a CD from about that era, it is full of Dave Matthews, Rush, the Pixies, Wilco, that other similar band and actually some Weezer. Good Weezer.
That went on until about seventh grade, when my dad discovered Death Cab For Cutie, which suddenly opened my eyes to the world of awesome soon to follow. Next came Radiohead (but only bits and pieces of albums), then Modest Mouse, then…
By ninth grade, I had been alerted to Sigur Rós and Interpol and Spoon, via myriad sources. I do not remember how I found Spoon, but I am pretty happy I did. Cold War Kids followed, then Vampire Weekend, then MGMT, then Dungen, then Beirut…
And by the end of the summer, I was extremely well-versed in bands.

It’s difficult, though, to find so many bands (and good ones, too!) without people around you who know of them. I talked to Wil about music so often in 9th and 10th grade, as well as listening to Will and Josh blab about what they were listening to. And there was always Youtube, or Sirius XM U, or my friends in the states to give me the heads’-up on bands I would’ve missed. Thanks!

Also, if you want to find new bands, go on Pandora.com or create a profile on Last.fm. They’re both free sites, and both give all sorts of band reccomendations. Check ’em out!

Also, on yesterday’s angsting topic:
WHO CARES. I don’t, at least not anymore.

Gonna write some poems!

hands away

My mother is looking through my Taschen Paris book and squeeing loudly every time she finds a shop/restaurant near where they will be staying. While I’m doing the Oxbridge programme, they’re going to stay in the city for a week before going home. Gods hope I don’t run into them along the way.
It’s nice, though, to reminisce about all those places I’ve been to and to write down places I need to go. This will be an amazing experience.

Paris aside, today was pretty great for a pre-Valentine’s Day. I got some flowers from my dearies Lil and Genna, small 8th graders recited romantic Shakespeare, Hanifah and Coral sang “Bleeding Love” beautifully about six million times (oy vey). We also did nothing in class for the entire day! Woo.

Tomorrow I’m going to the Ag Fair to eat my various Crucian delights. Mm. Okra.

Also been listening nigh-obsessively to Sirius radio, specifically the indie station. In the last hour, they’ve played:
A very good Animal Collective cover,
The Heimlich Manuever, by Interpol,
The Plot, by White Rabbits,
and a ton of bands I’d never heard of before and sound like 80s music expies. There was a song that sounded like it’d been done by the Talking Heads. I did not understand.
Oh, in case you’re wondering, the “My Girls” cover is called “My Boys” and is by Taken By Trees. It is acoustic but somehow gets the same vibe across as the original.

Mmmmh. Not much else to write about at the moment, despite kind of having a mind-race on a few issues. (if that didn’t make sense to you, that is perfectly alright.)
Will write more laterrrrr!

encroyable!

I WROTE SOME STUFF.

and here it is:

Pallas Athena on your doorstep
you don’t know what to do,
you’re going to quit the place, you fool.
Enjoy this false divinity while it lasts;
as much as I’d like to
give you a hand
they are bound with spiderwebs and candyfloss
and I cannot
cannot
get free.

ANOTHER ONE:

oh never mind, I couldn’t find it.

Writing a song proves to still be ridiculous and elusive, much to my chagrin. I want to suddenly have Kevin Barnes’s lyrical geniusity osmosed into my brain. I want to be able to write semi-rhyming meter. I WANT TO WRITE A SONG, DAMMIT.

FFFFFFFFFF.

Oh and thanks to Wil for doing very kind things, if you ever need to reach something taller than you can reach and don’t have a handy stepladder, I’ll help you out.

BUT. IN OTHER NEWS:
The Bonnaroo setlist came out yesterday. I opened up my email (I’m subscribed to the mailfeed thing) and prepared to be awed…
but was severely disappointed.

Okay. Kings of Leon are playing (they are HEADLINING OH GOD WHAT HAS THIS WORLD COME TO), which is great, sure, but I’ve kinda fallen out of favour with them ever since Only By The Night.
Stevie Wonder, okay, awesome…
Flaming Lips doing Dark Side Of the Moon…eh. I’d rather hear She Don’t Use Jelly or The Spiderbite Song…not too enthused.
The Black Keys, WOOHOOOOOOOOO
The National: Eh.
The xx: WOOHOOOOOO (though I have yet to listen to more of their songs)
Les Claypool: He is the most badass bass player ever, in the history of the universe. He is friggin’ awesome. He makes that bass make sounds that they are not supposed to make. I’ve tried. I cannot do it.

Also: bunch of bands I’ve heard Wil say but haven’t actually listened to. Um, kind of a lacklustre Bonnaroo, at least to me. Maybe next year it’ll be better-

WITH OF MONTREAL AND SIGUR ROS HEADLINING HHHYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

would make. my. life. A thousand times over.

Will write more maybe tonight, but probably tommorrow. I have a shitload of midnight drabbles to write up, but I don’t feel like doin’ it now.