retro. seriously.

one of my sister's is on a retro kick. i don't know what triggered it, but yesterday she begged me for some old smiths' songs. and of course, since my iTunes folder is chock full of all that amazing "old" stuff, i've been compiling a playlist for her.

it's funny how music makes the soundtrack of our lives. i can totally remember listening to this song over and over again on my clunky sony walkman. and the joys of endlessly browsing on saturdays for the vinyl version of the album. oh morrissey, you strangely romantic maudlin creature.

i'm thinking i might need to dig out all those old records and get myself a usb turntable. just in case i need to go back to high school in my mind.

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except secretly i do.

secretly (or, maybe now, not so secretly), i love alt-country-folk music - corny, i know, but i do. the jayhawks, spirit of the west, the decemberists, scattered trees, and of course, the old 97's. their songs embody the feeling of driving across the southern US at twilight in an old truck, windows open, music loud. and that rhett miller isn't too bad to look at either - having toured as a solo artist with tori amos and neil finn just adds to his appeal.

the acoustic version of "designs on you" is even better than the studio version.  lyrically, it is one of my favorites. why can't i write poetry like this?   guess we all can't be born musically or poetically inclined.

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brighter discontent.

because season 7 of grey's anatomy is not out yet, L is making her way through nip/tuck. i had watched it for a while, but having a baby kind of derailed that. however, i am a huge fan of the corrupt doctors (julian mcmahon in particular) and hopefully one day i'll get caught up. in the meantime, L sent me this video. super cool. i wish i knew what the significance was. (i really have to start watching some grown up TV other than the news.)

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unexpected affection.

so L has been on the dating circuit lately, trying to move on from mr. robot. and she's been doing a great job and we've definitely been having fun with it - her in real life, and me vicariously. seriously, who breaks up with three - yes, THREE - guys in the span of just as many weeks. i think that each guy definitely had his own merits (but also no job, too churchy and too many moles that wiggled on their own - superficial i know but kind of deal breakers)- but just not the "spark" that she's been looking for. but i think it's been good for her self esteem, having survived mr. robot and his ego.

while she doesn't think that she has found her next true love yet, we've been texting about how sometimes love (or something quite close to it) finds you when you least expect it. kind of like the christina perri song "arms" says(see above) - about how she finds herself in love with someone at the most unexpected moment. love it when that happens. awesome.



i also feel that way about this song by she & him - i just had to investigate zooey deschanel's musical venture after finding out she is married to ben gibbard (i'm thinking - what does the guy behind death cab for cutie like from a musical standpoint? and she better be good if she's married to him). i find myself surprisingly falling for this song. smart, pop-y and sweet, i wasn't really sure of it at first... but now it's in heavy rotation.

love & affection really does find you when you least expect it. it kind of hits you like a runaway train and whisks you away. (even though it sometimes complicates things too.)

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scared.

i realize that i am scared of many things.  starving.  drowning.  being fired.  losing my eyesight.  losing my hearing.  my parents' dying.  being homeless.  the mini being abducted.  living beyond my means.  makes me feel a little trapped at times.

so i try to do something that scares me - at least once every day.  helps keep that fear away.  even if it's something small like driving at 160 kms/hr, or having a boston cream doughnut.

this song is on repeat right now in my car.  just love it - that albert hammond jr. dude really knows how to write a good pop song... a little bit of a 50's throwback with the bittersweet spritely-ness of really great britpop.  and fantastic lyrics to boot.   (now if he'd just shave his head... yeah, i know, i have a thing for shaved heads.  so sue me.)

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can't keep my hands off you!

i don't know what it is about rockin' east coast/eastern townships boys that gets me - but there's just something about them.  including guilty pleasure 'simple plan'.  and combine the music with their fresh faces, tattoos and rivers cuomo of weezer fame, and i can't resist.  can't keep my hands off of you... for sure!  rock on, guys.

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these broken hands of mine.

from joe brooks' blog.  click on the picture to hear "these broken hands of mine"

i'm sitting here awake after the mini threw up in the bed and we cleaned up the huge mess. she is sleeping peacefully now, but i'm obviously not. i'm doing laundry and listening to songs quietly on my laptop.  been thinking about things... like how i got to this place, right here right now.  how sometimes things are surreal, how sometimes i want to be somewhere else and exactly where i am at the same time.  about how my hands hurt from twisting wire and soldering.  how some days i love/hate my job so much.  ah, duality! (but it doesn't make my hands hurt any less.  boo.)

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the fear you won't fall. and how i never watch grey's anatomy anymore.

L and i used to watch grey's anatomy religiously.  however, i usually am never awake long enough anymore to watch it, and it's no longer "on demand" on our cable service.  so now we just wait until it comes out on DVD.  (or when the girls at work ruin it for me when they talk about what happened this week.)

when i was on maternity leave, i watched a lot of grey's - i am sure that the mini initially thought mcsteamy was her real dad.  i do admit that some of what i listen to is influenced by the soundtrack - there is a lot of indie-rock/alternative type songs that i love.  including this one by joshua radin.  the female voice is schuyler fisk - who, incidentally, was apparently not only joshua's girlfriend, but is also the daughter of actress sissy spacek.  allegedly, their breakup was brutal and spawned a whole bunch of bittersweet songs on the part of joshua.  ah, love!

(sometimes the songs - and the show - are so sappy it makes me want to throw up.)

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love will tear us apart.

this one was stuck in my head all day. a classic awesomely done by broken social scene. because love will always tear you apart.

(incidentally, "love will tear us apart" was inscribed on ian curtis' headstone. which was famously stolen from macasselfield cemetary in 2008. it was never found and eventually was replaced with a new one. i guess love won't prevent thievery!)

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high and dry.

this got stuck in my head for some reason. radiohead when they were at their most brilliant.

(do you know that radiohead's original band name was "on a friday"? and that thom yorke collaborated with sparklehorse on their cover of pink floyd's "wish you were here" (probably one of the best covers ever) ?? his backing vocals were done over the phone.)

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my hero.

so i'm sitting in the basement watching "the other guys", and laughing by myself.  fittingly, they've used the foo fighters as part of the soundtrack.  not that the movie is really fantastic or anything, but this song totally is.  you go, dave grohl.  (will you marry me?)

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