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“... in honor of the void.”

I’ve discovered, after a difficult period of mostly fruitless analysis [1], that when I love a song’s lyrics, I love those lyrics for two very particular reasons:

1. because they use Proper Nouns;

2. because they use dialogue in an interesting way.

(&, well, also, because they’re funny.)

To wit: [2]

A Dangerous Woman Up To A Point once said —
“I’ve never read ‘so-and-so’ so why mention him here, in this square
where culprits axe me, my dear.
Tried to enjoy myself at the Society Ball, really I did.
Froze on Union Street, it was springtime, I was just a kid lost in a map
of the stars others called ‘your eyes.’
It was a trap!
It was a good time!
It was a hard to realize! ...

This is from Destroyer’s “A Dangerous Woman Up to a Point,” from Destroyer’s Rubies, which album is quickly becoming my favorite of 2006, by the way. [3] There are so many fucking brilliant sounds & words on this album, & it just gets better for me every time I listen.

Listen to “A Dangerous Woman Up to a Point”.

[1] Read, sitting around on the couch on a Sunday afternoon, quite happily lazy.

[2] See also: the Fiery Furnaces.

[3] Prior to the release—but after the inevitable leaks—I wrote about “Rubies” (i.e., the song, not the album).

Cutest dog evar!

Cute dog at the office

"Bien rica, bien chevere..."

I don't mean to be rude, but I think I may have just made the best tacos EVAR.

For the meat part: 3/4lb skirt steak, marinated in a mix of olive oil/2 cloves garlic/fresh lime juice/salt/pepper for 3-4 hours.

For the guacamole part (which I deem essential): 1 avocado well smashed up, 1/8 white onion, fresh lime juice/garlic powder/salt/pepper. Let sit for a couple of hours.

For the lovely spicy part (also essential): 1/8 white onion, 1 handful chopped cilantro, fresh lime juice, 1 clove garlic, salt/pepper.

Fry up the meat, warm up the corn tortillas, then fill w/ the meat, guacamole & spicy bits. Wonderful.

BTW, if you get hungry in the meantime, try this: pop a corn tortilla in the microwave for 20 seconds, and spread (the above) guacamole on it. Then eat it. It's really fucking good.

Oh, and also BTW: I made this a month or so ago with portobello mushrooms in addition to meat, just for fun. Same marinade, &c. Also quite good.

I've got so much to say ("tell us about it Green")

• SO disappointed! I feel as if I've wasted so many hours, now, for it all to have come down to Chloe. I would've been happy with either Santino or Daniel (as strange & bitchy as Daniel got towards the end of the show, I still liked him), but Chloe? I have nothing more to say.


• But through the despair... a ray of hope, coming March 21. How can they possibly follow up the amazing Season 2? Who will be this season's Scott/Brandon-level villain? How will Jonathan adjust to domestic life & parenthood? Are Jonathan and Sescie married yet? Is Jonathan still in therapy? So many questions!


• God, I fucking love Front Row. I love it most for its music-playing abilities, while hooked up to a television, & the way it shows off the album covers. I've been playing a playlist from a party a couple of months ago, & watching the beautiful album covers come across the screen is just mesmerizing.


• I finally bought Scritti Politti's Provision—the only Scritti album I didn't yet have—and am loving "Overnite". I can't get enough of Green Gartside ballads!

"All of the rumors keeping me grounded..."

Vauxhall and I

The other day I abruptly had the desire to listen to Morrissey's Vauxhall and I, which is by far my favorite of his solo records. It's so mellow, & calm, & almost at peace in a way.

It's also a really good album to listen to while sleeping on a plane, as I found when flying back from Japan the other day. I started out listening to I Am the Resurrection (the John Fahey tribute album), and was quite calm & peaceful, and then on about track 8 or so, there was this awful feedback noise that woke me up. I was sad.

So I put on Vauxhall and I, and all was again right with the world.

Airplane shuffle!

Few things are as enjoyable as a long plane ride with an iPod on Shuffle mode. [1] Here's some of what I heard during my flight yesterday.

