For some reason my life seems to be full of spice lately. I can't really think of a better way of putting it. No big pot of gumbo, no sack of crawfish, just the spice.
I saw A Serious Man, at the suggestion of Zach. (my boss who is super super cool, whose movie taste is almost cooler than he is.) I have a new respect for the Coen brothers for sure, it was one of the most well done movies I have ever seen. After seeing it and talking to Zach, I almost felt a bit dumb at how much he had noticed that I had not (but that's just Zach). But he told me that I really didn't miss that much, it just goes to show that there is *something* in every scene. And almost all of it relates back to the Bible. So so so so sooooo impressive.
The next movie I watched was The Proposition. It was a western with Guy Pearce. I know, you think western and go blegh! However, this was an artistic western. So much meaning and beauty in it, but with the same grit that makes the greatest westerns so great.
Yesterday was the first day of spring! It was hot and windy, a wind that blew in some serious rain. I spent most of the day in Lafayette at the track meet. It wasn't until driving back that the rain hit, of course. It was dark, we didn't know the roads, and Corey's car lights were unforgivably dim. By the time we got back, I was exhausted! Passed out, woke up this morning, headed straight outside to make my way to the cafeteria and what do I find????
SNOW!
I mean sheesh, has this Louisiana lost its mind?? Probably, and probably a long time ago. Everyone is attributing it to El Nino. All I can think about is the SNL episode about El Nino. As for what its doing around the country? I don't know, but its snowing in Monroe and Chris Farley was a funny guy.
I encountered narnia on my way to Lafayette, by the way. While driving through a town (or four way stop, whichever you prefer)..I had to go. What's new, though. So there is a tiny little gas station, a few cinder blocks piled high with burnt out letters that read pit stop. It gave me the heebee jeebies, but I had to go. So I stop, walk in ( I am the ONLY person in there that didn't know everybody else.) The two ladies behind the counter wore camo tshirts, and everyone had those early 1990 bangs. I minded my busniess and scooted toward the back of the store where RESTROOMS was screaming at me. I opened the door, and WOOSH, I have gone through the wardrobe. Mexican tiled floors, a toilet nicer than the one in my own home, a marble sink, cleverly built into the corner, complete with one of those touch on touch off sinks. It was AWESOME, despite the lack of lions and witches :)
And now I am back in Monroe, its stopped snowing, and I'm painting with ink, something that sounds fun but really it isn't. However, there's Starbucks in my left and a brush in my right. And I am blessed.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
aimal collective review
If your life has ever lost it's meaning, and you begin to feel irrelevant to this world, pop in Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavillion. The album makes you feel like your life has its own soundtrack, and suddenly, you are part of a story again, back to being a main character.
Most of the songs are filled with carousel sounds that make your head spin. The album toys with the line between playful and creepy. I say creepy because it is just weird enough to rouse the id inside of you that gets addicted easily. This is one addiction that should be fed as frequently as possible. The soul rocks out; meanwhile, the brain is stimulated into questions about why we are written into the world by lyrics that tap into every human's need to seek true purpose.
The band members often switch up roles within the band, which allows everyone to be expressed, giving their listeners a taste of each of their lives. They have come a long way from where they started, writing about psychedelic experiences at 16.
Now they sing about wives and children and their desires to be good men for the ones they love. Songs like "My Girls" and "Daily Routine" show a newfound maturity and grace without the loss of the bands spunky style.
In "Daily Routine," Panda Bear (one of the lead singers) describes the simplicity of his life with deep appreciation, singing "What good is it to make it fast?/Sing a song to pass the playground/What can I do as traffic pass?/Guard my girl from muffler's black gas." He is a living paradox to pop culture, a rockstar who makes declarations on the worth of family, which seems to be scarce in today's world.
In "Also Frightened," (a song in which he wonders if the world would be a better place if his kids
turned out like him), he describes his children beautifully with "Excited and screamin' their voices grow wild/And rise with the birds mating up in the pines/Down to the puddles that breathe covered by leaves/With mud they make prints on their backs." With this album, Animal Collective looks deep into their own lives while making you question yours.
Though their lyrics may be profound, their sound never gets too serious. The happy pounding your heart sends into your head when you're running to base as a kid is the best way to describe the staticy, pounding rhythms of Merriweather Post Pavilion.
Playing over the bass are high-pitched, bubbly tones, sort of like MGMT but much better. Animal Collective blends this sound, along with their voices, whose harmony is something like that of an old school revolutionary band such as The Beach Boys or The Beatles.
They combine a futuristic sound with the lost elements of vintage rock. Take, for instance, the song "No More Runnin'." This song is like a modern day Simon and Garfunkel piece; you can almost see the chlorine water sloshing against Dustin Hoffman's scuba gear while it plays.
