The First Days of Spring

So Seattle had its warmest January on record this year, and while it got a little colder in February, it's officially spring in Seatown. Everything is starting to bud and bloom, and along with the rain, we've had glorious days of sun--we hardly know what to do with ourselves. So it is time for a new playlist.

Now I've never made a spring playlist because spring doesn't really exist in Utah. Basically you get April where it rains a lot. But it's still snowing in March, and by May it's practically summer, (there are a lot of songs which could be spring-y, but actually work better for summer), and April, for me, is probably one of the least memorable months of the year--nothing happens!--so spring? I'm like whatever... So I'm sort of at a loss at how to put together a spring playlist, but here goes nothing.

• "The First Days of Spring," appropriately enough, by Noah and the Whale. This is the title track from their latest album. It's a band from London that Megan turned me onto. The album is a break-up album about moving on and starting fresh--the very essence of spring. I don't know if it's epic, but at six-and-half minutes, it's quite long. "It's the first day of spring / And my life is starting over again." I'm also including their song "Blue Skies" since we've had so many sunny, blue skies in Seattle lately.
• "Sweet Disposition" by The Temper Trap. Now while I sort of think of Spring as a tart--here's a week of warm weather, and them bam! blizzard--this is what all spring songs should be like: sweet, ethereal, bright, and lovely with this light undercurrent of energy.
• "Another Sunny Day" by Belle and Sebastian. Sunny days in the garden, and rainy days stuck inside. This is my first B&S song which I quite like, and I need to get more into their stuff. If you're a knower of the Belle and Sebastian tell me which songs I need to get, spring and otherwise. I'm also considering "We Rule the School" and "Asleep on a Sunbeam."
• "Folding Chair" by Regina Spektor. I'm not really sure what this song is about, but I think it's a little bit fun, innocent, and bittersweet. "Maybe one day you will understand / I don't want nothing from you but to sweetly hold your hand." Also, Regina literally sings like a dolphin.
• "Father Lucifer" by Tori Amos. One of my favorites from Tori, it's more vignette than full-fledged song. "You always did prefer the drizzle to the rain / Tell me that you're still in love with that milkmaid." And the bridge is gorgeous.
• "Sweet Darlin'" by She & Him. A bright little song that captures the twitterpation of spring so nicely. This is my first She & Him song; I'm also toying with "Sentimental Heart." Suggestions?
• "Lust" by Tori Amos. This is one of the most sonically unusual songs I've heard. It almost feels like you're listening to it underwater--there's something atmospheric about it which somehow says spring to me. "So she prays for a prankster / And lust in the marriage bed."
• "Origin of Love" from Hedwig and the Angry Inch. My favorite song from Hedwig, it's an origin story (I love origin stories), and isn't spring an origin story too. It's kind of sad for spring though.
• "The Same Tattoos" by FENCES. I don't know--this is a Seattle band that I heard on TBTL, and I like the song. The tune is nice and mellow and upbeat, the lyrics maybe not so much: "It's not like you were really gone gone gone gone / But you were / And I never felt love." Doesn't have anything to do with spring.
  
• "Happy Phantom" by Tori Amos. A playful song about what might happen after we die, with some darker notes of reflection. "And I will never need / Umbrellas in the rain / I'll wake up in / Strawberry fields every day." Like Tori says, sometimes we need to hang out with Death for awhile, but then we have to go out and live.
• "Every Time It Rains" by Charlotte Martin. I have never cried so much as when I listened to this song, but that's another story. And rain is a metaphor for tears after all. "Every time it rains / I know it's good to be alive / And every time it rains / I know I'm trying to survive."