The Go-Betweens, "Clouds" (from 16 Lovers Lane)

This is the version from 16 Lovers Lane, but last weekend I bought the new Go-Betweens live DVD/CD, That Striped Sunlight Sound, and I actually watched the DVD. I don't generally watch concert performances, because I don't find them all that interesting to watch from home. But this show is just so amazing, & warm, & fun, that I watched it, and loved it.

The Fiery Furnaces, "Black-hearted Boy" (from Bitter Tea)

Now that almost all of Bitter Tea has leaked, I'm just even more excited than ever about the new album. This is a fairly typical song from what I've heard of the album—quite poppy, but still with some crazy keyboard action. And backwards-singing.

Guns 'n' Roses, "Mr. Brownstone" (from Appetite for Destruction)

Listening to this all I can think of is just how much the Manic Street Preachers' Generation Terrorists sounds like Guns 'n' Roses. It's really quite amazing: it's the exact same guitar sound, which I suppose is exactly what the Manics were going for.

Busted, "Thunderbirds" (from Thunderbirds / 3AM)

I can't easily explain why I like Busted. Under many other circumstances, I just really can't stand their brand of aggressively sterile post-punk. But this song is just so fun!

Kelley Stoltz, "Ever Thought of Coming Back" (from Below the Branches)

I love this song. Love love love it, & in all of its Beach Boys-sounding self. [2]

Clay Aiken, "Solitaire" (from The Way / Solitaire)

Oh dear, oh dear. I've written about this before, I'm quite ashamed to say. And I still love it. [3]

Celebration, "Diamonds" (from Celebration)

Celebration sounds like a scary carnival ride, with howling, and wild animals, and creepy keyboard-playing carnies, and drunks lurching towards you out of shadows.

But in a good way!

Dusty Springfield, "Breakfast in Bed" (from Dusty in Memphis)

I think this may be one of my favorite songs of all time. "She's hurt you again, I can tell—oh, I know that look so well."—you can almost hear a sly grin on Dusty's face.

[1] Not to mention that plane flights just make me so productive—in part, it's the fact that I have my computer, but I don't have a network connection, so I can actually get things done without getting swamped and/or overwhelmed with incoming email.

[2] And, since I now appreciate Pet Sounds, I'm equipped to make that judgment.

[3] BTW, I am just so fucking sad that Bobby Bennett was voted out this week! His "Copacabana" made me so happy. He was just so awesome.

"The geek at your feet says you're neat..."

I can actually write (marginally) technical posts, too!

• Six Apart's first (no, second, or perhaps third) child grows up! I'm thrilled about the idea of people taking a look at TrackBack, improving it, standardizing it, and the like. Ping!
• Plagger (by Tatsuhiko & others) is a fantastic idea. Having developed a bunch of miniature feed-related apps, what I love most about this is that it's essentially the perlbal/qpsmtpd of RSS/Atom feed frameworks.
• Okay, one non-technical link: OMG Girls Aloud reality series! (via)

"The geek at your feet says you're neat..."

I can actually write (marginally) technical posts, too!

• Six Apart's first (no, second, or perhaps third) child grows up! I'm thrilled about the idea of people taking a look at TrackBack, improving it, standardizing it, and the like. Ping!


• Plagger (by Tatsuhiko & others) is a fantastic idea. Having developed a bunch of miniature feed-related apps, what I love most about this is that it's essentially the perlbal/qpsmtpd of RSS/Atom feed frameworks.


• Okay, one non-technical link: OMG Girls Aloud reality series! (via)

"Play it over & over again..."

An unexpected but so wonderfully happy thing that I chanced upon today: Green Gartside is back! He's playing his first shows in more than 25 years, as Double G and the Traitorous 3.

& the best part: he's recorded a new album, which will be released April 2006 in the UK!

Listen to "Boom Boom Bap", one of the new songs. As with Anomie & Bonhomie, I was at first apprehensive—but just as I love that album, I'm already loving "Boom Boom Bap". April can't arrive soon enough! [1]

[1] Being as how it also brings the new Fiery Furnaces album & the US release of the Ark album.

Amazon knows me so well!

See:

Buy some Jonathan Product at the Sephora Store on Amazon.