Leaving Terra

I have recently fallen in love with Tori Amos's album Scarlet's Walk (2002). I've loved the singles "A Sorta Fairytale" and "Taxi Ride" for a long time, but have only recently listened to the album after borrowing it from the library a few weeks ago. The fans seem to love it, and it was the critics' favorite since Under the Pink, but I wasn't feeling it at first. Even though I originally thought my girl could do no wrong, I am beginning to suspect that perhaps her career peaked with From the Choirgirl Hotel. But like all of Amos's music, and even more so with SW, you don't listen to the music and lyrics, the lyrics and music listen to you. And so, slowly, I have fallen under the spell of Scarlet's Walk. Neil Gaiman describes the album this way, "the CD's about America--it's a story that's also a journey, that begins in LA and crosses the country, slowly heading east. America's in there, and specific places and things, Native American history and pornography and a girl on a plane who'll never get to New York, and Oliver Stone and Andrew Jackson and madness and a lot more. Not to mention a girl called Scarlet who may be the land and may be a person and may be a trail of blood." That's a beautiful description, and I think it is also helpful in discussing Tori's music. Ever since Boys for Pele, Amos has created elaborate concepts for her albums that sometimes fall flat and/or overwhelm her songs. But one doesn't listen to a Tori Amos song the way one listens to nearly any other artist's work. Each individual track is like a chapter in a novel, and her songs work best as ethereal poems which tell stories through her lyrics and the piano melodies that underscore them. Obviously, she is not a universal but a niche artist. Anyway, this exegesis has gone on for longer than I intended, but I just want to briefly mention a few of the songs I love from Scarlet's Walk. I enjoy "Crazy" very much, especially for its religious implications. These lines are just delicious: "First, let's just unzip your religion down / Heard you were once Temptation's Girl." In "Another Girl's Paradise" Amos explores how hard it is to genuinely wish others well and not envy them, and how impossible it is to placate Desire--she will always remain everything we want and cannot have. "Does it all come down to the thing one girl fears in the night / is another girl's paradise." And I love the eponymous track "Scarlet's Walk," which for me not only refers to Amos's persona's cross-country road trip across America and especially her retracing of the early European settlers' footsteps, and conjures up images of Scarlet O'Hara, but also refers to the Trail of Tears which is also a path of blood "through the violets." It's also a commentary on the state of America and her land, religion and liberty. I also enjoy "Amber Waves" and "Don't Make Me Come to Vegas" which are about a fading porn star, and "I Can't See New York."
By the way, Tori Amos's latest album, Abnormally Attracted to Sin, hits the stores tomorrow. I haven't much cared for the first single "Welcome to England" but the reviews have been mostly good. I'm still not sure whether I will purchase it or not--I probably will. But I really hope to see her in concert at Abravanel Hall here in SLC in July.

In another commentary on the future of our land, Tim DeChristopher is one of my heroes. He threw a monkey wrench in the bidding at a questionable auction of Utah's BLM properties which were being bid on by oil and energy companies. He made a false bid of $1.8 million dollars he has no intention of paying. You can hear more about his story and a broader discussion of civil disobedience by listening to this episode of RadioWest which aired three weeks ago. (I am behind on my podcasting.) He has been charged with two felonies and is currently awaiting trial which will hopefully raise more awareness of our land and energy policies. I firmly believe in civil disobedience especially as one of the few ways to truly enact social change. It also reminded me of one of my favorite quotes from V for Vendetta, "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." Of course, V isn't about civil disobedience as much as a violent revolution, but still. Furthermore, I sometimes wonder about the relationship between Mormons (and other Christians) and the land. I'm not entirely clear about the theology/doctrine but I know Mormons have a covenant with God to be stewards which includes a stewardship over the land and our planet. Yet, a majority of Utah Mormons are quite conservative on this issue (as they tend to be on all sociopolitical issues) and even anti-environmentalist. And from my own point of view, there seem to be a number of fundamentalists who welcome climate change and global warming and whatnot as a signal of the "End of Days" and perhaps eschew any responsibility for the care and protection of our home: Earth. On a related note, Utah's popular and moderate governor, Jon M. Huntsman Jr., is accepting a new post as ambassador to China. This means that presumably the much more conservative Lieutenant Governor Gary Herbert is poised to take over. He will be the first governor, I believe, to be from Utah County (or Provo, which either way doesn't bode well for me), and over the last few months he has taken some distance between Huntsman's more moderate and progressive stances on issues such as same-sex civil unions and energy policies. We will have to wait and see what happens, but I am not terribly optimistic. I guess it's a good thing I am moving to Washington state in the fall.