So that's what I have so far, mostly songs about rain or sun and love. After searching around on the Internet looking for spring playlists, I have a handful of song in my iTunes wishlist that I'm not quite ready to buy. "Mr. Blue Sky" by Electric Light Orchestra, "Daffodil Lament" by The Cranberries, "T-Shirt Weather" by The Lucksmiths, "Long-Forgotten Fairytale" by The Magnetic Fields, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Tori Amos, "Testament to Youth in Verse" by The New Pornographers, "Raindrops from the Sun" by Imani Coppola, and "A-Punk" by Vampire Weekend. I like Vampire Weekend though I don't quite love them like everyone else. Anyway, I think their stuff works better for summer, but "A-Punk" might just work for spring.

So, what think ye? Send your recommendations my way!

Meet Me in St. Louis

Or Clayton, as the base may be. So last Thursday, the weather in Seattle was glorious--sunny and warm--and I was stuck inside writing a paper of doom. It was a rough draft on privacy and surveillance and how these issues affect libraries and librarians. Anyway, after consuming copious amounts of caffeine and writing ten pages, I said, it's good enough, and I sent it to be peer-reviewed by classmates. The nice thing about getting most of that out of the way is that it won't be so bad to revise/finish in a couple of weeks. And then it was time to consume copious amounts of alcohol and pack my bags for St. Louis!

I woke up bright and early on Friday so I could register for classes at six am. I think I'll like next quarter better--only one core class and two electives. If I don't like the electives, I'm just screwed at library school. Then I finished packing and called a taxi to pick me up. It was a lovely ride through Seattle and all that sun. $60 later I was at the airport where ESPN (or something) was blaring commentary about Tiger Woods's apology, and who cares? It's not actual news. Every time one of these "stories" break I want to buy this book. Eventually I boarded the plane to fly to Sacramento which is probably the most rural and agricultural of all major airports to which I've been. Then I flew to Phoenix, and then finally to STL. The full day of flying did not help my complete mental and physical exhaustion. I swore off caffeine and alcohol--this lasted less than a day. Then I took a taxi to Clayton, a wealthy suburb of St. Louis and the county seat of St. Louis County. The city of St. Louis is its own independent thing. And I was deposited at the Sheraton Hotel which is much nicer than the places to which I am accustomed to staying. It was actually a little unnerving, but wonderful. And then Rae dropped off Slarue and we caught up, swapped gossip, chatted about boys, and then I fell into a deep, restful sleep.

The next morning I was totally refreshed and the whole gang went to see Rae's daughter, Katie, play in her basketball game. Afterward, we made the mandatory stop at Target, because no trip to a new city is complete without a visit to this homogeneous big-box retailer. We grabbed a quick bite at Stratton's Cafe where I finally met the fabled Keith, whom I like a lot. The French dip was delicious--pickles, what a revelation!--but Hell's Kitchen will always be #1 in my book. Then Nick, Rae's brother, chauffeured Slarue and I to the Moolah Theatre for my authentic St. Louis experience. He got lost on the way, but I don't blame him--without mountains (and large bodies of water) I had no sense of direction. We drove past Washington University, lovely red-brick institution that rejected Nick and Slarue. If they had an LIS program, I'm sure they would have rejected me too. And I saw the Gateway Arch from afar, so I was happy.

We eventually made it to the Moolah which has ruined movie theaters for me everywhere else. The movie screen is huge, and instead of standard auditorium/stadium seating, there are leather couches and love-seats. There's also a bar and lounge in the lobby, which we didn't get to enjoy since we were running late, but it looked fantastic! Anyway, we saw Shutter Island and this review pretty much explains how I felt. It was dark and atmospheric, the camerawork, directing, and acting we're great--it's Scorsese after all--and the material is unabashedly pulpy. The ending was cliche, so it sucks teleologically. I can't decide if it would be better or worse with a repeat viewing. So while the film-making is great, the story is less hot. I'm guessing this is why a Scorsese film was released in February.

After the movie, all the ladies were getting mani-pedis, and I somewhat reluctantly decided to get a pedicure too. After I got my pedicure, Rae told me I should get a manicure too. And so the small, Asian woman, with an indecipherable accent, clipped away twenty-three years worth of neglected cuticles. That was gross. and awesome. And my buffed nails are so shiny! Anyway, the mani-pedi was nice, but I'm not entirely sold on it, and I spent most of the time very confused about what was happening.