Animal Collective incorporates some of the most honest lyrics music has yet to know, where they long for easier days of "back porches with the torch of a Firefly-lit tree." The band that started off sporting face paint (artistically so, not like that of old Jewish men with super long tongues) is not afraid to unmask themselves for their audience. By doing so, they have created an original almost spiritual experience. The only downfall, (if such a band had to have one) is that every now and then the poetry of their lyrics is lost in such an overwhelming sound. However, if this ever does happen, one can still get lost in the deep beats, where meaning is still waiting to be discovered.
Most of the songs are filled with carousel sounds that make your head spin. The album toys with the line between playful and creepy. I say creepy because it is just weird enough to rouse the id inside of you that gets addicted easily. This is one addiction that should be fed as frequently as possible. The soul rocks out; meanwhile, the brain is stimulated into questions about why we are written into the world by lyrics that tap into every human's need to seek true purpose.
The band members often switch up roles within the band, which allows everyone to be expressed, giving their listeners a taste of each of their lives. They have come a long way from where they started, writing about psychedelic experiences at 16.
Now they sing about wives and children and their desires to be good men for the ones they love. Songs like "My Girls" and "Daily Routine" show a newfound maturity and grace without the loss of the bands spunky style.
In "Daily Routine," Panda Bear (one of the lead singers) describes the simplicity of his life with deep appreciation, singing "What good is it to make it fast?/Sing a song to pass the playground/What can I do as traffic pass?/Guard my girl from muffler's black gas." He is a living paradox to pop culture, a rockstar who makes declarations on the worth of family, which seems to be scarce in today's world.
In "Also Frightened," (a song in which he wonders if the world would be a better place if his kids
turned out like him), he describes his children beautifully with "Excited and screamin' their voices grow wild/And rise with the birds mating up in the pines/Down to the puddles that breathe covered by leaves/With mud they make prints on their backs." With this album, Animal Collective looks deep into their own lives while making you question yours.
Though their lyrics may be profound, their sound never gets too serious. The happy pounding your heart sends into your head when you're running to base as a kid is the best way to describe the staticy, pounding rhythms of Merriweather Post Pavilion.
Playing over the bass are high-pitched, bubbly tones, sort of like MGMT but much better. Animal Collective blends this sound, along with their voices, whose harmony is something like that of an old school revolutionary band such as The Beach Boys or The Beatles.
They combine a futuristic sound with the lost elements of vintage rock. Take, for instance, the song "No More Runnin'." This song is like a modern day Simon and Garfunkel piece; you can almost see the chlorine water sloshing against Dustin Hoffman's scuba gear while it plays.
Animal Collective incorporates some of the most honest lyrics music has yet to know, where they long for easier days of "back porches with the torch of a Firefly-lit tree." The band that started off sporting face paint (artistically so, not like that of old Jewish men with super long tongues) is not afraid to unmask themselves for their audience. By doing so, they have created an original almost spiritual experience. The only downfall, (if such a band had to have one) is that every now and then the poetry of their lyrics is lost in such an overwhelming sound. However, if this ever does happen, one can still get lost in the deep beats, where meaning is still waiting to be discovered.
A Pirate Party
I had the most awful dream last night. Well sort of.
I woke up at 4:30 this morning, got together all the "good luck" signs I had made, ran and slipped them under the track guys doors. Then I took Corey to the track and saw them off.
Back to dorm.
Go to sleep....CANT go to sleep.
"But Collette you are tired, relax and fall asleep!"
"What? It's been 30 minutes?...Why am i thinking about black women's hair weaves...FALL ASLEEP!"
Finally, fell asleep. Then the dream ensued. I dreamed I snuck a little boy out of an orphanage, a nice orphanage too. We went to a pirate party.
It was ok at first, Garrett was there?, and everyone was very well behaved. Then suddenly I lost Toby. (Apparently, that was the boys name). Some toothless idiot brought him back to me, they had been giving him rum! He was sloshed, poor boy! ....and then he died.
BOOM, slightly weird dream, meet nightmare.
Now they are all bad pirates, and Im dragging a string of about 30 orphans away from this pirate party!!! A man is calling me as we are running, its a detective that looks like Al Roker.
He knows I've killed the boy, or got him killer anyhow. Then we have to cross the bridge that looks strangely like the one on campus, except there are floating spirits in the fog.
Then we realize its paretns! and hey, its Halloween night! Oh, what do ya know, Toby's alive! The children and I make it back to the orphanage, I am not in trouble. We are tired and offered biscuits.