I also just wanted to mention the incredible time I had this past weekend. As my hours got cut at the Marriott Library--called "work sharing"--I no longer work on Fridays, for the time being at least. Which is sort of nice, but I also really need the money. Anyway, I went to an early matinee of Angels & Demons with my dear friend Kristyn whom I haven't seen hardly at all this last semester. I read all of Dan Brown's books when The Da Vinci Code first became popular, though since then I have joined the Dan Brown backlash to a great degree. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the novel Angels & Demons more than the Code. When I finished the book, I wished I was Catholic, or to be more precise, I wished I was a lapsed Catholic. Anyway, even though it wasn't on my summer list, the movie was pretty decent, a bit a lightweight fun, much better than the adaptation of the Code anyway. And it raises some interesting questions between science and religion. Vittoria, one of the scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider and a proponent of anti-matter technology, believed she was helping to change the world. Her greatest fear about anti-matter concerned the unscrupulous energy companies; she did not imagine that it would be used for terrorism. In the end Tom Hanks's character urged her to go back to her work and "change the world." Anyway, in terms of renewable energy we still have a way to go. And I wonder if there is truly such a thing as a stable, clean, safe, efficient, and renewable source of energy. Ewan McGregor makes a hot priest by the way.

On Friday night, I went to my friend Melissa's house where her family was having a barbecue--the first one of the season. I had my first hamburger since a rather unfortunate experience back in March, and I enjoyed a truly delicious pasta salad. I had fun playing night games such as Kick the Can and Capture the Flag which I haven't played for years. Saturday was a pretty chill day. I worked on chores and cleaned my room. I watched a silly movie from Netflix entitled A Touch of Pink. It was a good idea that had great potential but fell flat in its execution from the script to the actors to everything else. There was still a scene set on the Thames with the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament--how cliche!--that nonetheless stopped my breath as I was washed over in nostalgia. I never got over that perpetually surreal moment of stepping out of Westminster station and seeing the Houses of Parliament, lovely as a postcard.

On Saturday night, I went out with my friends Dain and Megan to see Star Trek--the best movie of the summer so far! It was most excellent, and I felt a little giddy most of the time. I especially enjoyed Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine as delicious eye candy. The action was eye-popping, and the plot, while fairly simple, was nevertheless entertaining, and the movie moved along at a nice place. If you haven't seen it yet, I strongly urge you to go at your earliest convenience. Throughout the movie I was reminded of watching TNG every afternoon as a child. By the way, seeing one of the Star Trek movies as a young child terrified me and was what instilled in me a deep-seated fear of eternity--in terms of both time and space, which may turn out to be the same thing. It wasn't until I watched Star Wars (the original trilogy) with my family that I could appreciate science fiction and also watch Star Trek. What is wonderful about the Star Trek franchise is that it portrays a largely hopeful, post-racial future--something we can look forward to instead of a more traditionally bleak, dystopian future. Anyway, I look forward to the next movie. I think J.J. Abrams did a masterful job of reimagining the original series.