Grburbank & Slarue Get Mani-Pedis

Then it was time for the main event: Rae's 40th French Soiree! Slarue and I rushed around frantically getting dressed and ready, and then we hopped over to Keith's fabulous condo. I was immediately served a glass of wine, which kept getting refilled, so I was quite tired and emotional by the end of the night. There was fabulous French food, and I'll eat anything covered in a pastry. Keith asked every party to bring 40 of something as the present. We brought 40 Oreos (there are 45 in a package in case you were wondering) because those are Rae's addiction, and we were each going to burn 20 songs onto a CD, but our playlists were too long, so we only got 19 songs onto each. Happy 38th! And then there was even dancing which Keith was recording, and even though I only danced a couple of times, there is incriminating evidence of me shaking my money maker to "Baby Got Back." Oh dear.

Grburbank & Slarue Party (Ignore the wine glasses.)
Me and Two (Other) Sassy Gay Men
Grburbank & Slarue Celebrate Dearest Rae

On Sunday Slarue flew home, and I kept waiting for something good to come on HBO. Nothing did. I finally went to the hotel bar for dinner and thought I'd try a Mai Tai which was the featured drink. The bartender had no idea how to make one. So then I asked for a Cosmo, after which he disappeared into the kitchen before reappearing to make my drink. It was his first day, but still, what was the hiring criteria? I then ordered the macaroni and cheese which turned out to be a chicken and penne in alfredo mess. That wasn't his fault (except for the chicken part), but don't people know how to make decent mac n cheese? For reals.

Then I "woke up" at 4:30 Monday morning to get to the airport. I use the term "woke up" in the loosest sense because I never really fell asleep. We flew to Denver and then to Seattle. It was still morning in Seattle, and it was still sunny. I shared a shuttle van with a 20-year-old girl who was interviewing for the PhD program at the UW Med Center in microbiology or something sciency. Damn girl. Once I was dropped off, I unpacked my bags, and turned my back on the glorious weather and took a very long nap. Once I woke up, Netflix sent me Brokeback Mountain so I watched that. And then Ady put in (500) Days of Summer and then Finding Nemo. So that's what I did on Monday. Anyway, my exhaustion coupled with recycled air has led to a sore throat and other cold-like symptoms which I am warding off with Cold-Eeze, Ricola, and Day/NyQuil.

On Tuesday night I made my first trip to Trader Joe's which was okay. I'm not in love with it after one visit, but it's definitely the least money I've ever spent on groceries out here. And I picked up some 3-buck Chuck, which is okay as far as bargain wines go.

This week my 530 professor is gone somewhere (Rome, maybe?) and so we're going on optional field-trips to the SPL Main Branch and SAM. There's been mass confusion, and so Lillian and I thought we were going to SAM yesterday, but it was really SPL. And Lillian had already given me a tour of SPL which isn't even as cool as SLCPL. (Later I heard it was a boring lecture and not a tour anyway.) So instead of joining the rest of the group at the library, we decided to visit Pike's Place Market, which was my first actual visit to the Market. Now previously, I had driven through the market on my very first day in Seattle, and we had once tried to find something to eat around there on a Sunday night when all the stalls were closed. Well, here I finally was, and I was largely underwhelmed. But we found a fancy French bakery where I got a brioche and a cafe au lait. So now we have to decide if we still want to go to SAM on Friday.

This is week eight of ten of the quarter, and I have a major group project due next week in Research Methods which we haven't even started. I'm so over grad school. Well I better get to work.

Oh, by the way, I'm trying to work on a new Spring playlist. Send your suggestions!

Crushing on Dead White Guys

So this weekend was a double-whammy: Valentine's Day and President's Day. Seeing as how I'm single and already enjoy four-day weekends, this weekend didn't really have any draws for me, but I still enjoyed it a lot.

