I iz sick :(

I seem to have developed a cold over the night. Combined with dog allergies, my body has rejected my nose. or something.







So I need to go to the store and get myself some Cold-Eeze, Ricola, and herbal tea so I can be awesome instead.

Blerg

Why can I write a four-page blog post (though I know you wish I couldn't) easy peasy lemon squeezy, but I can't write more than one paragraph at at time on my major paper? It's difficult, difficult lemon difficult.

Maybe I have adult ADD. or ADHD.

Do you ever just listen to your entire iTunes library on shuffle? It's fascinating the songs you forget you have.

My coffee has been laced with Kahlua. Watch out world!

I'm OK, You're OK

I decided to make a finals playlist that I will be playing as I prepare for my imminent psychotic breakdown: I think I might call it "The Depths of Despair." (and this is my explicit language warning. yay.)

"iieee" by Tori Amos
"well, I know we're dying / and there's no sign of parachute"
it's sort of like my theme song

"The Perfect Fit" by The Dresden Dolls
"Can't you just do it for me, I'll pay you well / Fuck, I'll pay you anything, if you could end this" I'm good for nothing too.

"Eight Easy Steps" by Alanis Morissette
to fuck up your life
"How to keep smiling when you're thinking of killing yourself"

"Livin' On a Prayer" by Bon Jovi
The title pretty much says it all.

"Woman Like a Man" by Damien Rice
"I need a piss / Wanna hate / Fuck it up / Come"

"Kiss With a Fist" by Florence and the Machine
My quarter is trying to kill me--it will probably end in our mutual destruction:
"You smashed a plate over my head / Then I set fire to our bed"

"Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush
Because I'm running up a hill, and if anyone wants to swap places, you can steal this moment from me.

"Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf" by The Killers
and I'll drink it by myself.

"Mind's Eye" by Josh Ritter
"My day might be coming, but yours is coming first / I'll knock you out of your day lights"

"Help I'm Alive" by Metric
Again, the title says it all. But here's more:
"If I stumble / They're going to eat me alive"

"Hero" by Regina Spektor
"I'm the hero of this story / Don't need to be saved"

"Mr. Zebra" by Tori Amos
"Ratatouille strychnine / Sometimes she's a friend of mine"
There are some people I would to whom I would like to serve this dish.

To those who have finals--good luck to us. To everyone else, you suck.

Brilliant!

This is my friend Raye's wreath made by her friend/neighbor. I love it! One Christmas, not this year but soon, I will make my own. Happy Christmas!

More Book Lust

Yesterday, I finished Collection Development. Our final assignment was turned in and we gave our presentation. There are a few more presentations next week--I plan on bringing a thermos of rum with some eggnog or maybe coffee with Kahlua.

Today I finished my genre advisory class with Nancy Pearl. Tear. We discussed science fiction and fantasy. Fantasy is probably the genre I am the most familiar with. As a young'n I read The Chronicles of Narnia (which I don't think hold up very well as an adult). Later in elementary school I read The Book of Three and then finished up The Chronicles of Prydain. In junior high I started The Belgariad by David Eddings and then continued with The Malloreon. After that I read most of the Shannara books by Terry Brooks. During this time the Harry Potter books were coming out as well (I don't really care for the last three). In ninth grade my English class read The Hobbit, and in high school I read The Lord of the Rings as the movies were coming out. In high school and college I mostly left fantasy behind as I read more "literary" books. I say "literary" because readers' advisory is not about being an English critic; it's about matching books with readers. (So hard!) At the end of college I started reading the His Dark Materials trilogy. And the summer before grad school I read Little, Big which I'll talk about in just a minute.

For fantasy I read Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, which I've already discussed. Here is my annotation: "Richard Mayhew is an unlikely hero whose ordinary life has left him unprepared to deal with the shadowy underbelly of London--a dangerous subterranean world that exists beneath the gaps of the city."

I haven't read all that much science fiction. I do seem to watch a lot of sci-fi movies and TV shows though. Science fiction are often novels of ideas, which make them ripe for discussion. I really enjoyed reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, once I got going, though I couldn't really tell you why except that it's a Philip K. Dick novel. I do look forward to watching Blade Runner. Here's my annotation: "Before there were Cylons, there were Androids, and Rick Deckard retired them for a bounty. As he hunts down the latest model, he must confront his own ideas of empathy, morality, and what it means to be human."

And then I book talked Little, Big by John Crowley, which went pretty well if I say so myself. Here's basically what I said.

Imagine you are a stranger in your own life and to your own family. That is the fate of Smokey Barnable who knows his wife's family thinks they talk to faeries, but he doesn't believe a word of it.

Little, Big is the history of this singular family who live on the border of another realm. It is a secret history of America. And it is a very great love story.

In this novel the reader will:
visit Edgewood which is not to be found on any map
learn Brother North-Wind's secret
build a house made of memory
and discover the enigmatic plans of the faerie's parliament

With intricate design and dense, gorgeous prose, Crowley works his magic on us. I believe this is not a novel to read once but to get lost in over and over. Ursula Le Guin warns "Persons who enter this book are advised that they will leave it a different size than when they came in."

So you should all go buy and read Little, Big which was actually out-of-print for a while. In terms of the best fiction written in the last fifty years, this is near the top of my list.

To finish this whole thing I want to reproduce some of Roz Kaveney's thoughts about genre. This is from a review of Little, Big called "Wit and Terror" that was published in Books and Bookmen:

"Fiction consoles, but it also disturbs, awakes unease. There are questions that have to continually be asked and fiction is one of the best ways to pose them; not least because, truthfully, its answers have to provisional and conditional. The genre and subdivisions of the novel have their obsessional questions and their usual answers; one way of judging the basic seriousness of a piece of genre fiction has to do not so much with the originality of its solutions as with the strenuousness of the efforts it takes to come to the standard ones. The thriller for example has its traditional great Matters—for example, the questions “Can a just man be nurtured by a fundamentally unjust society? Nurtured thus, can he build justice within it?” The regular answer of the thriller is yes; the best thrillers show the price the avenger has to pay as being more than a sap across the back of the ear or a bullet through the windscreen. The campus novel has its conflict of abstract knowledge and institutional power; the novel of life among the urban intelligentsia has its search for balance between sexual equality and sexual justice; so-called hard science fiction has its demonstration that by natural grace and scientific ingenuity you can escape the deaths the universe has in store.

