ouch

Johnny Flynn, The wrote and The Write

Cass McCombs - Dreams Come True Girl

Coco Rosie - Lemonade... A really beautiful video

Ani Difranco, Untouchable Face

Bob Dylan, You Belong To Me

want.

adele, tired

sam cooke by adele, i quit thats it im movin on

radiohead, creep (of course)

word to my sister - or 'the 90's were weird'

this blog post is dedicated to my sister jen, who is responsible for some of the best sartorial moments of my elementary school days.

"Rhythm Is A Dancer"

Kriss Kross "Jump"

someuhdemtrytarhymebuttheycan'trhymelikethis

...my personal favorite from the kk album was "i missed the bus (ugh)"

I thought La Bouche was a man until I saw the music video on a tv at tower records. It blew my mind.

Corona - "Rhythm of The Night"

Reel2Real - "Move It"

nice sweet fantastique

Red Hot Chili Peppers - "My Friends"

ne me quitte pas, menages a trois.

this song always kills me. i mean rips my heart from my soul. it is killer.

to me, the best thing about this song is the title - it is impossible to translate appropriately. it generally reads as "if you leave" - but as a mediocre french speaker, i've always read it as, "don't quit me" - which is so much more heart-achy and meaningful because i think almost all of us have felt that way.

one of my closest friends has never had her heart broken. she is 30. she could never sing a song like this. it requires pain. you have to know what it is, to have your heart smashed in, to feel it in your gut - to feel heart ache.

i remember thinking i knew what it was to be heartbroken when i was fifteen, sixteen. unreciprocated love, right? but the worst is something you have and cherish that leaves. this is much worse. a love you mourn for, something that has perished. something that lived that no longer does. thats what i feel in this song - remorse for something that was that is passing that you can't have anymore.

it sounds like a threat made by someone who knows better - someone who would under any other circumstances scoff at pleading or begging, but whom realizes the consequences but just wants an opportunity to plead his or her case.

in any case, its one of the most beautiful songs i know, here, by three of my favorite artists, in order of when they came to my attention

the first, nina simone.

the second, by jacques brel.

and finally, shirley bassey, who is so theatric and wonderful its hard not to love her translated version.

hard headed woman

Funnel of Love is easily one of my favorite songs of the late 50s. When i was 16, my sister worked at Epic Records and i had full access to the "cd room" - ie. i was given a free pass to take any cd's home with me that i liked. this had a huge influence on my musical taste - i remember grabbing a "sentimental sixties" two disc set and some random covers album that had been released in Germany that had covers of, "Mama Told Me Not To Come," "Boys of Summer," and of course "Funnel of Love."

Wanda Jackson has such a gnarly raspy voice, you have to love her. She sounds like a really productive crackhead. Don't hate me for saying that, its just what i feel. And yes, you may have noticed a trend, I think everyone is or has been on drugs.

This is a nice recording - albight not a live performance, i love the photos. She was a beautiful woman.

And...

And this one too..

Drugs and Diana Ross

Exhibit A: @around 1:20

http://youtu.be/izzKUoxL11E

Exhibit B: the whole thing

http://youtu.be/l-ULTch7fY8

only sometimes.

on a rainy night in soho

Secrets are the things we grow

On love

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."

-St. Augustine, from the movie Captain Corelli's Mandolin

The PERFECT Salmon!

Yummyyyy!

I just made the most delicious crispy salmon meal and I want you all to be in the know.

I made: Lemon-pepper salmon, garlic spinach and a baked potato. The best part is, the entire thing cost me $7 at whole foods - I bought enough for 2 servings, so it was $7 per serving, to be clear.

I bought:

A half pound Norwegian Salmon

2 servings of fresh spinach

2 russet potatoes

a lemon

garlic

Pretty amazing right?

First things first, figure out how you want to bake your baked potato. If you're like me, and do it in the oven exclusively, you should do this an hour before hand (1 hour at 400?)

Next, prep marinade for salmon. Mix equal parts olive oil and lemon juice (fresh preferably), along with desired amount of salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Coat salmon in olive oil-lemon mix and let sit while prepping the rest of the dish

Heat pan to prepare for fish - DO NOT add oil to the pan - just heat the pan itself on medium high heat.

Heat a second pan at low-heat.

Slice two cloves garlic, add to second sautee pan.

Wash spinach and add to pan with garlic - this is the healthiest way to sautee spinach, with just the water from rinsing.

Now, for the salmon:

Place olive-oil and lemon coated salmon skin side down in hot pan.

Let cook for 6 to 7 minutes, or until skin is crispy.

While skin-side of salmon is cooking, fold spinach. When it is still a vibrant green but has wilted a little, turn heat of completed and let the remaining heat cook the spinach for a couple of minutes.

Focus your attention back to the salmon: flip to other side and let cook for another 2 minutes.

Remove Spinach from second pan and on to plate with garlic cloves (if you like garlic :)

Place salmon skin side down on plate.

Take Baked potato out of oven, prepare as desired!

Voila! Healthy eating at its best.

Ommmm

I meditated today.

I woke up later than I wanted, as I've done since I've been home. I woke up to Althea cruising the foot of the bed, then the environs of my pillow, squeaking out a meow, annoyed that I hadn't yet fed her.

I woke up three times before then and ignored the clock. I woke up, finally, when I knew if I slept any later I wouldn't get anything done.