END.
What the heck brain?!?!
So I wake up this morning, feeling awful, still feeling like I had killed poor Toby. I can't shake it, I'm in a funk. My roommate is still asleep, and I've got that feeling in my stomach I used to get as a kid when I'd sleep at a friends house and wake up first.
And its too cold to layout and do homework like we had wanted. Drat. Will study indoors.
HOWEVER,
"Answer. That you are here—that life exists, and identity;. That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse."
Taking initiative to change me own mood!
I woke up at 4:30 this morning, got together all the "good luck" signs I had made, ran and slipped them under the track guys doors. Then I took Corey to the track and saw them off.
Back to dorm.
Go to sleep....CANT go to sleep.
"But Collette you are tired, relax and fall asleep!"
"What? It's been 30 minutes?...Why am i thinking about black women's hair weaves...FALL ASLEEP!"
Finally, fell asleep. Then the dream ensued. I dreamed I snuck a little boy out of an orphanage, a nice orphanage too. We went to a pirate party.
It was ok at first, Garrett was there?, and everyone was very well behaved. Then suddenly I lost Toby. (Apparently, that was the boys name). Some toothless idiot brought him back to me, they had been giving him rum! He was sloshed, poor boy! ....and then he died.
BOOM, slightly weird dream, meet nightmare.
Now they are all bad pirates, and Im dragging a string of about 30 orphans away from this pirate party!!! A man is calling me as we are running, its a detective that looks like Al Roker.
He knows I've killed the boy, or got him killer anyhow. Then we have to cross the bridge that looks strangely like the one on campus, except there are floating spirits in the fog.
Then we realize its paretns! and hey, its Halloween night! Oh, what do ya know, Toby's alive! The children and I make it back to the orphanage, I am not in trouble. We are tired and offered biscuits.
END.
What the heck brain?!?!
So I wake up this morning, feeling awful, still feeling like I had killed poor Toby. I can't shake it, I'm in a funk. My roommate is still asleep, and I've got that feeling in my stomach I used to get as a kid when I'd sleep at a friends house and wake up first.
And its too cold to layout and do homework like we had wanted. Drat. Will study indoors.
HOWEVER,
"Answer. That you are here—that life exists, and identity;. That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse."
Taking initiative to change me own mood!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
miniature update
Beirut has an EP out, I'm doing my article review on it, its awesome!!!
I want to know why "it" possessive is spelled "its" and not "it's." Bothersome, or maybe I'm just ignorant.
Andy is reading Pride and Prejudice, he loves it. I am officially stoked.
His favorite character so far is Mrs. Bennett :)
Things I've heard recently around campus that have made me chuckle:
(While watchign the History Channel, a lady from 1960's sported some awesome plaid pants)
David: "Gosh, look at those plaid pants, I feel sorry for their men"
Me: "The men wore pants, too!"
David: "Yeah, but they all golfed."
A group of people were asked, if they could take anyone dead or alive to dinner, who would it be?
Guy: "Hitler"
Us: "You would take Hitler?"
Guy: "Yeah, and when he'd ask what's on the menu, id say..'A KNUCKLE SANDWHICH!'..."
Ok, so I should be writing articles instead of telling you all the pointless corny stuff i enjoy. I'm just stalling now... ("YOU'D LIKE TO THINK THAT WOULDN'T YOU!! ;)
Please be a nerd like me, get where that came from :) ^
I want to know why "it" possessive is spelled "its" and not "it's." Bothersome, or maybe I'm just ignorant.
Andy is reading Pride and Prejudice, he loves it. I am officially stoked.
His favorite character so far is Mrs. Bennett :)
Things I've heard recently around campus that have made me chuckle:
(While watchign the History Channel, a lady from 1960's sported some awesome plaid pants)
David: "Gosh, look at those plaid pants, I feel sorry for their men"
Me: "The men wore pants, too!"
David: "Yeah, but they all golfed."
A group of people were asked, if they could take anyone dead or alive to dinner, who would it be?
Guy: "Hitler"
Us: "You would take Hitler?"
Guy: "Yeah, and when he'd ask what's on the menu, id say..'A KNUCKLE SANDWHICH!'..."
