MEDIUM RARE!!!

last night i had the extreme pleasure of seeing Peelander-Z for the first time. i try to keep up, keep informed, about things going on in the music world, and i feel a bit embarassed that i'd never heard of these guys before! i've seen a bunch of live acts in my time (that makes me sound older than i am), but i have never had an experience like seeing Peelander-Z last night.
el paso is not a city with a booming music scene, but the people who are involved in it are really interested in helping it grow and are good about supporting the bands- both local acts and ones that come through town. before the show started, at local bar/venue Black Market, there was a pretty tangible buzz. people were sharing stories about previous shows, showing pictures from their last time seeing them perform, or trying to explain (wild hand gestures included) what was about to happen. and holy crap, did it happen.
i don't know how to explain exactly what it's like- it's intereactive, it's loud and raucous, it's funny, it's punkrock, it's very colorful, and more than a little ridiculous. there are dances and hand motions required of you, there are signs with words to scream along, sometimes you are asked to pick someone up or do a limbo with a giant squid. you'll hear songs about ice cream, ninja high schools, steak- medium rare, about how they are so many mikes in the world. it was probably the most FUN i've had at a show in a while. i've heard better music, to be sure, but for pure entertainment, this was true greatness. you need to make this happen in your life.



here's one video of them playing in the middle of the crowd, with audience musical participation



MAD TIGER!!!!

first picture via BrooklynVegan

All Things Great & Greater

i love Paste magazine for keeping me informed. they always have good things to tell me. for example, a long while back, they told me that a Haruki Murakami novel was being adapted for the big screen! i am a HUGE Murakami fan, and was naturally thrilled.

well. skip forward to today. and Paste gives me even more great news: Jonny Greenwood(of Radiohead), is set to score the film! what?! at this moment, you should be picturing me running hysterically around my room, muppet-like, with joy. in case you didn't know, or have forgotten, Greenwood did the most excellent score for PTA's There Will Be Blood. and it was perfection- dissonant and difficult. i loved that it wasn't created to sound like music from the film's period, but rather was created to fit the mood, the characters, and the landscape. beautiful.

now just for funsies, because Ben Folds is the effing man.


hahaha. you're welcome.

Amanda Wachob Tattoos

i have always been a fan of body modifications. perhaps it was my early-adolescent love of punk rock and the 90's "alternative" scene. as i've gotten a bit older, i find i still love it, but am more impressed or drawn to tattoos that fall under one of two categories- 1.) great personal meaning to the individual or 2.)truly visually interesting. now, if the two can be combined, that's the gold standard.
a while back, i stumbled across Amanda Wachob's website- an online gallery of some of her tattoo work. and it's beautiful.

i love the painterly quality of her work. not all tattoos have to look "badass" and she has done some tattoos that are so gorgeous, so fluid, so artistic, they seem to be in a different category all their own.

the look of a chest piece like this is just so perfect. it's lovely because it's familiar but not, at the same time.



i'm also loving these. these are tattoos done with distilled water instead of ink, and they fade after some time. there seems to be something almost magical about it (abracadabras aside, even)- the idea that you tattoo this image into your skin and let it heal in to you.




these abstracts are also pretty phenomenal. i love how they look like they were done so quickly, but ultimately they must have taken quite some time.




doesn't it make you want to run out and visit her?


another interesting artist to check out: Yannou. black, red, and gray all over.

G.

for reasons that are boring and irrelevant, i am having a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, just like Alexander. and on days such as this, i sometimes like to read a few poems that always make my heart feel big. open wide and hungry like sails. mary oliver is always good to read on a rotten day. so, even though it's friday, and maybe you are having a good day, i recommend you read this poem. if your day is going all wrong, this will help. if your day has been good, this will just add to your joy.

Starlings in Winter- Mary Oliver

Chunky and noisy,
but with stars in their black feathers,
they spring from the telephone wire
and instantly
they are acrobats
in the freezing wind.
And now, in the theater of air,
they swing over buildings,
dipping and rising;
they float like one stippled star
that opens,
becomes for a moment fragmented,
then closes again;
and you watch
and you try
but you simply can’t imagine
how they do it
with no articulated instruction, no pause,
only the silent confirmation
that they are this notable thing,
this wheel of many parts, that can rise and spin
over and over again,
full of gorgeous life.
Ah, world, what lessons you prepare for us,
even in the leafless winter,
even in the ashy city.
I am thinking now
of grief, and of getting past it;
I feel my boots
trying to leave the ground,
I feel my heart
pumping hard. I want
to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.



there now. don't you feel good? i feel better already...

F.

holy crap it finally happened! the Full House house has been put up for sale! i LOVED the Tanner family. LOVED. as an only child, that's what i imaged sibling-hood to be. they had petty fights, sure, but they always hugged and made up in the end. it was effing beautiful. and who wouldn't want an uncle and an "uncle" -one a wacky comedian & the other a super-cool musician- living with you?? did you also love how everyone was always experiencing different-but-loosely-related issues in every episode that one sweet Danny-Tanner-delivered moral of the story would simplify and fix? it was perfection. and now, YOU can live in their house. the Tanner household.

speaking of excellent 90's television... after my Full House days were gone, and i'd grown into an appropriately angsty adolescent, it was My So-Called Life that really did it for me. oh, Angela Chase- i died my hair an awkward shade of burgundy because of you. the other day, i was recalling an episode in which Angela has to stay in her teacher's room during lunch- either finishing an assignment or serving detention, i can't recall which. BUT, she is watching the teacher, one she likes, and starts thinking how pathetic this teacher seems once she pulls out her little sandwich and starts eating. it made me wonder what my students think when they are finishing work in my room during lunch. do they notice my little soup? do they talk about how weird my indian food smells? do they get grossed out by my roasted veg and quinoa? i have no idea! but thinking about it makes me feel as strangely on-the-spot as i felt when i was a teenager.