I woke up, and I didn't feel great, again. I woke up and I said to myself, "No. Today I am going to feel good." So, I took a shower. I scrubbed my skin and suds-ed my hair and brushed my teeth. I shaved my legs and washed my face. Then I turned the water off. I sat down. I hugged my legs, I looked at the tiles on the wall, took a deep breath and started running a bath because it still wasn't feeling right

I sat, feeling the heat of the water dance up my thighs, the steam rise up; pushed the shower curtain outside of the tub and laid back. I saw my little belly, and I said hello. I wiggled my toes, promising them a pedicure. I told each part of my body that today they would feel loved.

I had read that people who meditated for an average of 27 minutes a day were happier than people who didn't. I don't "know how to meditate." At the same time, I feel like that's like saying "I don't know how to pray." My church is wherever I am standing. And so, my temple today was our bathtub.

And so, for 27 minutes, I sat and thought of the state of the morning. The snow that had fallen. I wished good things to people having a hard time. And mostly, I thought about what I would do today and how it would be good and how I would feel and who I would talk to. There were no extravagances, no grand gestures. I said to myself, things as simple as, "Today I am going to make the bed" ... "call my Grandmother" ... "finish my sketches"... "skype with my best friend in London" ... "read two chapters"... "go to the gym" ... "not watch television until after dinner."

I brushed my hair and put lotion on, I put my contacts in and batted my eyelashes, I took a deep breath and said, "Today is going to be good."

And, miraculously, it was.

Egypt is on the brink of revolution

...and there are some really beautiful photos documenting the day's events...

The imagery of protestors kneeling to pray in defense of/response to a water cannon aimed at them by police in Cairo...

and the photo of a protester passively kissing a bewildered officer on the cheek...

I don't even know what to say. These photos bring tears to my eyes.

I found it.

It's my birthday in three weeks! Take note, peeps!

The cake of my dreams...

Link: 5 Greatest Things Accomplished While High

When I was in college in Boulder, I had a friend who was a year older than me and already wrapping up his PhD in Physics. He was also the biggest drug addict I knew at the time, which was super unfortunate. Beyond being a genius, he was also really sweet and had an insane sense of humor - which as we all know is most often not the case - and to be honest, if he wasn't always on oxycodone or fentanyl or some crazy drug they give patients in severe, severe pain, he might have been my boyfriend.

Once after a long night of partying, I had gotten out of bed (er the couch I was sleeping on) to get some water, and heard Seth in the hallway... In the house we were staying in, there was a set of stairs leading to the second floor, and immediately beneath it, a set of stairs leading to the basement. Seth, hearing me in the kitchen, stumbles in with a bottle of vodka in one hand to say goodnight and that he was going upstairs to bed. I say goodnight, he walks away, and within seconds there is a loud tumble and a muffled groan...

Thinking he had somehow fallen down the stairs from the second floor after walking up, I ran over to make sure he was alright, but didn't see anything or anyone. Hearing another moan, I look down the stairwell to my right leading to the basement, and see Seth, who would at 22 be getting a PhD in Physics from a reputable university, and who had been accepted into the post-doc program at Berkeley, lying covered in blood and vodka at the bottom of the stairwell.

Later on, he told me he had looked at the stairs leading down the basement and been so out of it he literally thought they were leading up to the second floor.

On that note, I present to you this hilarious article I read over on cracked.com...

http://www.cracked.com/article_16532_the-5-greatest-things-ever-accomplished-while-high.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CrackedRSS+%28Cracked%3A+All+Posts%29

Good Reads: The Wave by Susan Casey

When I unwrapped this on Christmas day I admit I felt a little guilty because it was instantly one of my favorite presents... I won't say the gift certificate for a massage paled in comparison, but next to the lipglosses and random pieces of costume jewelry, this was something I hadn't asked for but had actually WANTED.

I saw Susan Casey on Conan O'Brien (I think) and the interview left an impression, which typically doesn't happen to me when haphazardly watching late-night TV - in promoting her book, she told a story about a wave twice the size of the Empire State Building that had leveled the trees on large mountain overlook in Alaska, raising the tree line by something like two-thousand feet. It totally blew my mind.

When you do a little more research and realize that the Tsunami that blew the socks off Sumatra in 2004 was "only" 100-feet high - and that big wave surfers like Laird Hamilton, who the book documents in part, ride these waves as sport - Casey's book becomes infinitely more intriguing.

I'm only about 1/3 into the book, but so far I'm definitely enjoying it. I love Non-Fiction because even if my boyfriend or friends aren't reading the same book as I am, it's something we can discuss.

Hope you guys had an awesome holiday weekend!!

Love!

they all will have exquisite taste, but everyone will look the same

Sorry guys - this isn't turning into a music blog, its just all I've had time to post!

I grew up listening to a lot of punk rock and going to a lot of shows. One of my favorite bands of all time is Agent Orange. Let's call it surf metal. Sadly, I'm only uploading one of their songs because it's hard to find footage of them live.

And of course, there's Bad Brains.

dragonaut

...moving along.

i went through a ton of boxes from 1999 that were stored in my parents garage. i found. some pretty embarrassing items of interest... but something awesome happened. i started reading some pretty embarrassing journal entries and it sort of jogged my memory back to what i was listening to and reading when we put all this stuff in storage for the move from the south bay to hollywood...

what i learned today:

1. i was a really, really good writer

2. i was out of my fucking mind in a bad way

3. don't do drugs, kids

such a bummer he's such a bummer.

...i didn't think he was gonna be able to get it together for a second there.

i learned to take it well

the old lady inside of me loves these songs

how rad is her onesie