Ok, so I should be writing articles instead of telling you all the pointless corny stuff i enjoy. I'm just stalling now... ("YOU'D LIKE TO THINK THAT WOULDN'T YOU!! ;)
Please be a nerd like me, get where that came from :) ^
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
sleepy eyed and tussled hair.
woke up early to see corey off to his first observation for classrooms.
decided to open up my new pink bible with silver lined pages for a quick glance before the day begins. (is it wrong if i think my bible is super cute?? i dont think so...)
what i read i never have, and i loved.
it said to give glory to God, for his faithfulness. it sounds so simple, but when put to deeper thought is beautiful.
i hope you all have a wonderful day
decided to open up my new pink bible with silver lined pages for a quick glance before the day begins. (is it wrong if i think my bible is super cute?? i dont think so...)
what i read i never have, and i loved.
it said to give glory to God, for his faithfulness. it sounds so simple, but when put to deeper thought is beautiful.
i hope you all have a wonderful day
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
You ARE the brute squad?
As much as it annoys me to walk into Intro to Research Methods with a headache, (not that the class isn't painstaking enough) it has been interesting to watch the group of smokers by the door each day. It started with just two or three people, hanging around the building entrance, getting a few last drags before class. They were awkward and quiet and stared mostly at the ends of their cigarettes. Slowly there were more and more and now they are this little gang of laughs and wise cracks, chums, all shivering in the cold with their fingers to their lips.
On a more painful note, I was forced to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3 last night. Corey told me that i had to finish the movies, and I watched with an open mind, really I did. But that movie made me so angry and bored at the same time that it was impossible to be engaged. I could rant for hours, but here is what bothered me most.
slap) Elizabeth Swan is not a butt kicking ship captain three months after denouncing the English high life. She irked the crap out of me.
pinch) Why is Jack Sparrow suddenly a joke? Of course in the first ones we wondered whether or not he really knew what he was doing, but he was still so COOL. For some reason, this movie made him seems two feet shorter than everyone else. He was an idiot, a babbling maniac.
sucker punch) Another thing, why were there little jacks coming out of his ear and hair??? Yeah it was cool that one wasn't good and the other one evil, they were both bad. BUT, if that would have happened in the first movie, would it have fit or made sense at all???? of course not!!
tug of hair) When all you have is a reaching plot and recycled lines from the first movie that ten year old kids quoted for months, you probably shouldn't go on to make a 2nd or 3rd film.
I could keep going on about how each scene was too long, Will was a jerk, and it was boringgggggg and no one was fun....but i won't. You get the pain that ensued watching it.
I finished A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. I started that book because I was assigned a book review, and Sarah said that it would be a good choice and that it was really well done. I didn't know it was going to change my life though. And as hokey as that sounds, it really has. I'm not going to say why, because I don't want to short change the book, I just won't be able to put it like Donald Miller can. If you are looking for a good book, this is it, READ IT. Heck, even if your reading list is miles long and *another* good book to read is the last thing you need, READ IT ANYWAYS. It's like looking at lights on a pier through black ocean waters :)It's JOY in print form. It's the bees knees. O.o
I am getting good at golf! Well, whacking the daylights out of the ball anyways. We won't get to putt, because Thursday is our last golf class. I will enjoy the extra sleep on Tuesday/ Thursday, however :)
Did you know that Mac computers need appointments just like people do? I do, because my poor Mac is ill :(
Lastly, I keep trying to copy and paste a word article into a post, and it tells me the HTML is wrong. Any ideas as to why??
Off to do the million other things I should have been doing when I started this post :)
On a more painful note, I was forced to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3 last night. Corey told me that i had to finish the movies, and I watched with an open mind, really I did. But that movie made me so angry and bored at the same time that it was impossible to be engaged. I could rant for hours, but here is what bothered me most.
slap) Elizabeth Swan is not a butt kicking ship captain three months after denouncing the English high life. She irked the crap out of me.
pinch) Why is Jack Sparrow suddenly a joke? Of course in the first ones we wondered whether or not he really knew what he was doing, but he was still so COOL. For some reason, this movie made him seems two feet shorter than everyone else. He was an idiot, a babbling maniac.
sucker punch) Another thing, why were there little jacks coming out of his ear and hair??? Yeah it was cool that one wasn't good and the other one evil, they were both bad. BUT, if that would have happened in the first movie, would it have fit or made sense at all???? of course not!!
tug of hair) When all you have is a reaching plot and recycled lines from the first movie that ten year old kids quoted for months, you probably shouldn't go on to make a 2nd or 3rd film.
I could keep going on about how each scene was too long, Will was a jerk, and it was boringgggggg and no one was fun....but i won't. You get the pain that ensued watching it.
