SNL was great this week, apparently. I just found this clip on Jezebel (I have so much love for Jezebel), and the comments section inspired me to make an entire spotify playlist of songs that make me want to cry, which I will never ever ever listen to straight through, because... seriously. Who wants to just sit down and cry? It's already a grey november day, and while nothing in particular is going wrong, I'm wearing sweatpants and listening to Konstantine by Something Corporate (which Daphna put on a mix CD for me the summer before I moved), and already feeling teary for no reason whatsoever.
Although, you know, my parakeets have been fighting a lot lately...
Love always,
Clara
P.S. if you have spotify and are feeling masochistic, have at it.
So you may have noticed I haven't posted any posts about songs being great lately. Songs have not ceased to be great, I promise, but I have a new way of going about listening to them. No longer must I commit to downloading songs to listen to them nonstop. I can listen to whatever I want. I'm using spotify.
I like Spotify a lot. I do. I'm listening to St. Vincent right now, and I'm not sure whether I like her or not, but I can get a better sense for whether I do by listening to her whole new album than listening to a few one-minute simples of her most popular tracks. Which is what I would have otherwise done.
About a month ago I rediscovered Frightened Rabbit, and that rocked my world for a few weeks, and I would have told you all about it except
A) I was still on my blogging hiatus and
B) I didn't have to download any songs!
What would I have even done? Wrote a post saying "Hey guys, Frightened Rabbit is great, in general, and y'all should listen to them"? That seems like it makes less sense, for some reason, although I guess in the grand scheme of things the idea of posting the songs I'd downloaded didn't make a ton of sense either. At least it was concrete though.
So Spotify is great, but I sort of feel nostalgic for iTunes (which I do still use occasionally). I can still go back and see which songs I was downloading a year ago, which is exciting, but there will come a time when I can't do that, and that's going to be weird (although I suppose we'll always have Last.fm).
I'm popping over to Sorrento for the weekend. Consider me on hiatus. In the meantime, listen to these songs.
Open Season - High highs
Sprawl II - Arcade Fire
Ours - Taylor Swift
Track 4 - Sigur Ros
Perth - Bon Iver
Who Says - Selena Gomez
Holocene - Bon Iver
Crave You (Adventure Club Remix) - Flight Facilities
I've downloaded a ton of new music and it is very pleasing.
New Morning - Alpha Rev
Bring On the Comets - VHS or BETA
A Year Without Rain - Selena Gomez & The Scene
Doubt - Wye Oak
Enzymes - Freelance Whales
Long Live - Taylor Swift
When I'm With You - Best Coast
Cuckoo - Lissie
Pumped Up Kicks - Foster The People
The Suburbs (Arcade Fire Cover) - Mr. Little Jeans
I'm going to Milan with Mom tomorrow. After that, we're off to the Grand Prix. I'm not even joking. Clara is adding Monaco to the list of countries she's been to. Just another day in the life.
Anyway, travel necessitates new music. The internet always delivers.
Super Bass - Nicki Minaj
Always Spring - I'm from Barcelona
Mango Tree - Angus & Julia Stone
Ungirthed - Purity Ring
Wonderman (Jacob Plant Remix) - Tinie Tempah
Never Grow Up - Timeflies
Sun of a Gun (Jacob Plant Remix) - Oh Land
Belongings - Clock Opera
The Hustle - The Freeze Tag
Perfect Day - Cassettes Won't Listen
There's Something About Us Under The Sheets (Ellie Goulding + Daft Punk) - B-Roc of The Knocks
A Dope Flexaterrestrial - Mitch-Mash
Swimming In The Sky (Passion Pit, B.I.G., Beyonce) - Xaphoon Jones
Little Bit - Drake ft. Lykke Li
Teddy: Mm, those look good. I'd do anything to get one of those. I'd even show you my genitals.
They're trying to convince me to do all kinds of things for these saltines. I don't know where they even got the idea that I want any of their saltines. I'm not even hungry.
Me: Where is the incentive here? I don't really want your saltines. Or to see Teddy's genitals. Sorry Teddy.
Billy: Why not?
Teddy: This is all just an obvious ploy to for Billy to see my genitals. You could just ask.
Now they're telling me that my life is not quite as sad as it appears.
Billy: Some Michael Buble to get you through the lonely nights.
I love hanging out with bros. Honestly, they are some of my favorite people.
Teddy: DTF? Delta Tau Fraternity?
The DTau boys bought shirts that say that on them. I was impressed. I didn't realize that they were so clever over there, but in retrospect I shouldn't be surprised. They're banterous lads, after all.
Teddy: Word! I love saying word. It's my favorite word.
That is what I think. I think that summer flows, and autumn happens whether you like it or not, and winter is a dreary thing that one must make interesting on one's own (you know how I do), and spring is a weird time that has a lot to do with waiting for summer. It's kind of warm up here, but not warm enough, and I've basically resigned myself to the fact that time is just going to tumble forward largely uneventfully for the next month, and then I'll go home.
Then it will be summer and I'm going to Italy and I have a feeling I'm going to get really into the sort of hip hop that suits me (this happens when it's warm out, almost exclusively) like Childish Gambino.