"And the fantasy novel? Too often critics have taken as the sole and crucial matter of fantasy the preoccupation of Tolkien, the quest for a remedy to the world’s pain that will not destroy innocence with the temptations of power. Impressive and popular as The Lord of the Rings is, it manages it landscapes, vast green-leaved or slag-heaped vistas of pathetic fallacy and implied morality, far better than its people: it leaves the impression that important issues have been turned by sleight of hand and Georgian prettiness into questions of good and bad practice in urban planning and rural conservation. After all, the Grail is only worth seeking is you can believe in a god who put it there to help those who help themselves, in an Avalon to which burned-out heroes can retire with dignity. There is another great Matter for fantasy, one of more obvious resonance for the creative artist—the reconciliation of faerie and humanity; of the passion, power, and wit of a world of sensuality, magic, and danger with the requirements of a kind and ordinary life."

(Two more weeks. Two more classes. The end is in sight.)

10 Things

Thursdays are the worst. It's the end of a long day at the end of long week at the end of a long quarter. Blerg.

That brings us to my ten things (stolen from a running series by MaryPosa):

1) School makes me sad. At the end of my three hour class tonight I wanted to jab my pencil into my brain. Two more weeks . . . I may die. Mostly I'm just exhausted.

2) Eating hot Dick's. Sometimes one just needs greasy, empty calories to make the pain go away.

3) The Jack Rose. Fast food and alcohol are a magical, magical combination. The Jack Rose is currently one of my favorite cocktails. Take 2 ounces of Applejack (Laird's is the only company that makes this apple liquor; French Calvados is also acceptable). Add an ounce of fresh lime juice, and a half ounce of grenadine (I make my own from pomegranate juice and sugar). Shake it over ice and pour into a coktail glass. Delicious town! GQ says it's the booziest cocktail you'll drink five of. My day is much better, by the way.

4) Kind things said by others about oneself. It's very gratifying and humbling. We're always so inside our own heads, that's it's always refreshing to hear what others think about us, especially when it's the good stuff.

5) I really need a manicure. I was introduced to this cosmetic treatment by Slarue and Rae. My nails were so pretty! Now they're dull and ragged. But who will go to the salon with me?

6) Speaking of cosmetics, my skin is looking pretty good. It's probably all that money I'm spending on strange chemicals and then applying them to my largest organ. Oh, and helpful tips from acne.org like using a featherlight touch and avoiding scrubs. One day I might like to try a more natural oil regimen (oil dissolves oil after all), but I'm afeard for my skin.

7) I finished reading Neverwhere. It's only the second Neil Gaiman novel I've read. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I think Gaiman's a great storyteller but not as great a writer (he's still pretty damn good). I think The Sandman is genius and I love his short stories, but something in the execution of his novels is lacking. Now I'm reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I'm really liking it.

8) I'm betting most of you have seen the Xtranormal videos. Here's one called Library School: Hurts So Good.

There's also a pretty good one about getting a PhD in the humanities. It makes me laugh. and cry.

9) Now that I have a job where I can listen to my iPod again, I have reunited with my podcasts (and it feels so good!). Listening to TBTL, This American Life, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, The Weeklings, Selected Shorts, and Planet Money makes work a lot better. I'm also more connected to current events. Win win!

10) Tina Fey is a comedy goddess. She was recently awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. It was broadcast on PBS. You should at least watch her acceptance speech. You can see video here.

My New Favorite Thing

Last week I was mildly obsessed with The Pioneer Woman, particularly the cooking part. She has just been dethroned though by Allie Brosh of Hyperbole and a Half. But don't fret Pioneer Woman, your considerable use of butter will always draw me back.

Hyperbole and a Half is a blog that is illustrated by Allie's cartoon drawings. It's a perfect storm of well-told, hilarious stories replete with amazing cartoon drawings. I always have a case of the giggles as Heidi could tell you. It's just the funniest site I've read in a very long while.

The first post I read dealt with moving and how that affected her two dogs, neither of which have coping mechanisms of any kind. Dogs, they're so funny!

Once I discovered this website, I didn't do anything else with my weekend. Some of my other favorite posts include The God of Cake in which a young Allie is psychotically consumed with the need to consume an entire cake. I relate entirely too well with This is Why I'll Never be an Adult. And then there's Spiders: "Spiders are little pieces of death wrapped in scary." So true. And this image had me laughing so hard I almost died. No seriously, very strange gurgles started coming from my throat and I almost stopped breathing.

copyright by Allie Brosh

So happy Monday everyone. Good luck getting anything done.

Christmas Time is Here

I mentioned last week that is was snowing here Sunday afternoon, but it wasn't sticking. Well, I woke up Monday morning to a winter wonderland. of two inches. And Seattle freaked out. I was working at the library Monday afternoon, when it was announced that campus would be closing operations at 5 pm. So I got on a bus and it took forever to get home in the snow. Then it was announced that operations would be suspended for Tuesday. Snow day! Sometimes, you gotta love Seattle. Campus was supposed to be open back up on Wednesday, but they decided to keep it closed at the 11th hour. Snow day number two! And then it was the holiday weekend--I haven't been to class in over a week. And I don't want to go back.

Well the temperature has climbed a little and the snow has (mostly) melted. Thanksgiving is over, which means we can talk about other things--like how many movies I want to see in theaters (Black Swan!). Love and Other Drugs was all right. The main selling point is nudity--Jake said he and Anne are naked like 65% of the film. Yup. And they're gorgeous, so who loses out? Their chemistry (and bodies) are the best part of the movie which is otherwise a fairly traditional romantic comedy. She's terminally ill, he's a player, they have hot sex--no strings attached--but then they get attached.

I just updated my Netflix queue for maximum holiday cheeri(less)ness First up is The Ice Storm which I actually think takes place at Thanksgiving. Following is A Charlie Brown Christmas to remind us all of the true meaning of Christmas. and that great Peanuts dance. Next up we have The Family Stone. I kinda want to say it's my secret shame, but I've only seen it once before. Then we have Eulogy which is black family comedy. I kinda wanted to see Everybody's Fine when it came out last year, but I didn't. And then we have The Apartment which is one of my favorite films and is somewhat Christmas-y. To top it off there's The Dead, John Huston's final film adapted from a James Joyce short story which actually takes place at Epiphany (which is in January). And my roommate has Love Actually which is my favorite Christmas movie of them all. What movies do you break out in December?

Last month I tracked down my two favorite Christmas songs which are both Tori Amos rarities: "Little Drummer Boy" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Amazing. I also love "River"--I have the original Joni Mitchell version and an amazing Allison Crowe cover. Crowe also has an excellent cover of "Hallelujah." Brandi Carlile's "The Heartache Can Wait" is one of my new favorites from last year (thanks Megan!). Also on the Hotel Cafe album is "Winter Song" and "Auld Lang Syne." "Song for a Winter's Night" by Sarah McLachlan is also lovely. Weezer does a great upbeat version of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "O Holy Night," a couple of personal favorites. Sufjan Stevens also does a good version of "O Holy Night" and I enjoy his original "Get Behind Me, Santa!" The classic Crosby & Bowie duet "Little Drummer Boy (Peace on Earth)" is one of my favorites. Add to that "A Great Big Sled" by The Killers. "The Holly and the Ivy" is one of my favorite carols, but I don't have a smashing version of it. Frowny face. Throw into that Martha Wainwright's "How Soon" (not actually a Christmas song) and Diana Krall's "Christmastime is Here," and you have a pretty good playlist. Favorite Christmas songs?