On Friday, I was working on a paper for my Research Methods class. The paper only had to be five-pages long which is nothing, but in it I had to describe and analyze a thirty-page research design, drawing on three additional sources, and offering two implications for information science. In five pages! and anyone who reads this blog knows that I can be verbose. As usual I put if off until the last minute, so when I wasn't in class on Friday, I was in the computer lab on a caffeine high furiously typing away. Until five o'clock that is, when I was diving into a caffeine crash and it was time to attend Live Free, Drink Hard: a cohort-wide event at the College Inn Pub. Anyway, beer has a revitalizing effect, as does a loud, noisy environ. I only meant to stay for an hour or two before finishing my paper, but people kept buying pitchers, I was bonding with my cohort, and the opening ceremony was on! So five and a half hours and many, many beers later, I left quite tired and emotional. I got home at 10:45, one hour before my paper was due, so I slapped on my implications, a conclusion, ran spell check, and that was that. Boom, bam baby! The paper's shite, but it's done, and I don't have to think about it for a while. Still, I had so much fun on Friday--it's true what they say, alcohol is a social lubricant.

On Saturday, I didn't do much of anything except watch almost all of the third season of Sex and the City. I also made goat cheese and sun dried tomato profiteroles--which didn't quite turn out like Giada's--but were still pretty good even if they should be called gougeres, since profiteroles are technically sweet. That night I ran to the grocery store to pick up a few basics that I had ran out of (and a bottle of wine), and even though I stuck to my list and tried to shop smart, it still put me out $100 bucks. And later that night I watched Annie Hall which was, okay... I don't know, I didn't really like it--is that okay to say as a movie buff? I liked Match Point and Vicky Christina Barcelona so it's not just a Woody Allen thing. Maybe it's a Woody Allen thing in New York in the '70s.

On Sunday I woke up semi-early by which I meant I didn't sleep in until noon, to go walking at Green Lake Park. I went with Janelle, and Meagan was supposed to join us, but she didn't wake up in time. Anyway we had a lovely walk and conversation and the tulips will be in bloom in about a week. That's insane! It's the middle of February. Janelle said her allergies are already on the fritz, but I haven't had any symptoms yet. When I first moved to Cedar City and when I moved back to Salt Lake, my allergies were really light, but the longer I stayed in one place the worse they got. So this year might be nice, but next year might not be. We'll have to wait and see. After walking we made our way over to Ballard and got breakfast, at about one in the afternoon, at Senor Moose Cafe, a hole-the-wall place that always has a crowd and real-good Mexican food, though I have to say I still love the Red Iguana more. After stuffing my face with huevos rancheros and strong coffee, we explored the Ballard Sunday Farmers Market which was nice but I didn't buy anything.

I came home thinking that Netflix had sent me the next disc of Queer As Folk but they had sent Maurice instead, which I guess is sort of like the Merchant Ivory predecessor. So I instead turned on the TV and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was on HBO so I watched that, and then 17 Again came on, so I watched that for a little bit just because Thomas Lennon is comedy gold: "Are you now, or have you ever been, a Norse god, a vampire, or a time-traveling cyborg?" Then I thought I wanted to watch Chicago but I just really wanted to watch "Cell Block Tango." So I was at a loss of what to watch with my chocolate espresso bar and my bottle of Francis Coppola Pinot Noir. Now I had thought that I had had Coppola's Pinot Noir before, maybe it was just a different vintage (or maybe it was his Syrah instead), and it was just fine, but the 2008 I got this time is freaking amazing! I've had Pinot before but I never really got the hype--thanks Paul Giamatti--but last night I finally understood. So. Good! Finally I decided to download a Battlestar Galactica episode, and even though I purchased the wrong one, it was still amazing. My gods, I love BSG!