Right now, though, I'm feeling the types of songs that I could fall asleep to, because to be honest I'd be just as happy if I slept for the next month (besides the small fact that my finals do in fact have to get done, and I don't trust my sleeping self to do as well as I know my wakeful self is capable of)
The Moment - Boris Smile
New Romantic - Laura Marling
What Will Become of Us - Passenger
Take Me Home - Germany Germany
Working Poor - Horse Feathers
Girl U Want (DEVO cover) - Freelance Whales
Thousand Ways - The Tallest Man On Earth
The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot - Brand New
My last post was indeed a premature retrospective on Spring Weekend. The best, in fact, was yet to come.
There is a man named Dave Binder, and apparently every year the Greek Council gets him to come play a final Spring Weekend concert on Wriston quad.
Everyone is exhausted and drinking at two pm... and then he makes us do the hokey pokey. I'm not even joking.
Everyone goes out onto the quad, and the nearby frats have cookouts and such. I made some new fratty friends (this has basically been my primary nighttime activity for the last month or so) which was superb. Then Benny and I went with some guys to dance (or, specifically, to twist and shout).
Binder also played Time of Your Life by Green Day.
Me: This song made me cry at the end of eighth grade! Oh my god!
I made the wise decision to bring out my diana mini. One of my new friends said that with my analogue camera and roundish sunglasses and such, I must be a dirty hipster. This, of course, isn't true; I listen to Taylor Swift in the least ironic way possible. There's no way that those two facts can coexist.
I'll have photos soon though. I need to schedule a trip to the CVS that develops film.
On my last day as an eighteen year old, I am going to produce an entirely mundane post about the music I like.
(I never thought I would like dubstep, and then suddenly I did.)
Also, I played catch outside for about an hour today. Andrew picked up a softball glove for me at WalMart. File this under: unlikely but enjoyable college activities.
Somehow I was not fully aware that Bright Lights, the repackaged and extended version of Ellie Goulding's Lights, had been released a while ago.
Now, I am aware.
And I am pleased.
Believe Me - Ellie Goulding
Will Do - TV On The Radio
Animal - Ellie Goulding
Home Is a Fire - Death Cab for Cutie
Home - Ellie Goulding
Break - Childish Gambinio
Little Dreams - Ellie Goulding
You Are A Tourist - Death Cab for Cutie
Human - Ellie Goulding
You can tell I'm OCD because I couldn't have two consecutive Ellie Goulding songs on my Recently Added playlist. Whatever.
I had lunch with Vivian today, and then we walked aimlessly around georgetown in the drizzle. More accurately, we bounced between places where we could sit and camera-whore.
Lunch was fun. I told her about my life and she told me about hers and we got to talking about philosophic souls. I've been thinking a lot about that lately. I am inclined to believe that I have something of a contemplative disposition, but maybe all along I've been underestimating everyone else's contemplative disposition, and I'm pretty average.
After all, being contemplative is a thing one tends to do on one's own. I mean, just because I don't often see other people showering, that doesn't mean I think I'm the only one who does it.
I guess now that I'm in college, I do see other people showering. That argument just fell apart but you do know what I mean. I trust you.
My point is that I've been trying to sort out whether I'm crazy or conceited or both. Probably both, but I shouldn't let the haters get me down.
Also, I downloaded some new songs today.
Lost In My Mind - The Head and the Heart
Dirty Thing - Telekinesis
Raise Your Weapon - Deadmau5
Automatic - Yuck
Our Get - White Denim
Beam Me Up Scotty - Talking to Turtles
Car Crash - Telekinesis
Marathon - Tennis
I have two midterms tomorrow morning. I've been studying all day. It's been great.
Me: What's the proposed function of the ventral prefrontal cortex in the left hemisphere?
Dan: Well that's where we get our drive for mushrooms! You see, it's left over from the days when we used to eat bones, and mushrooms contain a vital enzyme for the digestion of bones. That's why we eat mushrooms. It's residual.
Me: I'm going to blog about you, Dan.
Dan isn't in my class. He just has a wild imagination.
Down in the Valley - The Head and the Heart
Strangeness and Charm - Florence + The Machine
Touch The Sky Upside Down - Old Boy's Club
Two Small Deaths - Wye Oak
Staring at the Sun - TV On the Radio
Cradle - The Joy Formidable
Wild Thing - Noah & The Whale
L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. - Noah & The Whale
HipHop Animal - Old Boy's Club
Thanks Lisa for the Florence. I'm a big fan.
I stole the The Head and the Heart from my newsfeed, courtesy of Thomas. I just remembered that I have a ton of songs from him on my computer somewhere. I should bring a new batch into my iTunes one of these days.
You kids should all look up Old Boy's Club on facebook.
The placement of their apostrophe makes me think that they're the club of the guy in that awful Korean film (and by awful I mean critically acclaimed, but I also mean a man cuts out his own tongue and unknowingly fucks his daughter).
Thanks for this, Kyle. By the way, spring break is coming up, and the whole wedding situation seems a little ambiguous. Don't break my heart. Party and party and yeah.
