Thee Oh Sees - Minotaur

Rye Rye ft. M.I.A. - Sunshine

Howdy! 

Barbara Keith - The Bramble & The Rose

Nico - I'm Not Sayin'

Nico, beer, and some sweet passionate candle light tonight! 

Future Islands - The Great Fire

Angel Olsen - Tiniest Seed

Lykki Li - Melodies & Desires

New album coming in MAY! 

Alison Krauss & Union Station - The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn

Janelle Monáe - PrimeTime ft. Miguel

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm in a dress and wearing lipstick...  all ready for RoboCop IMAX! xo 

St. Lucia - When the Night

Can't sleep! Can't wait for the fun ahead this weekend! Can't decide on my next nail color! Here we go, wheee! 

The Knife - Like a Pen

If you make workout playlists, add this song to your next one. 

It's snowing again. Highlights of today: driving the girls and their friend home from school and listening to their conversation titled How I Like to Flirt. Reading this article. Hugging a buddy goodbye before her departure for a 4-month trip to Taipei. Feeling the day-after soreness from a solid workout (hopped on the  bike in preparation for RAGBRAI!). Remembering to laugh and keeping my calm while instructing multiple classes of 45 kindergarteners-3rd graders (we were down two coaches at the school today).

The Past Five Months Or So • • Solid Gold- Who You Gonna Run To?

Good'ay, blog! It's been awhile. Since I've last documented my whereabouts months ago, I've been living in Chicago since June. After finding/being found by a lovely family, I am the nanny of two amazing girls in addition to being a fitness instructor to students, kindergarten through fifth grade. 

I share an apartment with two roommates and as of this week, a third roommate. Pictured above, Fang is one of three 6-month-old kittens of my cat, Milou. You may remember me mentioning Milou last January when she first came into my life on a cold winter day. Well, soon enough, she got pregnant and before I knew it, I was moving to Chicago, leaving my parents in Iowa with not only Milou, Fang, Boots, and Pico, but our family cat, Willie. Luckily, my parents have also fallen in love with these cats, so taking them to a farm was out of the question. So, here I am with one of them... it's the least I can do, taking one of my responsibilities off of their hands. {Shout out to the best parents ever!}

But no, Fang is no burden being here. In fact, she and I were having tons of fun last night listening to Lorde's album Pure Heroine, drinking beer (me), and sliding around on our wooden floors. She's a great partner. But this 2-creature celebration of life party wasn't just a TGIF party but a result of my car being hit by another just 2 hours earlier, sending my Honda and me spinning in traffic. Oh the feeling of kissing your cat when you get in the door after such an event... 

Anyway, maybe it was all the hyperventilating that I did yesterday or maybe it's a resurgence of focus since bringing my desk to Chicago or maybe it's a desire for more reflection in my life that's brought me back to my blog... whatever it may be, I'm back! 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

Now here's a song! Play it loudly! 

Saw Solid Gold play with Marijuana Deathsquads at the Subterranean here in Chicago in June. Really enjoyed the pairing of these bands. 

Volcano Choir - Byegone

Lorde- Royals

Cloud Atlas

"Oh, this movie. This beautiful, beautiful movie. It’s a shame that the word 'breathtaking' has been so fucked out by hack movie critics, because it actually applies to Cloud Atlas. Sure, it was three hours long, and I probably shouldn’t have seen it for the first time stoned out of my gourd, but damn — this movie rocked my fucking world.

Structurally, Cloud Atlas is a challenge. There is no way to absorb everything in one viewing. The film’s layers aren’t just stacked on top of one another — they extend outward and through time in an exploding fractal of visual, textual, and cultural motifs. It’s fun when you catch one of the echoing references, but don’t get greedy and try to catch them all. You will only frustrate yourself. Just sit back, let it flow over you, and trust that more will be revealed when you see it again.

It’s not all work, though. Emotionally, Cloud Atlas is as easy as it gets. The narrative may be complicated, but it is still very traditional. People who compare this film to Malick’s Tree of Life are off the mark. Both films are deeply philosophical, but the Wachowskis aren’t writing a poem. They’re telling a story, and they’re damn good at telling stories. You may not know what to think at any given moment, but you’ll know exactly how to feel in every scene.

Intellectually, Cloud Atlas is a fucking masterpiece. Anyone who says otherwise is either incapable or unwilling to deconstruct a film with so many moving parts, the sum of which aren’t meant to be as great as the whole. If you didn’t enjoy it, that’s fine. If you didn’t connect with it, that’s fine too. You don’t have to love it, but you sure as hell have to respect it. It reaches further and achieves more than the very best films from any of the genres it encompasses.

If you haven’t already, go see it. If you have, by all means, go see it again."

-The Coquette on Cloud Atlas

• • • • Running in place, I am so so so looking forward to watching this tonight. 

Today

Eating the largest strawberries and watching the Blackhawks in game 2 of their 2nd round of playoffs against the Red Wings. 

I want to share with you...

My love for Bob's Burgers- 

 

A very early preview of my installation for Seldom Seen music, art, and lit festival

And this excerpt from the 2007 film Om Shanti Om

Adele - Hometown Glory (Axwell Original Mix)

Thought

No shame in a barking and howl contest with the neighbor dog, am i right? Where's the slingshot? 

Update: My incense set off the smoke alarm, so that shut 'im up. 

Anyway, here's my song for the night... 

...brought to my attention from this BBC documentary on Brian Eno that was shared with me by a creature named Visigoth. Check it: 

Record Store Day

Was sure to swing by the local record store to celebrate on 4/20. Above, two of my finds to add to the Dolly collection. Can never have enough of her. My dad bought two CDs- Pavarotti and Enrico Caruso. Have you listened to either of these Italian voices? If not, treat your ears and do so. Here's a taste of Caruso:



And then treat your eyes by gazing into his: 

Do you have a record collection, whether big or small? If so, what recent finds have you added to yours?  

HAIM - Don't Save Me

Feels good, doesn't it!