And then I spent the rest of the night working on a little something for next Saturday. Speaking of which I fly out to St. Louis on Friday--holla!--where Slarue will join me to celebrate dearest Rae's 40th. It's going to be lovely. Before that happens I need to write the first draft of my Information in Social Contexts paper. There are only three weeks left in the quarter people! Every day I change my opinion on quarters vs. semesters. Today, I'm against them. My paper will be about one or more of the following topics: privacy, surveillance, information, and/or libraries. Do you think it could be any broader. So today, I need to read some articles, and then later I'm going downtown for happy hour. and sushi--which I've never had before. We'll see how it goes.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend, especially if you are in love and/or got today off. Cheers!

I Can't Think of Anything Cute to Say. Oh, Kittens!

When I went to college the first time around I lost weight--a lot of it. This time around I seem to be gaining weight. This is not okay. As an undergraduate I tended to "cook" frozen and boxed foodstuffs. Now I'm mostly cooking things from scratch, though I can't say they're especially healthful recipes. One would think that actually cooking food would be cheaper and healthier. As far as I can tell it's not--on either count. Of course cooking a meal for four and then eating half of it (or all of it) doesn't really work in my favor. Maybe I need to shop at Trader Joe's--apparently they have a lot of packaged foods that are healthy-ish? I wouldn't know because I've lived on the West Coast for over four months, and I still haven't made it to Trader Joe's. That's a shame. Of course we haven't talked about alcohol which I didn't drink as an undergrad. mostly. Since living in Seattle I have tended to pick up a six-pack every time I went grocery shopping. Now therein probably lies the major problem. But it was nice to come home from class and open a beer to relax or have one on a Saturday afternoon while watching TV. It's also cheaper than wine which you have to drink pretty quickly once you open it anyway. And while I have hard liquor, I feel that it's best not to drink that on a daily basis. Just saying. So I have decided to cut beer out of my daily routine for the moment and save it for nights at the pub.

In other grocery news I discovered a very small British section at QFC. I bought a notorious Yorkie chocolate bar--It's not for girls! (So of course when we were in London all the girls had to buy one.) Anyway, I'm very excited about this discovery. Also, I am completely incapable of shopping on a budget, so send any budget tips you have my way.

When I was at SUU I had class every day, so I walked. a bit. This quarter I have class two days a week. Some days I don't even walk out of my front door--this is just a little bit sad. I should at least walk to campus which means hiking up a giant hill--Seattle is a city of hills; just like Rome--which would be good except I take the bus to campus because my classes are at 8:30 in the morning, plus--the hill. However, now that the days are warming up I should try walking around Ravenna Park and find the energy and time to make it to Green Lake Park somewhere during my four-day weekends to walk the 2.8 mile trail. So in my attempts to stop being a total lard ass, I am working on a playlist full or peppy, energetic music that's great for brisk walking (and, theoretically, working out). Here's what I have so far, in no particular order:

• "Nth Degree" by Morningwood. As Dain says, it's perfect butt-shaking music. You just can't help yourself. And it pushes you to go louder and harder: let's go!
• "Spark" by Tori Amos. I'm not sure why but I've always found this to be a great walking song, probably because of the music video.
  
• "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked" by Ida Maria. The title pretty much says it all. A fun, bouncy song about getting naked.
  
• "21 Things I Want in a Lover" by Alanis Morissette. A strong beat to push you while letting you think about the traits you want in a lover.
  
• "Professional Widow" by Tori Amos. Sometimes you need a scathing song with raging harpsichords to get you going. But remember, we're trying to sweat out toxins, not create new ones.
  
• "Twin Cinema" by The New Pornographers. A fun, indie rock song.
• "Buenos Aires" from Evita. A musical number, you ask? Yes. "But you're flesh, you are meat / You shall have every breath in my body." All over a Latin beat.
  
• "Just A Girl" by No Doubt. Because everyone needs some No Doubt.
• "That Time" by Regina Spektor. Because it's peppy. So is "Dance Anthem of the 80's." Just watch the music video.
  
• "Out Tonight" from Rent. Remember, we're working out to go out. Tonight.
  
• "Big Wheel" by Tori Amos. A sassy number with honky-tonk vibes. "M-I-L-F / Don't you forget."