Holy shit. You probably just shouldn't watch that.
I don't think I've ever heard a song that bad in my life.
0:23 - I like that we now know what she's gotta have in the morning (her bowl, cereal. I'm assuming these are related and the cereal is in the bowl, but she says them separately, which makes me think she might be waking and baking. That might explain things later on.)
0:32 - What do you do at a bus stop? I'm genuinely curious! Rebecca Black says that one catches a bus there. Thanks, Rebecca Black.
0:43 - She's gotta make her mind up, regarding which seat she can take. There's really no decision to make though. There's only one open seat. Also, whatever happened to that bus?
0:52 - I totally do that thing with my hand when I'm in the car and feeling groovy on a Friday or whatever. Not even joking.
1:08 - I do not want to party or have fun with these kids.
1:11 - They're cruising on the highway at 7:45. That's because her curfew is at 11.
1:23 - "My friend is by my right, and fuck this bitch on the left. I don't even know her. She's just chillin in that dress like she wants to be in my music video. This is what fame does to people, guys."
1:37 - Why is her placement in the car such a critical decision point for this girl?
1:49 - There's something about the way she pronounces the word "Friday" that makes me want to slam my head against concrete.
2:07 - Sometimes I wonder what day it is that comes before Friday. Now I know.
2:18 - "We we we so excited." No. Stop. Now.
2:27 - More details on how the days of the week work. This might be genuinely useful for people who don't understand how the days of the week work. i.e. no one.
2:35 - This is probably the most times that the "back seat" has been referred to in a song that has had absolutely no sexual subtext.
2:53 - Pause the video here and look at her face.
3:10 - Rebecca Black does not look like she is actually having any fun.
3:24 - Do we know who this guy in the car is?
3:38 - Somehow, Rebecca Black gives off the attitude of an overenthusiastic babysitter. "It's friday! Fun fun fun fun! But don't do anything you wouldn't want me to tell your parents about, guys!"
3:48 - I have now watched that whole thing twice. That was a mistake.
This identity crisis that started this weekend (although one might say it's been going on for a while now, or maybe forever) is turning into a blog-saga.
Once again, I've been doing some thinking. I hope we all have learned by now that me doing some thinking is very dangerous all around. I begin to think and suddenly everything is thrown into disarray and why exactly does this happen? No one knows.
My thinking was about the nature of the blog again. It occurred to me that I do implicitly have a sort of central theme. "Love always, Clara" is a sign-off. It's the closing to a letter. These posts could be construed as a form of one-sided correspondance between myself and the world.
When I was younger, I considered myself an anthropologist of sorts. I was always trying to figure things out, figure people out. Now, the analogy would be a little more like this: I was a researcher, sent to an island to learn about their customs, and write about my experiences in this strange land. But I've "gone native" as they say, and fallen in love with all of it, and now I'm just keeping records out of habit and a relentless desire to explain things later, even if I can't fully articulate why they're so simply fantastic in the first place. These posts could easily be read as the letters from myself to the King of Spain or whomever, if that were to make any sense, except clearly it doesn't.
The whole twisted metaphor does give me a new paradigm though, which is a nice thing to have these days.
I'm posting this song because I like it, and because if this is the journal of my expedition into the wild unknown 21st century world, I can post whatever songs I want.
I have found myself with an inordinate amount of free time on this Monday afternoon. I'm hoping I don't waste all of it. Free time is a valuable resource.
I've used the last little segment of it downloading some new songs.
Change Of Seasons - Sweet Thing
When I Grow Up (Fever Ray cover) - First Aid Kit
Acid Raindrops - People Under the Stairs
Whirring - The Joy Formidable
Ambien (Sleepy Trip) - Lil Wayne vs. Passion Pit
Miracles - Norwegian Recycling
June Hymn - The Decemberists
Sparks Fly - Taylor Swift
Burning Stars - Mimicking Birds
Sunnier Days - Criminal Mischief
By the way, Sunnier Days is exclusive to readers of NATUREGRAFFITI, which happens to belong to a girl on my hall. You guys should check it out.
What was the name of that math teacher in IS who really liked the Steelers?
I seriously can't remember her name. It's really bothering me.
Anyway, my condolences to her. Go Packers!
I went to a Super Bowl party at ADPhi, the literary frat, tonight. That was fun. We drank beer and played bananagrams, and some football happened, and I met a man in a top hat.
Now I'm downloading music.
Lean Into the Light - Iron & Wine
Nicest Thing - Kate Nash
I Fell Off My Name - Faded Paper Figures
Empire - Jukebox the Ghost
Set Fire to the Rain - Adele
Girls Like You - The Naked and Famous
Your Body is a Machine - The Good Natured
New Hampshire - Matt Pond PA
All Of This - The Naked and Famous
Night Skate (Lupe Fiasco + Oh Land) - Tweed Blazer
Tweed Blazer may or may not be Sam. You may or may not be advised to look him up on soundcloud.
Also, Thomas and David both contributed selections to this batch of music. They sure do have good tastes in music.
Speaking of people with good taste, my friend and neighbor Ivy has a blog! It's cool! And she has good taste, so you should check it out.
