What a Week

Basketball, Health Care Reform passage, signage, re-writage and re-passage, Show-going (South Pacific shoutout), Rehearsal, Photo Shoot, Audition Line-up and Prep, SAG paperwork, Doctor, Dayjob dayjob dayjob, Family, Birthdays, Lost, Music, Reading & Writing, Gym, Cooking, Friends, more Basketball and not enough sleep.

Hello weekend.

Happiness

Maybe it's that it's such a sunny beautiful day, or maybe it's just a feeling that the people in my immediate circle could use a little extra jolt of joy, but I'm digging this viddy from Goldfrapp:



Ok, it's silly, but it's fun silly. Irrationally fun, no? Plus, it's got to be harder than it looks to pull off that hopping...

M.I.A.

And not the Rap Goddess this time. No, this time M.I.A. refers to me, being absent from this forum. And I have no time to fill in the blanks right now either, people, but rest assured that I'll be back. There's plenty to share.

For now, and for no good reason, here's my niece dressed up like a cow.

Magic 8pod and the Groove of Commuting

This morning, in a whimsical mood and in light of a potential wrinkle in the plans for this weekend's trip to Maine, I asked the Magic 8Pod:

"What's up with this weekend's trip to Maine?"

Go to the Mirror - the Who

From 'Tommy,' this one is a proto-anthem that helped change the course of rock history. It's where the world first heard the words

Listening to you I get the music
Gazing at you I get the heat
Following you I climb the mountain
I get excitement at your feet

Right behind you I see the millions
On you I see the glory
From you I get opinions
From you I get the story

So we've got that going for us. Which is nice.

Then I just let the randomness ride, as I am wont to do. This day's mix didn't perceptibly continue to comment on the Maine trip, but it was an interesting trip into work. Less genre-hopping than my i-shuffling tends to be, it resulted in a very good groove:

Green Day - the Homecoming/Death of St. Jimmy, etc. extravamondo medley from 'American Idiot'. More anthem rock. Cool.

Portishead - Seven Months. Not as anthemic, but a very powerful song, which has the added significance of being the soundtrack for one of the more intense theatrical exercises of my life.

Dan Bern - Hooker. A long brilliant ramble from Bern's (most unjustifiably) overlooked 'Smartie Mine' record

Patti Smith Group - Distant Fingers. Back in anthem territory from the punk poet goddess (hoping to see her perform on Halloween, btw - cross your fingers)

PJ Harvey - Oh My Lover. Mmmmmmm...

Sade - I Will Be Your Friend. From 'Diamond Life," this was a nice way to wrap up the walk to work. Fitting, wouldn't you say?

Thursday? It's Thursday?!

Ok, it's been a little crazy, and the days melt together just a bit...

But there has been fun to be had amongst the madness. So, for a little bit of each:

• In the last couple days, i found out that it's incredibly hard to find a swim suit this time of year. Even for a guy, even (especially?) in new york, they run out of all useful sizes by august.
  
  
• Last night was about 2 things: laundry, and hard cider. A friend brought some direct from london and gave me a couple strongbows. Not a 'drinking' night, as such, but i had one with dinner.
  


• Today, i had lunch with my oldest friend, and we spent almost the whole time doing the new york times crossword puzzle (yesterday's and today's). Which was actually kind of wonderful...

And in case you might be interested in such things... i came across this photo from i'm guessing 2nd grade:

Hehehe. Gotta love the ol' 44! Points for the folks who know why that number's important...

Playlist for Pleasure

Ok, in contrast to the entry about Minneapolis, let me share some random radness.

Had my iPod on shuffle this morning on the way in to work, and it was one of those days where the tunes just landed pretty much perfectly. Helped the mood, fit the reading i was doing, and just kind of clicked.

I'll resist my temptation to comment on it, and just list the playlist as it came up.

...on the bus:

• The Shins - Mine's Not a High Horse
• The Dears - Hate Then Love
• The Smithereens - Alone at Midnight
• Ani DiFranco - Independence Day

...down to the train:

• Ani DiFranco (again - huh) - Make Them Apologize
• Miles Davis & Gil Evans - The Meaning of the Blues
• Franz Ferdinand - Cheating on You
• Sarah Vaughan - I Could Write a Book
• Son Volt - Afterglow 61

...up to the street

• Fleetwood Mac - What Makes You Think You're the One
• Mosquitos - Rainsong
• R.E.M. - Swan Swan H
• Galaxie 500 - Spook

So there that was.