Happy Holidays Everybody!

The Day After Yesterday

I am thankful for my roommate Heidi who did almost all the dishes from yesterday's feast.

Only Cameron and Chloe came over, but that did not deter me from making a feast. We were small in numbers but had enough food to feed an army. My thinking was that you can never have too much food at Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving leftovers are the best leftovers of all.

I started taking some pictures of the food but then I forgot, so this post will not be illustrated. If you would like to see what the food (mostly) looked like, you can go to The Pioneer Woman Cooks. It is my new favorite blog and is where I got most of my recipes this year. Besides, she's a better cook and photographer than I.

On Tuesday I first made cranberry sauce which I do every year. Thanksgiving without cranberry sauce is a sad state of affairs. On Wednesday night I made an apple de leche pie (oh my!) and then proceeded to eat the rest of the dulce de leche from the can.

I bought a 6+ lb turkey breast and brined the bird for over 24 hours. The meat was very moist, but I don't know that the flavor was exceptional. This was my first year roasting a turkey--I had to buy a meat thermometer!--but I think it went pretty well. The nice thing about a small bird is that it only took around 3 hours to cook. The sad thing about buying a turkey breast is that there's no dark meat.

On Thursday morning I started the Parker House rolls. I thought about halving the recipe, but opted against that. It made about a bajillion rolls. Well the recipe says 36, but I think we got more than that. But rolls are the best!

Then I made homemade stuffing which was basically a cubed baguette topped with onion and celery sauteed in butter and boiled with herbs and vegetable broth. It was actually quite good.

While the turkey was resting, I made gravy from the drippings. This was my first time making meat gravy, but it turned out all right, I think. While this was all happening, Heidi made a pumpkin spice cake (Heidi once had a bad experience with pumpkin pie, so this was not allowed), mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole.

Cameron and Chloe brought us some cranberry bread and sparkling Pinot Noir. It was delicious--after it was gone, we had some Washington State Merlot and New Zealand Suavignon Blanc. Tasty! And since Heidi doesn't drink, this equated to a bottle per person. After dinner was done, but before dessert, we played a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit. Chloe won of course. She recently auditioned for Jeopardy, and may get a call any day to be on the show. I almost got a third wedge, but I answered Julie Kristeva instead of Julie Christie. Similar names; very different people. I blame the wine.

After they had left, and I was quite drunk, I had to finish an assignment that was due that night. On Thanksgiving! Evil. And the assignment was evil. It was a lot of work about web crawlers--something I understand at a very minimal level. The hardest part was going to open source crawlers and trying to find certain architecture features. I just made stuff up.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday this year. How did it go? What are you thankful for?

Once I finish the dishes, I'm going to catch a matinee of Love and Other Drugs. I'll report back. I'll also give a rundown of my holiday playlist.

Olio

"Olio" and "oleo" are frequent solutions to the USA Today Crossword puzzle. I like that online crossword puzzle cause it's free and easy--if you enter the wrong letters it will let you know, so it's easy to cheat.

Three weeks ago or so, I had several blog post ideas, and I was going to write them just as soon as I had time. Foolish me. Now the ideas have evanesced from my mind.

So this is just to say "Hey! How's it going? What's up?"

School is kicking my butt. I hate information retrieval systems--the class mostly, sometimes the actual systems. There's lots of maths involved. I've never hated math before, I was even kind of good at math especially when I had a good teacher, but that's all over now.

In my management class, I have to write a memo letting employees know that shift might hit the fan (I don't know anything about anything and might not have a job myself), but I have to reassure everyone and keep them working. I want to write "Run for you lives! We're all going to die!" But that might set the wrong tone.

Collection development is the class that causes the entire cohort to go out drinking afterward and bond that way and over Facebook status(es). But our final assignment--in which groups have to write a selection policy--is almost done. Did I say almost done? because I meant almost due.

Yesterday in Nancy Pearl's class we talked about Westerns and whether that's even a viable term anymore. Maybe regional literature is a better definition instead. I already mentioned that I read Shane and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. In two weeks we'll discuss fantasy and science fiction. I currently have Neverwhere, Dune, Sunshine, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and The Passage sitting on my table. We'll see which ones I read/finish.

It was snowing earlier today. It just stopped. For about ten minutes it was snowing pretty hard and even momentarily sticking. It might continue to snow throughout today and tomorrow.

Right now I'm thinking up my Thanksgiving Feast. It might only end up being me and my roommate. All our friends that we invited are going home. My roommate's vegetarian, but I'm still going to look for a really small turkey. I might end up getting a chicken instead, like Chandler (and we be watching all the Thanksgiving Friends episodes). I found this brining recipe via Megan, and really want to try it. I will be making cranberry sauce (it's tradition!), and I need to find some bottles of wine.

I also bought my plane tickets home yesterday, which means I can go to Megan's wedding and apartment Christmas and Elise's party. I can't wait!

So that's what I've been up to. Next week I hope to post my holiday playlist--ho ho ho!

Book Lust: A Really Long Book Post

A while ago, I promised a post on the books I was reading in Nancy Pearl's (librarian extraordinaire) readers' advisory class where we are taking on genre fiction. We discussed whether or not genre was a useful term--there was much debate--and we read a short essay by Ursula LeGuin called "On Despising Genres." Most of us thought that calling a book genre fiction or even saying that it "transcends genre" places a value call on it--which as librarians we want to avoid (but as a critic...). However, we were not sure if interfiling so-called genre books with "regular" fiction would be helpful for our users (and us) or not.

We started with mysteries and thrillers. I read Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie for my traditional mystery. It was my first Christie (and possibly my last). It was a fine book, but not really my cup of tea. Nancy likes to say there are four doorways to a book: story(/plot?), setting, character, and language. One classmate believes there is a fifth doorway--idea (like a philosophical novel, perhaps). Now most books will have components of all four doorways, but will primarily utilize one or two. And most readers have one or two doorways that they prefer to read. I like books that focus on characters and are beautifully written. Hello Shakespeare! Story and setting are generally secondary to me. So Orient Express is entirely a story book where Hercule Poirot sits back and solves a mystery like a puzzle. Mysteries after all are essentially intellectual books. I will say the solution to the murder was unusual, and I didn't see it coming at all.