And on Sunday I went to my friend Whitney's apartment to cook dinner as our group likes to do every so often. But first it was the one year anniversary of my sister and brother-in-law's wedding. They came over for an early dinner as did my aunt. For her birthday, which is later this month, I gave her a personally signed copy of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. It is her favorite genre/fantasy novel and Gaiman is one of her favorite authors. She cried and told me it was the best present she had ever received which made me feel pretty good. I also want to thank Rae, who encouraged me to buy the book and get it signed. Anyway, at Whitney's we made risotto and tri-tip roast which was incredibly delicious and we all got drunk on wine and too many Long Island Iced Teas*. After which we watched some YouTube videos including "Puke in My Mouth" and then we watched a number of episodes of How I Met Your Mother, one of my favorite television series. We were up till two am which made getting up for work this morning at seven a rather fun adventure. Anyway, all in all, it was a fantastic weekend.

*Here a couple of quotes concerning the Long Island Iced Tea which I rather enjoy.

"Honey, someday when you're a little older you will be introduced to something that is extremely seductive but fickle. A fair-weather friend who seems benign but packs a wallop like a donkey kick, and that is the Long Island iced tea. The Long Island iced tea makes you do things that you normally wouldn't do, like lifting your skirt in public or calling someone you normally wouldn't call at really weird times." - Lorelai Gilmore Girls

"And don't forget that one Long Island is nice, two is okay, and three tends to start unhappy problems." - A.J. Rathburn Good Spirits

Just Chillax

There's a wonderful music video that I stumbled upon featuring the incomparable Mary-Louise Parker for Charlie Mars's new song "Listen to the Darkside." Not to mention that the song's pretty good too. (And, by the way, there are few things better than a guy with a nice body wearing a white t-shirt.) I was going to try to post the video here, but there was a technical difficulty, so the link will have to suffice.

Anyway, today I was working on my chores, which I like to do with the aid of some music--as I'm sure most of us do. Usually, I listen to my energy playlist (and with the advent of summer, my summer playlist), or if I'm in a mood my angry shit playlist. However, today has been a bit chilly and breezy--I'm really not sure why all the windows in our house are open--and I was not feeling bitchy or in the need to be energized. So I chose my rarely listened to chill playlist instead because that's basically the mood I'm in today: chill. Anyway, I have chosen these songs because they are basically relaxing, but I don't have a lot. So this is where you come in. I'm looking for some chill, relaxing songs. The kind you might have playing in the background during a laid-back party where everyone is sitting around talking and drinking some wine. Something that strikes the middle ground between a loud, upbeat rock song--nothing too fast--and a slow, melancholic ballad--nothing too somber or sleep-inducing. Something along the lines of the Garden State soundtrack which happens to be the basis of the songs I already have, my favorites include "In the Waiting Line" by Zero 7 and "The Only Living Boy in New York" by Simon & Garfunkel. The music of The Shins, Coldplay, and Colin Hay. A few others I might mention here are "Pleasure Songs" by the Mary Onettes, "Falling in Love At a Coffee Shop" by Landon Pigg, and "Poses" by Rufus Wainwright. I hope you're ready to play! Ready. Set. Relax.

Listmania!

All of those who know me, know that I love making lists of all things! First I wanted to add a few songs to my summer playlist. "Dark Blue" by Jack's Mannequin is fabulous and perfectly fits the summer mood for me. I enjoy The Atari's cover of "The Boys of Summer" (as well as the original by Don Henley), and the title says it all. My friend Rae recommends the sexy "In These Shoes" by Kristy MacColl featured on Sex and the City and Kinky Boots.

And now here is the more definitive version of my summer reading list. Currently I am reading Little, Big by John Crowley, Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and The Secret History by Donna Tartt. That last one is for book club, and I will of course be reading the other works our book club chooses for the summer months. Here is the rest of my list:
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
White Noise by Don DeLillo
American Rust by Philipp Meyer
Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
Let's Not Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Finally, I am looking for a good, light, beach read--any suggestions?
I know the list looks Herculean, but really it's nothing compared to reading lists of summers past. Of course, I never actually finished those. I have much higher hopes for this list. Wish me luck!

