Sunday, January 24, 2010

My Life's in Lists.

10 Songs I'm Digging Right Now:
1. Hit or Miss (Waited Too Long) - New Found Glory
2. 21 Guns - Green Day & the Cast of American Idiot the Musical (which is coming to Broadway!)
3. Walking the Dog - Fun.
4. Free Coffee - Ben Folds
5. Nicest Thing - Kate Nash
6. Help I'm Alive - Metric
7. Eat - Jack Conte
8. I'm Ready, I am - The Format
9. Quelqu'um M'a Dit - Carla Bruni (Yes, that is the first lady of France)
10. Lisztomania - Phoenix (I shouldn't have judged them on "1901" alone. They rock.)

5 Things I Want:
1. A MacBook. I feel this strong urge to turn this blog into a vlog. I've always loved making videos of my adventures in the world and am generally a very visual person. However, Microsoft just doesn't want me to make quality videos. I'm really sick of Windows MovieMaker. Not to mention the last time I tried to make a video using my webcam and post it to YouTube, it turned out all screwy. Though I've been a PC my whole life, I feel it's only practical to change at this point. I want to make videos, I want to make music. I want a Mac.
2. Some semblance of solidarity among my senior class. That's all.
3. The Olympics! I want them to be on now! I need my figure skating/Apollo Ohno in spandex fix.
4. A bigger iPod. I'm actually almost out of room on my Touch for the first time in forever.
5. A signed copy of Julia Nunes' new EP. Maybe I can write it off as a post-midterms present. That is, if I make it through this week...

3 Albums to Pick Up Now:
1. Transference - Spoon. This is a return to old-school Spoon. It's a little less clean than Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, which I love. This album is full of great guitar riffs, drawn out jams, and just songs to chill out to. The sound overall is very raw and organic, like they just picked up their instruments and hit the record button. Some standout tracks include "Goodnight Laura", "Got Nuffin", "I Saw The Light" and "Is Love Forever?"
2. My Dinosaur Life - Motion City Soundtrack. Every song on this album is super-catchy. The lyrics are awesome, creative, and very relatable. It's full of ups and downs, dark moments paired with upbeat spirit-boosters. MCS makes some really great pop-punk-rock-whatever you call it. Key tracks include "The Weakends", "Disappear", "Her Words Destroyed My Planet", "Worker Bee".
3. Contra - Vampire Weekend. This is a fantastic follow up to the band's debut self-titled album. Vampire Weekend's classic prep school stories paired with African beats can be found on this album, with some new additions, such as auto-tune. The Columbia boys have established a sound, but not quite a formula, which in my opinion is a good thing. They're not afraid to take a few risks which definitely work. Some of my faves include "Holiday", "California English", "Diplomat's Son", "Run", "Cousins".

1 Song That Describes The Culmination of My High School Career:
"On Your Porch" - The Format. Give it a listen.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The Bright Side

FACT: I am not nearly as positive as I am on this blog in real life. I'm insecure, anxious, and always get wrapped up in other people's problems. That's going to change. It has to. I need to become more like the strong person people think I am. I guess by focusing on the positive aspects of my life and the things I'm excited for I can erase some of this negativity and anxiety. So I'm going to start posting occasional lists of things I am excited for and things that make me happy. We'll call these "The Brightsides".

Brightsides 1/7/10

1. There's a very good possibility that I will at least have a two-hour delay tomorrow. Thank you snow gods.
2. I'm into 3 colleges :).
3. I'm going to a prom tomorrow night. For band.
4. I'm playing an Elvis-themed gig Saturday night at school with my band, the Upstairs Sound! It's been so long since we've played a show together and I miss rocking out on stage with them. Stop by if you're in the area!
5. I've got my first rehearsal for Beauty and the Beast on Sunday. Now that shall be interesting.
6. It looks like I'm recovering from whatever cold-type illness I've had for the past few days.
7. Costa Rica was so awesome and warm and just what I needed. I SAW MONKEYS! Thank you, Marty and Lyndea, for picking a totally kickass place to have your wedding.
8. I am absolutely determined to go to Bamboozle this year, despite the fact that it's right before my AP tests. And Warped Tour. It's going to happen.
9. I got a pretty dress from Kate Cummings, a new designer that my cousin is currently working for. I may be have a bit of familial bias, but her designs are pretty, simple and not too over the top. Her clothes all have a bit of an updated 60s feel to them, which I adore. Here I am wearing the dress at the wedding:




















Check out Kate Cummings!
10. So much good music is coming out in the next few weeks. I'm particularly excited for Vampire Weekend's Contra. They've been streaming the album on their Myspace for a few days and I love everything I've heard thus far! I'm also particularly stoked for Motion City Soundtrack's My Dinosaur Life. If the first two singles ("Disappear" and "Her Words Destroyed My Planet") are any indication of what the rest of the album is going to be like, I'm expecting a pretty rockin' collection of tunes.

I feel better already. :)