I finished A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. I started that book because I was assigned a book review, and Sarah said that it would be a good choice and that it was really well done. I didn't know it was going to change my life though. And as hokey as that sounds, it really has. I'm not going to say why, because I don't want to short change the book, I just won't be able to put it like Donald Miller can. If you are looking for a good book, this is it, READ IT. Heck, even if your reading list is miles long and *another* good book to read is the last thing you need, READ IT ANYWAYS. It's like looking at lights on a pier through black ocean waters :)It's JOY in print form. It's the bees knees. O.o
I am getting good at golf! Well, whacking the daylights out of the ball anyways. We won't get to putt, because Thursday is our last golf class. I will enjoy the extra sleep on Tuesday/ Thursday, however :)
Did you know that Mac computers need appointments just like people do? I do, because my poor Mac is ill :(
Lastly, I keep trying to copy and paste a word article into a post, and it tells me the HTML is wrong. Any ideas as to why??
Off to do the million other things I should have been doing when I started this post :)
Thursday, March 4, 2010
clap your hands say yeah!!!
what she said.
that band is quickly becoming a favorite of mind.^ look it up, i promise it wont be as traumatizing as the last time i told you to look something up (sam, the world's ugliest doggy :)
so i should be writing the articles that are due tomorrow for my job, but i have been writing none stop since 7 o'clock and need a break. This is the only thing i can do that wont slow my writer's heart rate. Think of it as walking instead of dropping out during a race, technically i am still on track.
I think my boss might be one of the coolest people ever. he is exactly how you would picture someone when you hear some college writer refer to "my editor." hes got long hair, usually in a ponytail, a scruffy face, black rimmed glasses, a ridiculously awesome sense of style, and a mad laugh. i guess it makes me feel cool that i have a cool editor. legitness. (which reminds me, i watched hot rod the other night, soooo under rated :)
what ever happened to the "Dude, It's A Dell!" guy?? These are the kind of thoughts that Introduction to Research Methods bring to my head. You would think that verbalized statistical theory would be more interested right? right......
so apparently some modern age john dillegners robbed a best buy, and stole about 26,000 dollars worth of macbooks. They were cut a whole in the roof, rappelled down like two stories, never touched the floor, exposed themselves to cameras, or set off motion sensors. and they completely got away with it! i feel awful that this excites me. its like true oceans 11 stuff, where you cant help but love the bad guys.
so i have three shots of espresso in me, and the bathroom has been occupied (in starbucks) for at least ten minutes. i think id rather go through water-boarding.
on that glorious note i should probably get back to my articles. They are pretty interesting actually. Im doing one on music (atmosphere, one of the only great hip hop bands out there) one on the book sarah and sergei recommended to me A Million miles in a Thousand years. This book has actually changed my life. I have found a lot of great answers in the past week. Ill post my review on it. Lastly is an article on the state wanting to increase the graduation levels of all the colleges. Did you know that when i started at tech and then transfered to ulm, it will be tech getting credit for my graduating? my retention stat will go towards them, not ulm. i think thats awful. ok, peace!!!
that band is quickly becoming a favorite of mind.^ look it up, i promise it wont be as traumatizing as the last time i told you to look something up (sam, the world's ugliest doggy :)
so i should be writing the articles that are due tomorrow for my job, but i have been writing none stop since 7 o'clock and need a break. This is the only thing i can do that wont slow my writer's heart rate. Think of it as walking instead of dropping out during a race, technically i am still on track.
I think my boss might be one of the coolest people ever. he is exactly how you would picture someone when you hear some college writer refer to "my editor." hes got long hair, usually in a ponytail, a scruffy face, black rimmed glasses, a ridiculously awesome sense of style, and a mad laugh. i guess it makes me feel cool that i have a cool editor. legitness. (which reminds me, i watched hot rod the other night, soooo under rated :)
what ever happened to the "Dude, It's A Dell!" guy?? These are the kind of thoughts that Introduction to Research Methods bring to my head. You would think that verbalized statistical theory would be more interested right? right......
so apparently some modern age john dillegners robbed a best buy, and stole about 26,000 dollars worth of macbooks. They were cut a whole in the roof, rappelled down like two stories, never touched the floor, exposed themselves to cameras, or set off motion sensors. and they completely got away with it! i feel awful that this excites me. its like true oceans 11 stuff, where you cant help but love the bad guys.
so i have three shots of espresso in me, and the bathroom has been occupied (in starbucks) for at least ten minutes. i think id rather go through water-boarding.
on that glorious note i should probably get back to my articles. They are pretty interesting actually. Im doing one on music (atmosphere, one of the only great hip hop bands out there) one on the book sarah and sergei recommended to me A Million miles in a Thousand years. This book has actually changed my life. I have found a lot of great answers in the past week. Ill post my review on it. Lastly is an article on the state wanting to increase the graduation levels of all the colleges. Did you know that when i started at tech and then transfered to ulm, it will be tech getting credit for my graduating? my retention stat will go towards them, not ulm. i think thats awful. ok, peace!!!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)