*un-related but still worth mentioning: i STILL want to wear more flannel than could possibly be attractive and STILL think Rayanne seems intimidatingly cool. Also, Jordan Catalano is STILL a dreamboat.

E.

As yesterday was a holiday, today was the first day of my workweek. I love short workweeks. Still, the first day of the week is always a struggle- especially if I was not as on top of my teacher prep-work as I should have been! NFL playoffs, weeks of DVR'd television, writing, and various crafty endeavors were just too good to resist. SO, on a stressful first-day-of-the-week, I like to find things to make me laugh during my planning period. I have two things to share with you, both are BRILLIANT. And I don't use that word lightly.

First up: Sleep Talkin' Man

This is just amazing. Seriously. a-MAZing! The blog is written by a woman whose "mild-mannered English husband lives quite a colorful existence in his dreams." And, fortunately for us, she has decided to record what he says in his sleep and then types up the best bits for our reading pleasure. It may not sound as amazing as it truly is, so you will have to just trust me and read it.
Oh, you want a sampling? Ok, sure!

"Can you hold... can you hold my starfish? It doesn't like it when I'm getting excited. Oh look, it likes you! Its legs are all cree-py cree-py."

"Hey, don't... don't say anything. Why don't you put it in an email, then I can ignore it at my pleasure."

"Legs time! Everybody get your legs!"

"Please just walk away. I don't want to have to stand here and say something so awesome that I'll have to remember it the rest of the day. Thank you!"

"We haven't got a plank. Just fucking jump."

"Yes I'm sad, but if you stood further away, I'd be happier. No, further away. Well, let's face it, just fucking CUNT OFF! Thank you, I appreciate it."

Excellent. I think one of my favorite things about this is that he manages to be simultaneously incredibly vulgar and polite. It's a truly delightful combination.


Thing To Share #2: on Twitter- Shit My Dad Says

It's basically fantastic. In most senses of the word. Most. Now, I have no way of knowing if he is actually recording things his dad says, but it's great regardless. A smattering of goodness from his father for you:

"Universe is 14 billion years old. Seems silly to celebrate one year. Be like having a fucking parade every time i take a piss."

"Pressure? Get married when you want. Your wedding's just one more day in my life I can't wear sweat pants."

"It's never the right time to have kids, but it's always the right time for screwing. God's not a dumbshit. He knows how it works."

And there you have it. Two things that will make you laugh on the first day of the week. You're welcome.

D.

I've never been one for sticking to resolutions. I always make them far too ambitious, push myself too hard and end up giving up -rather quickly- in frustration. I like to think that recognizing this in myself is a sign of maturity, and as such, have decided on a different tack this year.
There's a beautiful blog that I follow, mamawifedoula, for the beauty of her writing, the poetry she sometimes shares, and her wisdom. Each year so chooses Words of the Year to live by- ideas to incorporate into her life. It sounded like a wonderful alternative to rigid, performance-focused, resolutions. This year, I decided to give it a shot and have chosen 3 words I would like to meditate on and live by this year- Bravery, Trust, & Stillness. So, the question is, "what will this look like?"

Bravery: I don't mean this in the Evil Knevil sense of the word; I mean brave in my life choices and being less shy. For me, this will be applying to long-shot MFA programs, maybe moving somewhere unfamiliar (or at least preparing to), talking to people, making new friends, reading my poetry, singing my songs, and not worrying about what the future may or may not hold. Just Acting, just Pursuing with wild abandon. Or, as D.H. Lawrence puts it, being "most vividly, most perfectly alive." I think that is one of the bravest things we can do.

Trust: *writer disclaimer: I will never be one to try to force my faith or proselytize on here, but I am open about it, if it is relevant to a topic at hand*
This is very much about my faith. I spent far too long being angry at the Christians and the churches that didn't meet my expectations, that seemed fake and far from what Jesus was truly about- radical love, acceptance, community, and sacrifice. I was so angry, I lost track of myself, my faith, and I became jaded with it all. But that's wrong. I am who I am & I am wildly imperfect- I like to cuss (a lot), I sometimes want to rebel for the sake of rebellion, I get angry in my heart, and I can be selfish. But this is okay. This can be worked with if I just Trust that what i feel & know in my heart and spirit is True. I can then remember that despite all the ugly "Christianity," the judgment & hatred, there people who are for Love, always, and that God will help us be strong.

Stillness: This will take practice. As a writer, teacher, and sometimes musician & artist, I often let my mind run away with itself. But I need to learn to reign it in sometimes, too. There's nothing wrong with the wildness, but I would like to be able to sit in a thought for a while. Walk around in the space of it. I'd also like to learn to still my heart. To not let my emotions get the better of me when my mind is running in certain directions. I want to Feel Everything! But I would like to gain a bit more control over my feelings, rather than letting them run amok all over my nerves & throughout my body.

So there they are. In type, on the internet, for anyone to see who wishes to look. I think that keeping it to simple ideas will be more effective, and these ideas, rather than "lose 15 pounds!" or "stop drinking sodas!" will be far more beneficial to my person in the long run.

If anyone is reading this yet, what did you decide to do to start this new year?