Sunday, December 28, 2008

a holiday poem

mid december, i finally gave in
and bought christmas lights
to line the house.
it wasn't the celebration
that left me feeling sour
but the spectacle of lights
it had become.

still, you convinced me,
that i spend too much time
fighting for causes only i
understood.
and, that my convictions
had turned from eccentricities
to flaws a long time ago.

and in those Walmart isles,
under fluorescent lights,
i felt what i had already
decided the day
that i first met you:
i would be the one to leave.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

best of 2008 (...and 2007 in retrospect)

paste already gave its signs of life 2008. pitchfork has dealt out half of its best albums of 2008. so, it is about time i dished out my top 10 of 2008.

disclaimer:  there are more albums i want than i have money to buy. so there are a lot of albums that i didn't event consider for my top 10 because i have not  purchased them and given them a full listen yet... including devotion - beach house, microcastle - deerhunter, dear science - tv on the radio, women - women, let the blind... - atlas sound, parc avenue - plants & animals, april - sun kil moon

10: volume one - she & him
9: in ear park - department of eagles
8: vampire weekend - vampire weekend
7: house with no home - horse feathers
6: the rhumb line - ra ra riot
5: alpinisms - school of seven bells
4: fate - dr. dog
3: fleet foxes - fleet foxes
2: we brave bee stings and all - thao w/ the get down stay down
1: for emma, forever ago - bon iver

honorable mentions: all we could do was sing - port o'brien, all is well - samamidon, in ghost colours - cut copy, með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust - sigur rós, saturdays=youth - m83, the second gleam (ep) - the avett brothers, sad robots (ep) - stars, canopy glow - anathallo, caught in the tree - damien jurado, the odd couple - gnarls barkley

albums i feel show the most promise: nests - she keeps bees, everything is alive - pomegranates 

biggest disappointment: skeletal lamping - of montreal

2007 (in retrospect)
 i find it easier to create a list for 2007 now that a year has past and i've had the chance to listen to more albums as well as given a deeper listen to albums. now that the novelty has worn away, what albums have remained on my playlist? here's a look at how at my top 25 (plus a few honorable mentions) for 2007:

25: under the blacklight - rilo kiley
24: the historical conquests of josh ritter - josh ritter
23: alright still - lily allen
22: the stage name- okkervil river
21: person pitch - panda bear
20: wincing the night away - the shins
19: is is (ep) - yeah yeah yeahs
18: friend and foe - menomena
17: armchair apocrypha - andrew bird
17: flying cup - beirut
16: hissing fauna, are you the destroyer? - of montreal
15: in rainbows - radiohead
14: all hour cymbals - yeasayer
13: friend (ep) - grizzly bear
12: the reminder - feist
11: raising sand - robert plant & alison krauss
10: challengers - new pornographers
8: marry me - st. vincent
7: kala - m.i.a.
6: sky blue sky - wilco
5: the con - tegan and sara
4: ga ga ga ga ga - spoon
3: emotionalism - the avett brothers
2: strawberry jam - animal collective
1: cease to begin - band of horses

honorable mentions: hymn for a dark horse - bowerbirds, we were dead before the ship even sank - modest mouse, graduation - kanye west, made of bricks- kate nash, random spirit lover - sunset rubdown, friend opportunity - deerhoof, some loud thunder - clap your hands say yeah

when i grow up

i want to be zooey deschanel.

Monday, December 1, 2008

quote


"Let's set aside our weapons for the culture and pick up the first aid kits for the wounded."

(This is from a book I'm reading for one of my classes. While I don't quite agree with the author on all of his points, I really liked this statement).