And finally, I present my list of the summer films I more or less wish to see. I fully expect I won't see a lot of them--I am desperately broke after all. But should time and money permit, I will hopefully see more and not less of the following movies.

The Informers (no longer playing at the Broadway?!) based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel.

State of Play now playing. It features several wonderful actresses: Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, and Robin Wright Penn.

Star Trek now playing. I've only heard wonderful things.

Little Ashes which may never come to SLC. *sigh* A biopic featuring such luminaries as Federico Garcia Lorca, Salvador Dali, and Luis Bunuel.

The Brothers Bloom with the incomparable Rachel Weisz.

Terminator: Salvation I have actually seen none of the Terminator franchise movies. I think it would be helpful to start with those. So I may not actually get to this one anytime soon.

Easy Virtue looks like a fun, breezy English dramedy. It also looks like Jessica Biel can actually act.

Up Do I need to say anything? I think everyone wants to see this latest Pixar.

Away We Go I'm super excited for this Dave Eggers movie starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. I'm also looking forward to performances from Allison Janney, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Catherine O'Hara, and Jeff Daniels.

Cheri is a period drama set in the Parisian 1920s with the phenomenal Michelle Pfeiffer.

My Sister's Keeper looks like a tearjerker based on the novel by Jodi Picoult. I could take it or leave it, so we'll just see what happens.

Whatever Works Woody Allen has been really hot lately with such films as Match Point and Vicky Christina Barcelona. This one features the lovely and talented Evan Rachel Wood whom I adore.

Public Enemies promises to be a major blockbuster with the talents of Christian Bale and Johnny Depp.

(500) Days of Summer looks like a fun, offbeat romantic comedy with the enchanting Zooey Deschanel.

All Good Things is, I believe, a detective thriller with Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst, Kristen Wiig and Frank Langella.

Adam features my celeb-crush, Hugh Dancy, as a man with Asperger syndrome who falls for the lovely Rose Byrne.

Julie & Julia I can't even wait for this movie! I love Meryl Streep hardcore and I love the memoir by Julie Powell, portrayed by Amy Adams in the film. It could well be yet another major blockbuster for Streep (The Devil Wears Prada, Mamma Mia!) who just keeps getting better and better.

The Time Traveller's Wife We read the novel for book club and it wasn't my favorite. But I could be talked into seeing the movie featuring Eric Bana as Henry and Rachel McAdams as Claire.

And that is the preliminary rundown of the movies I want to see between now and Labor Day after which I will be moving to Seattle to start grad school.

The Cat in the Hat

I've been meaning to blog about several things for a while now, but due to both business and laziness, I have deferred. In the interim, enjoy this hilarious SNL sketch starring Amy Poehler.

Summer Playlist

Yesterday was Derby Day, and I was going to write about that wonderful American cocktail--the Mint Julep--and fabulous hats, and Southern gentility, and I hear there's a horse race too. The Mint Julep is a wonderful thing to sip on the veranda on a balmy summer's evening. (But you won't be up for doing much else after consuming one of these fine creations.) Chris Mcmillian teaches us how to make the perfect one. Another wonderful, yet simpler, summer drink is the Cape Cod which is essentially vodka and cranberry juice over ice with a squeeze of fresh lime juice--a forerunner of the Cosmopolitan. A wonderful and refreshing drink when the temperature is climbing, and what a wonderful preppy name too.

Anyway, on to my summer playlist. The songs should be upbeat and energetic for the most part to match the fun, free-spirited nature of the season. That doesn't mean summer never allows for moments of existential angst or introspection especially when the heat waves roll in. Summer is one of my favorite seasons (a close second to autumn). And when the summer ends, I experience a nostalgia that I can't quite explain. Like every summer was perfect and it will never be that way again. Anyway, on to the songs! (and in no particular order.)