For each book we read, we are supposed to provide a brief annotation, basically what you would see under staff recommendations. A one to two sentence review that teases the potential reader while staying true to the tone of the book. Here was my annotation for Murder on the Orient Express: "Get stranded on the fabled Orient Express with a cast of international passengers and follow Hercule Poirot at his finest while he tries to solve a seemingly impossible murder mystery with an unexpected ending." It's not a very exciting annotation.

For my contemporary crime novel, I read the international sensation The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the original Swedish title translates to Men Who Hate Women). I am boggled by why this is such a popular book. I think the pacing is really uneven which is critical for a thriller; it's probably why I didn't find it very thrilling. I don't think it's well plotted which is perhaps less of a story problem and more of a narratological issue. The setting, in Sweden, is perhaps the best element of the book. Sweden, as presented in the novel, is a very different place than I am used to, and it flavors the whole work. There are two central characters: the journalist Blomqvist, who is really boring (though he somehow has lots of sex), and the (possibly autistic) sociopath and hacker Lisbeth Salander. Salander is a much more interesting person, but I don't quite buy her as a fully developed character. Maybe this is due to her autism and sociopathy (things I don't fully understand), or perhaps that she is a male fantasy, as one of my friends thinks. The language is technically proficient, but it's very literal--lacking any literary devices or figurative langauge. That may just be the translator's issue. Many of my classmates objected to the strong violence portrayed in the work, but I generally don't have an issue with fictional violence portrayed through the written word. Last night I just watched the Swedish film, and it possibly did less for me than the book.

My annotation: "In this shocking and violent crime thriller, a journalist and computer hacker join forces to solve one prominent family's mystery only to uncover a larger conspiracy of corporate corruption." If you've read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, what did you think? Like or dislike? I have to say that most of my classmates enjoyed this book (as well as millions of people worldwide). Opposed to intellectual mysteries, thrillers focus on adrenaline and the emotional impact built on a series of escalating and life-threatening events. So do you guys read mysteries or thrillers? If so, do you have any titles you would suggest?

Our next session was about romance novels. The list of traditional romances included such classics as Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility. The Regency romance novels of Georgette Heyer were also included and Rebecca which I chose to read. It was a good novel, but I didn't think it was very romantic. Basically a young, unsophisticated woman marries an older and wealthy widower, Max de Winters, and goes to live with him at the estate of Manderley. The titular Rebecca was the first Mrs. de Winters, recently deceased, who by all accounts was beautiful, sophisticated, and charming. The unnamed protagonist is haunted by the memory of Rebecca, but things really get cooking 2/3 of the way through the novel. It was an interesting book, and I'm excited to see the Hitchcock film. Supposedly it's among the least of his works, but it's his only film to win Best Picture. My annotation reads: "At the grand estate of Manderley, the young Mrs. de Winter must contend with a menacing housekeeper, a distant husband, and the ghostly presence of his first wife, Rebecca."

Then we discussed modern romance novels. Oh boy. I read My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne. I was so opposed to reading one, that I ended up pleasantly surprised. Sadly(?) I didn't finish the book, but the writing was much better than I was expecting, and the lead female character, Jess, was feisty and headstrong. (Apparently the writing goes downhill and Jess becomes a much weaker character in the second half). There was plenty of sexual tension from the very beginning, but I never got to the part where they ended up in bed together. There are two features of every romance novel: a central love story between two characters and a satisfactorily happy outcome. (Also, there is lots of sex.) There is also a surfeit of sub-genres. For example, my novel took place in London during the Napoleonic Wars. Here's my annotation: "Follow the headstrong Jess Whitby as she navigates London's seedy underbelly to clear her father of treason. Standing in the way is the rakish Captain Kennett who has his own plans for Jess and may lead to her undoing." I wanted to finish the book, but there was other homework and it was overdue at the library, but I think a got a good snapshot. It also made me think there might be something to romance novels.

Then we got to graphic novels, and I read a bunch from the class list which was divided into superhero comics and more "literary" ones. My roommate and I both read Superman for All Seasons by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, and my roommate developed a huge crush on Superman. I've always been more of a Batman guy myself, so I read Year One and The Dark Knight Returns both my Frank Miller. Year One is pretty good, but I really disliked The Dark Knight Returns (where Miller is also the artist) even though it's widely considered to be one of the best Batman comics ever. I think Miller is an acquired taste. And I also read The Long Halloween by Loeb and Sale. I really like this one because it uses most of the rogues gallery including an origin tale of Two-Face. It also does a good job with meshing Bruce Wayne and Batman. My annotation: "Follow Batman as he tries to deduce the surprising identity of Gotham's latest serial killer, Holiday, who is targeting members of the Falcone crime family. Along the way the Dark Knight must contend with the formidable villains of his rogues gallery and the loss of an honest friend."

Much of our discussion centered on whether or not graphic novels was an appropriate term. I've always thought of graphic novels as a book-length comic or a book of collected comic issues. But I also like the idea of just calling them comics too. Both terms have their problems. We decided it's best to use whatever term the patron is using. We also discussed whether or not comics/graphic novels are a genre or a format. I'm inclined to think format since there's a wide and diverse range of genres in the comics format. People keep talking about the "death of the novel" and I think that comics might really be the next major literary format.

Among the "literary" graphic novels I read Persepolis and Blankets. Both of them are very good. And both are memoirs not novels at all. Persepolis is the story of Marjane Satrapi, a young girl growing up in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war. Blankets is a coming-of-age love story by Craig Thompson who grew up in the Midwest in a Evangelical Christian home. Then I read Fun Home by Alison Bechdale which was really good. I won't describe it more than by my annotation: "In this graphic memoir, Alison Bechdale comes out as a lesbian; four months later her father dies--likely suicide. By turns funny and tragic, this is the story of their complicated relationship woven together with books and fraught with secrets."

Next time we're discussing Westerns. For my first Western I read Shane by Jack Schaefer. It's the archetypal story of a man who rides into a Western valley, cleans up town, and rides off into the sunset. Shane is a dangerous man who stays with the Starretts; the novel is narrated by the young boy Bob Starrett. The Starretts are homesteaders who are being driven off the land by a rancher and that's where Shane comes into play. My annotation: "A man's dark past and a boy's future cross paths when a lone stranger rides into a burgeoning Wyoming town where he is soon caught in the middle of a power struggle between homesteaders and ranchers." Right now I'm reading The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen. It's ostensibly a work of (historical) fiction, but it feels like narrative history. The book's okay, its just long and dense.

After that we're reading fantasy and science fiction. It will be very exciting, I'm sure. So do you guys read genre fiction? If so, what are your favorite genres and books?

And the Winner Is...

Elise!

Thanks to everyone who played--you're all winners in my book (and you'd all get a book if I could afford that). I may make this a semi-periodical thing, so keep your following ways.

More posts to come soon.

And Happy Guy Fawkes Day. Can you believe it's November already?