What songs do you listen to to get you going?

In other news, last week we had poetry group which is lovely. After banging my head working on effing JavaScript, I got to relax and discuss "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot. I like Eliot's poetry, but I much prefer The Waste Land. However, it was a more than a little depressing because of certain tragic similarities I have construed between Prufrock and myself. Anyway, I get to pick for next month, and I've pretty much all but decided on Sunstone (Piedra de sol) by Octavio Paz. I'm excited!

So I love English, and sometimes I wonder what I'm doing in library school. Megan suggested that my theory based program is trying to crush my spirit, and this quarter it's succeeding. Now that we're half-way through the quarter, I can tell you I don't want to be a cataloguer--I have no idea what we're even talking about anymore in my classification class. Research Methods is what it is. I rarely do the reading, and I hate research. Algorithmic Thinking and JavaScript--need I say more? My Info Policy class is actually interesting sometimes, though I think I would rather be in the other section. However, this is where I learned that Britain didn't read 1984 and is basically a police state with surveillance everywhere. Now I don't want to live in London anymore. Anyway, hopefully once I get into the electives I'll be more excited and actually learn how to be a librarian. Some have said it's like law school, you need the degree to get the job, and then you learn how to do whatever you're doing on the job. I really thought I wanted to be a librarian, I guess I should have just done more research to be certain. Oh, now I see the connection.

One last note. Yesterday I watched The Lion in Winter (the 1968 version) which is, just wow. It's not quite King Lear but then Shakespeare didn't write it (James Goldman did). But if you want a dysfunctional family and court intrigue look no further. It was so intense that last night I had dreams that Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn were manipulating my other dreams against each other. It was very surreal, but then that's the nature of dreams.

This Post is Brought to You by Netflix

So it's a Monday, and usually on Mondays I am pretty productive. But not today. Hopefully tomorrow, I'll get some work done. Anyway, I just wanted to share a few thoughts with you all.

First of all, nice work friendos on iconic performances. I now need to see a lot of old movies, and I spent a good portion of today adding titles to my Netflix queue. Friendsourcing works!

Some of you may have seen a preview for Starz's new TV series Spartacus: Blood and Sand. You probably thought it looked kind of awful but also like it was a trailer for 300 with all the sex and gore, and 300 was pretty good. Well, Spartacus: Blood and Sand is available for instant viewing on Netflix, and since I decided I wasn't doing anything today, I thought I'd take a gander at it. My friends, it is awful. First of all, the first episode is taken straight from Gladiator, only instead of an award-winning Ridley Scott film with Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, and Richard Harris, it's a Starz series with Lucy Lawless and other actors... Anyway, it has a lot of violence, sex, and profanity cuz, ya know, that's how the Romans rolled. Now I didn't really love Rome but that's a much, much better series that depicts, I think, a bit more realistic portrayal of Rome and its people. Spartacus is also super-stylized like it wanted to be 300 even if that was about the Spartans. But 300 is a pretty good film adapted from Frank Miller's graphic novel. So even if the first episode was Gladiator, the series is about Spartacus the guy who leads the slave revolt, ya know like in Stanley Kubrick's classic film Spartacus (which I still haven't seen). So if you ever feel tempted to watch Blood and Sand just watch one of these options instead. I promise you they're much better.

Speaking of Spartacus (the good one), Tom Carson says that if you Netflix that in tandem with Braveheart you're looking at the 2012 Democratic and Republican Conventions. Awesome. He also gives his Top Ten picks for 2009 in case you're interested. Now I have even more movies to see. By the way, did I mention that I'm upset that the Oscars are doubling the Best Picture category, because I am. What a shame. And here, Tom Carson breaks down Avatar. Pretty Sweet.

And if that didn't do it for you. Here's a pretty sweet review of Avatar. Thank you YouTube. Now I didn't hate Avatar, but I didn't like it all that much either. I'm glad I saw it, but I probably won't see it again.


Happy Monday! and February. When did that happen?