"All I Really Want" by Alanis Morissette. This is one of my favorite Morissette songs, and I love jamming to it in the car. I also associate the song with summer as I first bought Jagged Little Pill late one warm spring. So pump the volume up and get ready to rock.

"Soak Up the Sun" by Sheryl Crow. Obligatory nod to the sun? Check. It's perfectly effervescent and makes me think of bonfires on the beach. Plus, it has a certain "Fuck you" quality that fits the summer mood nicely. I would also like to include "If It Makes You Happy." This is a world-weary, sexily exhausted number and one of my favorites of hers. I suppose we could also nominate "All I Wanna Do."

"White Houses" by Vanessa Carlton. A song about being young and in love set against the backdrop of the season. "The smell of gasoline in the summer heat." It's her song about losing her virginity, and she's reflecting on the summer she had and can never forget about the way things were. "These silly little wounds will never mend / I feel so far from where I've been."

"Downtown" by Petula Clark. a groovy song from the sixties about the joys of going downtown. "Forget all our troubles, forget all our cares." It's the perfect summer song about escaping it all.

"Daylight Robbery" by Imogen Heap. It makes me think of piling into the car with all of my friends on a warm summer night, flying down the interstate heading towards the city lights. "Pleasure moment, thinking big, thinking positive / And itching to get on with it, it's all stops out." And who can resist the energetic beat? Sonic joy indeed.

"Bouncing Off Clouds" by Tori Amos. I listened to this song constantly during the summer of '07, so it's associative. It reflects on a love lost and found, and I find the idea of bouncing off clouds somewhat summery. It's also one of her more rocking, up-tempo songs.

"Los Angeles" by Sugarcult. I find references to California to also be references to summer. This isn't shiny, happy people, but an angsty song about a guy just trying to catch a break in that most shallow of cities: L.A. "This city's killing me / In the heat of Los Angeles." It's a favorite song of mine if I'm looking for some anger or energy. Turn it all the way up!

"LDN" by Lily Allen. It's an upbeat, jazzy song "celebrating" life in London which I visited in the summer. "Sun is in the sky, oh why oh why / Would I wanna be anywhere else?" I also love her new song: "The Fear."

"Stolen" by Dashboard Confessional. This is the kind of reflective end-of-summer song that looks back on the season that came before--that sort of nolstagia I was talking about. It's a strong rock song, and I love it so much. I also love their song "Vindicated" which was featured on the soundtrack of that summer blockbuster Spiderman 2. Another strong, energetic song that reminds me of studying for finals when I just wanted to be outside playing in the sun.

"Summer in the City" by Regina Spektor. Because summer isn't all just fun and games. Sometimes it's a melancholy and lonely affair felt more keenly than during any other season. And missing absent friends. Besides, I love the opening line: "Summer in the city means cleavage, cleavage, cleavage." I also love "That Time" by Regina. A far more upbeat song. "Hey remember that time when I only ate boxes of tangerines / So sweet and juicy! Tangerines." A happy-go-lucky song that ends on a note of retrospection.

"Mr. Brightside" by The Killers. I have memories of driving home late summer nights and this song being on the radio. But really any summer playlist has to feature The Killers. I also love "Read My Mind" and "When You Were Young."

"California" by Rufus Wainwright. Like I said, California makes me think of the sun and beach and surf--summer. This is a jazzy little number that's also a fairly biting satire of the Golden State. "You're such a wonder that I think I'll stay in bed."

"Kids" by MGMT. Or "Time to Pretend"--it really doesn't matter. We should also include something by Vampire Weekend. Perhaps "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"? From what I've heard these bands' songs just have a summery quality to them.

"American Boy" by Estelle. This is fun little song featuring some love and fashion but especially travel, and if that's not summer then what is?

Anyway, these are the songs that I will be listening to this season, and I'm sure I'll be adding to the list. I hope you all have a wonderful summer!