Rant

So I got these awesome new old-fashioned WeSC headphones last year--like the ones Joseph Gordon-Levitt wears in (500) Days of Summer--and they were/are awesome. Only the cord is like a foot-and-a-half long. This didn't really matter because it came with a longer extension cord. Sad story: the extension cord shorted out (or something) and no longer works. So I stopped using these awesome headphones and started using bud headphones which are lame. Now I'm trying to look for a gold-plated male/female extension cord and they're all like a bajillion (or fifty) feet long, or they have sucky user reviews, or the postage is super expensive, especially for a freaking cord. Just slap a Forever stamp on it. Sheesh! All I want is a high-quality 3'-6' gold-plated male/female audio cord. Is that so much to ask for? I think not. It's not like I'm even asking to find one that's the same orange color to match the existing cord.

So my Washington school log-in page called, appropriately enough, MyUWNetID, is inexplicably showing up on every web page that I visit. It's f**king annoying. My roommate said I should export my bookmarks and then reinstall my browser. I don't think any of those words are English.

I voted today. In Washington we vote by mail-in ballot which is lame since I don't get an "I Voted" sticker at my local precinct. But voting itself is not lame, and you should all vote! Here's what the liberal Seattle weekly The Stanger says:

"Glen Beck says you're not going to vote this year. Bill O'Reilly says you don't have the guts. Sarah Palin says you're going to toss that ballot straight into your socialist recycling bin. And Christine O'Donnell says masturbation is a sin and she's not a witch and she's you and you're not going to vote.

"Here's why they say you're not going to vote: because the Republicans are unstoppable. They're going to take the House and the Senate and the pennant and the Oscar and the Emmy and the cake. And they know this because they heard it--and said it--in the echo chamber that is Fox News.

[Other stuff about local issues and one fanboy "Squeeeeeeeeee!"]

"Vote. Prove Beck, Palin, O'Donnel, and the rest of the health-care-killing, Wall-Street-loving, anti-gay, pro-kitten-rape dickwads wrong."

And if you want to win a book, enter by leaving a comment in the previous post. Why wouldn't you want a free book?

Copy Cat: Book Giveaway

My "Hello Kitty" jack o'lantern that you can see in an earlier post died. It got one good night all lit up, and then the mold descended. and bugs. It was gross. Then the pumpkin collapsed in on itself; tragedy. All those years carving pumpkins in Utah and I never had this problem--then I moved to the Pacific Northwest. *sigh*

Remember how I hadn't seen any really good, really scary movies this year? Well, I watched The Haunting, and it was freaking terrifying. After watching it by myself after Heidi went to bed, I read a blurb that said "Do not watch this one alone!" So that was helpful; actually it was good that I didn't read it beforehand since it contained spoilers. I can safely say it's the scariest film I've ever seen, and it's a good film in its own right. If you're looking for something to watch this Halloween, there's a suggestion.

For Halloween, I decided to go as a fairy. It seemed a fairly obvious choice. So I went to Display and Costume and ended up buying butterfly wings and a butterfly mask. (At one point there was also a pink tutu.) So I guess I'm going as a butterfly--maybe Heimlich. But it's kinda like a fairy--maybe I'll get some colored hair spray and body glitter.

Anyway, here's the real draw of this post--following in the footsteps of MaryPosa and Neil Gaiman--I'm giving away a book because that's the kind of world I want to live in. Also, what's a better use of the student loans I will spend the rest of my life repaying? So here's how you enter--do one or more of the following:

1. Leave me a comment.
2. Follow this blog.
3. Tell someone else about this post--share the love!
4. Post your reading list on your blog or Facebook (or somewhere) with a picture of you peeking over a book--comme ci--and send me the link.

So you can be entered up to four times. I'll randomly select a winner (or two) in a week--Friday, November 5th--and send you a book!

Concerning the BHAG

Right now I am writing a vision document (about the SLC public library!) for my management course. In class we discussed whether every vision needs a BHAG--that is a "big hairy ambitious goal" and also one of the worst acronyms ever. I wondered why does the goal need to be hirsute? Why can't it just be a BAG? Like a Birkin--isn't that ambitious enough?

I hate quarters. and assignments. and readings. Blerg. Oh well, back to the grind.

Notes from October

Today we had people over at our apartment to carve pumpkins. I carved a cat's face. It kind of looks like Hello Kitty. We also had pumpkin treats galore--Heidi made pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cake (with pumpkin frosting), pumpkin pizza (in the crust not as a topping), and we had pumpkin beer. Lots of vitamin A! We also just roasted the pumpkin seeds from the jack o'lanterns. We also had apple cider and apples with a caramel dip (it's actually just cream cheese and brown sugar). It was very autumnal.
This quarter is stressful. Last fall I took 10 credits, but 2 of those credits were basically a one weekend class. So I had 8 hours of class per week and no job. Now I'm taking 14 credits and have a part-time job. Blerg. I have to manage my time efficiently, and that is not one of my strong suits. Like I should be doing homework right now, but I'm not.

I also just ran through all my scary movies from Netflix, so I had to get some more in my queue. Also, apparently I no longer get scared which is kind of disappointing. Cat People was somewhat suspenseful but not scary, then again it was made in the forties. Alien was also a bit whatever. It wasn't really my kind of movie in the first place, and you know everyone is going to die until only Ripley's left. The alien was creepy, but aside from a few jumpy moments it wasn't scary. What Lies Beneath was actually the scariest movie I watched. It directly invokes Hitchcock and gets a bit ridiculous at the end. It also employs a lot of cliches, but those are cliches for a reason and were terrifying. I thought Rosemary's Baby would scare the bejesus out of me (quite literally), but again, nothing. The novel terrified me as a freshman in college, and the movie is a fine film, but it's more eerie than scary. Scream had it's scary/jumpy moments, but I was over it as soon as the film ended. Even The Silence of the Lambs was not super scary though Anthony Hopkins was quite evil.

I need a really good scary ghost movie that will haunt me long after the film ends. The scariest movies I saw last year were Misery and The Innocents. I also thought The Orphanage (El Orfanato) was really good and scary.The Shining of course is one of the scariest films I've ever seen and a masterpiece of cinema. Anyway, I've added Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? which I don't think will be all that scary, but hopefully dark and disturbing, and The Haunting (the original). Hopefully that will be terrifying. I'm also thinking about having a party and watching the classic 1931 versions of Dracula and Frankenstein. I don't think they'll be scary, but it could be fun to watch these really old monster movies and play games and make caramel apples or whatever. Sadly Netflix does not have Frankenstein to rent--it's only on Instant Watch. Have you seen any good scary movies this year?

Also, I need some suggestions for a costume this year. So far the only suggestions have been Mrs. White--the maid from Clue--or my professor Nancy Pearl based on her action figure. But if you have other ideas, especially ones that don't involve cross-dressing, I'd love to hear them!

