Friday, February 28, 2003
5 albums, 5 memories.
1. Sarge, The Glass Intact. July 1998. I remember the exact moment I fell in love with Sarge. After half-heartedly promoting them at Wellesley, going to their show and buying both CDs, and listening to The Glass Intact some, I still didn’t love them. The love hit me for the first time as I was driving home to my apartment in Montreal after my first ever trip to an IKEA. He asked if I thought “Fast Girls” meant that she was bisexual, and I gave it a really close listen for the first time, and after it, “The First Morning” and “To Keep You Trained” and suddenly I didn’t want to listen to anything else ever again.
2. Momus, Timelord. July 1999. That summer I knew the entire time that things were ending between us but I didn't want to admit it. After yet another horrible argument I took Timelord and a pack of stale Silk Cut and left the house in the dusk. I hid behind an enormous tree in Highbury Park and cried for hours as I listened to words that wouldn’t be true for us anymore.
3. Sloan, Between the Bridges. September-October 1999. My first year of graduate school, I would listen to “Losing California” run into “A Long Time Coming” every single morning on the way to school. That’s how long it took to drive there. When I hear those two songs together, all my loneliness and unhappiness at that time comes rushing back, how much I wanted to trade it all for someplace warmer, something better.
4. The Dismemberment Plan, Emergency and I. March 2000. I put this on a tape with ! and The Pacific Ocean, Birds Don’t Know They’re Flying to listen to when I went to the UK and Amsterdam for Spring Break. I don’t think I listened to the other side more than twice the entire time. I remember wandering alone in cold, grey Edinburgh, listening to "Spider in the Snow," and feeling like I was being slowly awakened to something very important. I never took the headphones off unless it was absolutely necessary. I went through at least three pairs of batteries that trip.
5. The Faint, Danse Macabre. May 2001. I was driving to Niagara Falls to meet my mother, grandmother, and sister. I was on some back country road with no streetlights and a speed limit of 35. The dark made everything seem unbelievably rural; the music made the dark seem unbelievably oppressive. I imagined all the people in the houses I drove by, living their normal all-American lives, while I passed over them, listening to sinister and pervy dance rock.
Sunday, February 23, 2003
recent topic on the Reputation listserve - top breakup songs. Here's my top 10:
1. Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach, "God Give Me Strength" (or actually, the whole Painted From Memory album)
2. American Music Club, "I Broke My Promise"
3. Sarge, "The End of July"
4. Death Cab For Cutie, "For What Reason"
5. Liz Phair, "Divorce Song"
6. Memphis, "06/12/00"
7. Ida, "Shotgun"
8. Orange Peels, "Everybody's Gone"
9. Chisel, "Looking Down on the Great Wall of China"
10. The Carpenters, "Hurting Each Other"
Friday, February 21, 2003
In an attempt to cure my shopping problems, two lists.
Ten things I am no longer allowed to buy until further notice:
1. black loafers. Enough already!
2. makeup of any kind. I never wear it and I will never wear it, so I should just stop. if, by some miracle, I actually attend a function for which I need to wear makeup, I will only purchase 99 cent drug store makeup, or use already owned makeup.
3. white sweaters. any style.
4. any corduroy pants in any color other than black, especially brown.
5. bags of any description. Must! curb! bag! addiction! Especially Le Sportsacs.
6. all coats, with the exception of a good raincoat or trench coat.
7. books, except for those needed for school. go to libraries!
8. bath products in general, but especially shampoo.
9. exciting shirts from Montreal which I end up not wearing because they're far too funky to teach in, unless I can manage to get over that complex.
10. swimsuits, as I've gone swimming exactly three times in three years.
11. I'd say CDs, but I know I'm just going to buy them anyway, so why lie to myself?
Things I will be allowed to buy once I have more money:
1. an iPod!
2. Camper Twins, as many as possible.
3. a good black twinset.
4. 4 Russel Wright reissued American Modern dinner plates and the reissued Pinch flatware. and then no more housewares until I break more glasses.
5. a good rain coat/trench coat.
Sunday, February 02, 2003
5 recent desktop pictures, or, my inner nerd is running riot:
1) Q and Not U in what appears to be a basement (current)
2) Emma Watson as Hermione Granger
3) Dismemberment Plan with a plane
4) Orlando Bloom (actually, two different pictures of Orlando Bloom. I'm such a teenager)
5) Merry and Pippin, looking very adorable
np: Coax, "Rebecca in the Presence of the Enemy"