Double Ninth Festival

Here's a lovely autumnal poem for your delight. Enjoy!

To "Drunk in the Shadow of Flowering Trees"

Pale fog, then dense clouds—
     gloomy all day long;
in the animal-shaped censer
     incense burns away.
Once again it is that autumn holiday:
to my jade pillow behind the gauze screen
at midnight the cold first comes.

By the eastern hedge I took wine in hand
     after twilight fell.
A fragrance filled my sleeves unseen.
Don't tell me this does not break your heart—
the west wind blowing up the curtains
and the person,
     as gaunt as the chrysanthemums.

by Li Qingzhao
translated by Stephen Owen

Silent All These Years

Today is National Coming Out Day, and while I've never been a very good activist (for anything) in the wake of the recent slew of suicides and the furor over the last LDS General Conference, I can no longer remain silent.

I don't have much to say about everything, other than that Ms. Tori Amos was the best gal-pal this gay boy could have. So I wanted to post this video of "Merman." Tori originally wrote this song for her husband, but she was on tour when she heard Matthew Shepard was killed, so she started playing and dedicating this song to him, and it took on a life of its own. Like a lullaby, this song is simple yet so comforting.

Who could ever say you're not simply wonderful?
Who could ever harm you?

Igruffusa

Please humor me and click on this link to a new blog:

http://igruffusa.blogspot.com/

It's for one of my classes. You can read more about it at Igruffusa.

Now wasn't that fun?

The First (Half) Week

I quit. I've only had two days of classes, but I already want to quit. Here's a brief recap:

On Thursday morning, I had 580--Management of Information Systems. It's our required management core class, and I was not excited to take it. However, it may actually be one of the better courses I take at the iSchool (it's hard to tell after one class though). Our professor, Nancy G., is great, and she actually has real-world management experience (half our professors have never worked in a library or have real-world experience) and she's structuring the class to be a more practical course (rather than the iSchool's penchant for theoretical ones) and there's almost no group work (something else the iSchool LOVES). So it sounds pretty good, right? Well, Code Name "She" is in the class. And She sat right next to me! I won't go into all the details about She because it would take too long and would frankly be too mean. Suffice it to say that She is universally disliked by my entire cohort. Now I think Nancy had been warned and she was able to manage She pretty well. In the future, I just have to make sure that She doesn't sit next to me, or there may be a bloodbath.

Well, I didn't have another class for five hours, so I caught up with some people, bought my textbook, and did the reading for my class that night--Information Retrieval Systems. The reading was something about Boolean searching and inverted files and only about half of it made sense. So then I went to this class, which counts as a required technology core, which also happens to be three hours long, from 4:30 to 7:20 every Thursday night. Half the class was made up of MLIS students, but the other half came from our sister MSIM program--the master's of science in information management. Oh, and one student who is a computational linguistics major. Early on we were promised no calculus and no programming, and then we quickly started talking about logarithms and programming. I'm pretty sure I have never ever learned about logarithms, and if I did then I have repressed all such knowledge. At the end of the three hours, the LIS students were traumatized, and the SIM students were all like, "but of course." I kind of thought this would be the easiest of the tech cores (foolish me!), but maybe I should have taken the XML class instead.

On Friday, I had another three-hour class, this one is Collection Development and Management. I think the material will be really important to learn and useful in the future, but I haven't made up my mind about the class yet or our professor. What I do know is there will be a helluva lot of work. She seems to believe in the principle that since this is a three-hour course, we will do nine hours of work outside of class. There are lots and lots of readings, online lectures, mandatory online discussion posts, and while there are only three assignments they are very involved projects. Oh, and She is in this class too. Fortunately, She is not in my group. And the class does end at 4:20 which means it's happy hour time.

I still haven't had Nancy Pearl's class which is six hours every other Saturday. But everyone loves Nancy Pearl and her classes, but there's still a lot of work to do. Okay, well it's time to hit the books. Oh, and Heidi and I built my bed--a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (literally) went into it, but I have bed now. So that's something.

Survey Says

Today is the first day of the quarter and the school year here at UW. I, however, don't have classes till tomorrow. I'm not very excited for this year, but I still hope it will be good. Anyway, my friend Megan has posted this Beginning of Semester Inventory survey previously, and I thought I would steal it.

Age: 24

Relationship Status: Single, and very happily so.

Hair: Medium short, and in need of a trim soon (or when I get around to it in a month or so).

Current Employment: I am a sad little unemployed student. But I just interviewed for Monographic Acquisitions which went . . . okay. And I just applied for Interlibrary Loan (which is where I worked at the U).

Residence: Lake City, Seattle, WA

Activities: Currently, sleeping and watching TV. But classes (and hopefully work) will be in full swing soon. And finishing my MLIS degree.

Future plans: To achieve the perfect liquid line. Nothing spectacular--going home (hopefully) in December; graduating (hopefully) in June.

Currently reading: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier; Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie; The Iliad by Homer; Oldman's Brave New World of Wine by Mark Oldman. And I need to start my Westerns--Shane and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford--ASAP!

Currently listening to: The Suburbs by Arcade Fire at this very moment, my fall playlist, Tori Amos (especially From the Choirgirl Hotel), Josh Ritter, et al.

Currently watching: Gossip Girl, Glee, Modern Family, and 30 Rock
Also rewatching Gilmore Girls and Battlestar Galactica

Currently anticipating: Poetry Group, pumpkin beer, scary movies, and my reader's advisory class with Nancy Pearl.

Recently acquired: a new apartment and roommate, IKEA furniture (my bed should be arriving today), some more books...

Goals for this quarter: getting a job, staying on top of my classes, buying a weather appropriate jacket

Well, here I go again.

Life and Other Stuff

As most of you know, I have a new address along with a new roommate, Heidi, and new furniture by IKEA. I'm not really going to miss my old place even though it was nice (except for the upstairs neighbors who liked to turn their apartment into a discotheque on the weekends). I will, however, miss having HBO. I now live in Lake City which is a neighborhood in north Seattle. I'm not really sure which lake the "Lake" part refers to--probably Lake Washington. I live really close to a QFC grocery store, Bartell Drugs, Dick's Drive-In (this will be dangerous), the post office, the public library, and a fire station (which is loud). All in all, it's a pretty nice neighborhood.

I moved in a couple of weeks before Heidi, who was still in Minnesota for the summer. Her futon stayed in Seattle though and was my makeshift bed for a while--surrounded by boxes and boxes and even more boxes. Moving was traumatic enough; I had no energy to unpack anything. Especially without furniture. Moving from a furnished apartment to an unfurnished apartment is so not fun. So I went to IKEA for the very first time to get some cheap furniture. This is the part where I grew up and learned that furniture is incredibly expensive--even the cheap stuff costs a pretty penny. There was a lot to see and Swedish meatballs to eat. I ended up getting a coffee table, chair, book case, dresser, and mattress but no bed. Funny story--I helped my former roommate's ex-boyfriend move across town and he left me his old wooden bed frame which he told me was full sized. So I bought a full size mattress. Turns out the frame is actually a queen, so that didn't really pan out. I had also wanted to get a box spring mattress for extra height since IKEA bed frames are like 15 inches off the ground. Not good. But IKEA was sold out of box spring mattresses. So earlier this week, I finally ordered their tallest bed frame and bed slats (instead of a box spring) online but they won't come till Monday. Which is fine because it was just today that I finally screwed my dresser into the wall. Yes, you read that right, because apparently if it's not mounted securely to the wall, the weight of the dresser will cause it to fall forward. This is high quality stuff. And my bedroom remains a work in progress.

But Heidi finally showed up and we moved all her stuff in and then unpacked and organized almost everything, and suddenly our apartment looked a lot more like a home. We also got Internet which meant I stopped playing Jewel Quest for hours and hours on end. Heidi also decided to commit to lacto vegetarianism after flirting with it for a while. This will mean some interesting cooking adventures (I still remain an omnivore). Heidi also does the dishes almost every day which means our kitchen stays very clean!

I thought about buying a new TV because I have an old, analog CRT TV (which I love! I'm such a neo-Luddite), but since I don't have cable, or a converter box, I need a digital TV. and a tuner. and an antenna. So I have decided to keep my TV to watch DVDs on and I'll watch my television shows on my laptop. Hello Hulu! Also, buying a bed wiped me out--who knew beds were so expensive, even compared to other furniture?--so there are not a lot of funds for TV.

Earlier this week I went to Northgate Mall and got a fresh supply of Burberry London--reunited and it smells so good! Plus, they were having some kind of sale, so I got it for $30 off. Booya! Then I went and saw Easy A which was pretty funny. Basic summary/tease of the film: "I always thought that pretending to lose my virginity would be a little more special. Judy Blume should have prepared me for that." And I have "Pocketful of Sunshine" stuck in my head from watching this clip.

I still laugh every time. It's not the greatest high school/teen film ever, but it's thoroughly entertaining. Also, Emma Stone may be our chance for a non-trainwreck-y Lindsey Lohan.

I start school in a week. Boo. So here's what happened with my summer reading. I won't even remind you of my sweet sixteen list because that basically didn't happen. I read Lowcountry Summer which is possibly the worst book I've ever read in my entire life. I read The Absolute Sandman Vol. 3 which I bought for myself for finishing the school year. It was pretty good. (I also reread Vol. 1.) I read most of The Omnivore's Dilemma before it was seriously overdue at the library, but Heidi owns it, so I can finish it. I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and was seriously unimpressed. Why is it an international phenomenon? I read The Magicians and it was better. I read Winter's Bone, and I was glad I didn't grow up in the Ozarks. And I made it 2/3 of the way through The Iliad and really my only goal was to finish that book before school started. I suppose there's still time, but only a week. Dammit!

I tried reading The Big Sleep for my genre fiction class this fall, but it's not nearly as good as The Long Goodbye. I think I'm going to just watch the movie and read a different mystery instead. This last week I read Batman: Year One and Persepolis which are on the graphic novels list. I'm also reading Rebecca which is romance, and then I plan on watching the Hitchcock movie afterward. And I just picked up Shane and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford which are Westerns. I've noticed that most of the books we can choose from are also movies. I'm thinking maybe I should do film advisory instead of readers' advisory.

With October just a week away, I've already chosen the scary movies I'm going to watch this year. Now I prefer to watch psychological thrillers and ghost stories to slasher/splatter/torture porn films as I prefer terror to horror. I generally don't like satanic horror films either because invoking the dark prince has always made me rather uncomfortable. Anyway, get me some pumpkin beer and let's go: I just saw Gaslight last night--the 1944 version with Ingrid Bergman and Angela Lansbury in her debut! Not really a scary movie at all--it's mostly atmospheric and suspenseful. Next is Cat People which I had never heard of before. But I've read that it's scary and a classic. Following that is Alien and it's probably time I see this monster movie. Then we have What Lies Beneath a Hitchcockian supernatural thriller with the lovely Michelle Pfeiffer. Then we come to Rosemary's Baby which I know is a bit demonic (it was this or The Exorcist). I read Ira Levin's novel my freshman year of college and it was terrifying. Scream is next--my one concession to slashers--and though I should probably watch A Nightmare on Elm Street and/or Halloween before Scream, I don't think I'm ready for those films. Then we top it off with The Silence of the Lambs. I've never seen the film, but I'm already terrified of it. I've rented it before but chickened out. But I think this is the year.

So yeah. I know I haven't posted much lately, but that's just a little bit of what's been going on.

The Really Big Music Post

Part I

The other day, I was thinking, “What do I look for in a song?” And the following is what I came up with. First, based on my deep and abiding love for female singer/songwriters, I love girl power—like the following strong female artists: Tori, Regina, Alanis, Amanda, Sarah, Joni, Ani, Kate, Suzanne, Sheryl, Kelly, etc. I’ve never really been a pop diva kind of gay—Madonna, Britney, Lady Gaga, Cher—being the alternative singer/songwriter mo that I am, but I do like me some Cher every now and then.

Another reason why I love singer/songwriters is because I love a story. As the former English major, I’m all about words. Even in movies the dialogue and story is usually more important to me than the visual aspects. And with songs, lyrics mean far more to me than music. See, I’ve never been the guy who can hear the story in a symphony. But I will happily listen to a girl (or guy) strumming basic chords on a guitar if they’ll sing me a story, especially if I can sing along to it. But my idea of sing-along-ability is probably different from most people—I don’t really go for the baby baby boom boom.

Along with stories, I look for literate lyrics. I’m all over lyrics that are essentially poems, and I love literary allusions. My favorite type of allusion is to religious symbols, but not so much in a faith-affirming, hymn-like way; I’m talking about iconoclasm. Break those images! My unofficial senior thesis was about “unprodigal” daughters who break apart/rewrite the patriarchal myths of religion.

So while lyrics trump music, the music is still important. One of the things I’ve noticed about songs I particularly love is the use of layered vocals—which I believe is technically called doubletracking(?). I love the rich, full sound that layered vocals give a song. I also like multitracking(?) where several parts are being played over each other in rich confusion. And I love a slow-burning crescendo—songs that start out at a whisper and slowly build up ending in a bang.

Finally, I like good beats and hooks as much as the next person; catchy tunes are great. But no matter how catchy a song is, if there’s nothing behind it (story; lyrics), then once I’ve listened to it several times on repeat, I’ll forget it about it in a week or so. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I like a song with emotional resonance. Something relatable—which is ineffable and different for every person. So that’s what I look for in a song. How about you?

Part II

My friend Elise posted one of those Facebook meme notes—top fifteen albums. One is supposed to list one’s top fifteen albums without too much thought. Well I thought a lot about it and took it to mean the top fifteen albums throughout my life and not just my favorite fifteen at this moment. Now I only have about 45 complete albums and EPs, and many of them I’ve just downloaded within this last year, so those are not in the running. I’ve listed the albums in the order that I listened to/purchased them.

The Phantom of the Opera by the Original Broadway Cast
Ander Lloyd Weber’s rock opera was the soundtrack to my childhood. It’s still pretty good.

Les Misérables by the Original London Cast
Because, yes, I’m also a bit of a musical theatre queen. I’ll tear up a bit if I listen to “Do You Hear the People Sing?” or the “Finale.”

Fallen by Evanescence
My friends and I liked Evanescence our senior year of high school. It was also one of the first CDs I ever bought—I listened to it a lot those first couple of years in college.

Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette
Alanis was my first love (that wasn’t a musical), but it wasn’t until the end of my freshman year that I bought her first (and best) album.

Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink by Tori Amos
I first heard Tori Amos in Jen’s dorm room (for which I’ll be eternally grateful), and it was instant love. I bought her first two albums the beginning of my sophomore year. Little Earthquakes is my desert island record.

Poses by Rufus Wainwright
I got this along with the two Tori albums. I listened to this album on and off throughout college, and it still reminds me of a road trip to Arizona with Rae and Slarue.

Wicked by the Original Broadway Cast
I got this soundtrack for Christmas sophomore year as most of my college friends were obsessed with the musical. I listened to it over and over again until I knew all the words—that’s how we musical theatre queens do it. “For Good” and the “Finale” get me every time.

Rent from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
I saw the film when it came out with Val; at the time I loved it though I’m more critical of the movie today. Nevertheless, I bought the soundtrack later that year. My sophomore roommates had to put up with a lot of Rent, Wicked, Tori, and Alanis that year.

Begin to Hope by Regina Spektor
Valerie gave me this album for Christmas our senior year, and “Samson” got me through finals. Since then I’ve purchased Soviet Kitsch, which has some of my favorites, and Far, which I think is her most cohesive record, but it’s her breakout album that introduced me to Regina’s world.

Mirrorball: The Complete Concert by Sarah McLachlan
I’ve liked Sarah since high school and I bought some of her songs through the years—“Building a Mystery” was my most listened to song junior year, just ask Chris—but I’ve never owned any of her studio albums. I got this live album post college.

Everything in Transit by Jack’s Mannequin
When I worked at Barnes & Noble, a coworker burned this album for me and I love it. It’s a great CD to zip around town to especially in the summer.

Garden State from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
Although I saw the film when it came out freshman year with James, and I kept thinking I should get the album for years, it wasn’t until after college that I finally got the CD. It's super relaxing--perfect for hanging out or long, meandering drives.

Boys for Pele by Tori Amos
It was only a couple of years ago that I bought Tori’s third album at a used record store. Critical reaction to her experimental and not very listener/radio friendly record was mixed, but it was embraced by fans as a cult favorite. And after many, many listens, I joined their ranks.

To Travels and Trunks by Hey Marseilles
I bought this album a year ago, just after moving to Seattle; Hey Marseilles is a Seattle band after all. They’re one of the hottest bands in Seattle currently—I’ve seen them live twice—and their first album is very enjoyable.

Part III

Well, it’s the middle of September, and the grey and rainy skies have returned to Seattle. It is fall. And with the changing of the seasons, it’s time to revisit/revise my fall playlist. I submit twelve songs for your consideration.

“Caramel” by Suzanne Vega
Don’t you think caramel is autumnal—like caramel apples at Halloween? I do. This cautionary song about longing is perfect for brisk fall days. “It won’t do to dream of caramel, to think of cinnamon, and long for you.”

“Honey” by Tori Amos
Honey, like caramel, also reminds me of fall. I don’t know why. And the warm, womb-like sound of the song (it was recorded in an adobe house) reminds me of an Indian summer. “So when we died I tried to bribe the undertaker / Cause I’m not sure what you’re doin’ or the reasons.”

“The Horror of Our Love” by Ludo
Amber introduced me to this song last year, and it’s perfect for fall with its tale of monstrous love (more Wuthering Heights than Twilight) inspired by this Dali quote: “I love Gala so much, if she dies I will eat her.” And what’s more appropriate for autumn than monsters and a litany of horrors? (Besides pies and sweaters, I mean.) “I’ve murdered half the town / Left you love notes on their headstones.”

“October” by Stephanie Smith
Perhaps a bit on the nose, but October is my favorite month of the whole year. Sadly, Stephanie doesn’t have such warm and fuzzy associations with the month. “But I’m still sleeping in your sweater / When I’d be better off to throw it out.”

“Be Here Now” by Ray LaMontagne
It’s almost a whispery lullaby that nestles you close like a pile of blankets. “Don’t let your soul get lonely / Child it’s only time, it will go by.”

“Haunted” by Evanescence
It’s spooky enough for Halloween. “Hunting you, I can smell you alive / Your heart pounding in my head.”

“I Miss You” by Blink-182
A nostalgic favorite from high school. It also references The Nightmare Before Christmas. “Hello there, the angel from my nightmare / The shadow in the background of the morgue.”

“Change of Time” by Josh Ritter
One of my favorite Ritter songs, it’s about dreams, memory, time, and moving on. “The black clouds I’m hanging / This anchor I’m dragging / The sails of memory rip open in silence.”

“Northern Lad” by Tori Amos
Everyone’s familiar with a red sunset, but in Seattle during the fall the Western sky is often tinged an ethereal pink. This song reminds of that for some reason. Though Tori’s lad is from Northern England, it rains a lot in the Pacific Northwest too. “I feel the West in you, but I feel it falling apart too.”

“Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap
Another whispery and haunting lullaby. “All those years / They were here first / Oily marks appear on walls / Where pleasure moments hung before the takeover.”

“Poses” by Rufus Wainwright
The song seems to be about time wasted, buying into the poses—façades—of life, and the inability to change. “In the green autumnal parks conducting / All the city streets a wondrous chorus / Singing all these poses, now no longer boyish / Made me a man, oh, but who cares what that is.”

“Somedays” by Regina Spektor
The song is a quiet lull, a tale of person who is only left with remnants of days—some of which aren’t yours at all. “I’m not here, not anymore / I’ve gone away / Don’t call me, don’t write.”

What are you listening to these days? What songs remind you of autumn?