Is Not A Punk Rocker

2008-08-17T18:38:00.001-07:00

Spotted, Osh Hardware store on Sunset Blvd: Man. Hunched over but motoring forward with an excess of purpose. Rumpled shirt indicated a great hurry to get out of bed in the morning, and not much attention paid to the interplay between suspenders and previously mentioned shirt. These two together clues lead us to conclude that Man is driven by An Idea. Cigar hanging out of man's mouth (how do they keep them in there without periodic readjustment I just don't know), slightly gnawed, intensified this suspicion.

Almost wish I had had a cigar hanging out of my mouth at that very moment. It adds such an air of elitist snobbery, and makes one think that owner of said cigar must have somewhere very important to go later, in order to savor the experience fully.

kona kai

2008-08-05T12:12:00.001-07:00

Then I tasted coffee underneath my tongue and it reminded me of stomach-achey tanglewooded afternoons.
And of coffee, which I hate.

Poll:

2008-06-02T20:41:00.001-07:00

Who else thinks that Sarah Jessica Parker's hair has become unconscionably huge? Apparently it isn't enough that we have Amy Winehouse wandering around, whose hair seems to get bigger and body smaller every time she shows up in the news for a new drug arrest and/or drug snorting sighting. But really, Ms. Parker, when we start losing the face in the hair, as well as the shoulders, neck, and lapels, it's time to start looking into a new stylist, not to mention at yourself, in the mirror.

2008-05-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Dear China

2008-05-21T22:34:00.001-07:00

From this page.
As Murakami would have it, after the quake.
Together with this set of photos from an australian news source.

This Just In: Independent News Sources Pay Off

2008-05-03T23:39:00.000-07:00

Because on this week's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, I knew the answer to the bluff-the-listener news quiz.
Yes. The one about the lesbians.

Jonny Greenwood Mark II

2008-04-24T11:19:00.001-07:00

Well I'll be darned if Jonny Greenwood didn't rip off Iannis Xenakis' Metastaseis just a little bit for that incredibly epic opening piece of his...where all the noise of multiple strings converges to a single note. I think Greenwood's version is called simply, There Will Be Blood. Perhaps this is not an isolated phenomenon.

Because you know you always secretly thought that yoda would be a kickass singer.

2008-02-01T21:24:00.000-08:00

http://fun.drno.de/flash/yoda_film.swf

It was becuase of Brahms, wasn't it

2008-01-22T11:15:00.000-08:00

How is it that Jonny Greenwood didn't get a best original score nomination? HMMMMM???

Action, Reaction

2008-01-08T12:46:00.001-08:00

Things to do at Target while your spouse is taking his/her sweet time:

1. Get boxes of condoms and randomly put them in peoples' carts when they
aren't looking.

2. Set all the alarm clocks to go off in 10 minute intervals.

3. Make a trail of orange juice on the floor to the restrooms.

4. Walk up to an employee and tell him/her in an official tone, "I think we
have a code 3 in housewares," and see what happens.

5. Put M&M's on layaway.

6. Move "CAUTION: WET FLOOR" signs to carpeted areas.

7. Set up a tent in the camping department and tell others that you'll only
invite them if they bring pillows from the bedding department.

8. When someone asks if they can help you, begin to cry and ask, "Why don't
you people leave me alone?"

9. Look right into the security camera and use it as a mirror while you
pretend to pick your nose.

10. While handling guns in the hunting department, ask the clerk if he
knows
where the antidepressants are.

11. Dart around suspiciously while humming the theme from Mission
Impossible.

12. In the auto department, practice your Madonna look using different
sized
funnels.

13. Hide in the clothing rack and when people browse through say, "PICK
ME!!!! PICK ME!!!"

14. When an announcement comes over the loud speaker assume the fetal
position and scream, 'NO! NO! It's those voices again!"

15. Go into the fitting room and yell real loud, "Hey we're out of toilet
paper in here."

--------------------------------------------------------http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/hprajani/phun/kmartvz5.jpg

I wonder if you can get it baked, too...

2007-12-27T09:46:00.001-08:00

via kottke.org
and
evolving web

Philharmonster

2007-12-19T18:23:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Los Angeles. Perfect soundtrack to this image? Anything by john williams.

2007-08-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

"You know girls, Lauren plays the flute. It's one of the instruments with reeds"

"Actually, flutes are the only woodwind instruments without reeds."

"Oh. Really?"

The Obligatory Postsecret Post

2007-08-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

Because Postsecret is amazing...and at least once they come up with one that is completely fascinating and relevant.

The first thing I thought when I saw this picture was..."INTERLOCHEN". While the uniform doesn't 100% fit...I still think it's Interlochen.

I suppose it's none of my business.

So here we are, at the end of the summer

2007-08-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

I meant to write a bunch. I did! But why write when you can sit around all day, doing nothing, instead?

But I didn't just do nothing. I learned to drink coffee and to be by myself, and how to not get anything done.

Oslo in the Summertime

Is Having Real Trouble Thinking Straight

2007-06-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

My dog has been sleeping in my room for the last few days. To make sure I don't leave, I assume. But tomorrow morning when his defenses are weakened I shall escape!
I'm leaving to go here tomorrow. The Tanglewood festival in the middle of Massachusetts.
And I can't tell you how incredibly excited I am.
XD

So What Is It All About, Really?

2007-06-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

Classical music, I mean. Well, this first article isn't about specifically classical music, but the general audience response to it. I really have nothing to add, but the general gist is: "Why do audiences these days feel the need to applaud loudly and to give a standing ovation to every performance?"
I think that a lot of people feel uninformed about classical music, and so if one person stands up and cheers, they feel like they should too. I don't often stand up on my own - unless someone I know is onstage. What kind of crap mentality is that?

But in the grand scheme of things, the only thing that this habit is hurting is the feedback for the performers. Or maybe music critics have taken the place of direct audience feedback?

And in a lot of ways, isn't it true that classical composers don't necessarily want the approval of their audiences? Historically, what is at first received poorly goes on to be more famous ( Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, jazz, Beethoven, Berlioz).

This article takes the other side - what happens when audiences can't stand the music. I kind of feel like it's their right to express their displeasure. It makes things a little more entertaining. Maybe if I was on stage during a performance like that one I wouldn't feel the same way. At least the audience is involved to some degree, instead of just falling asleep until the piece they want to hear.

On a completely different note, Scout Niblett is awesome (and it's not just her name). This video especially shows some of her stuff with more interesting harmonic progressions. It would be fun to analyze sometime.

List of Hapa People Who I Didn't Realize Were Hapa

2007-06-11T19:06:00.001-07:00

1. Ashanti
2. Kelis
3. KT Tunstall
4. Charles Mingus (<--- Link to awesome thing. Listen to it. It's hot)
5. Eddie Van Halen (Indonesian an Dutch)
6. Naomi Campbell (Chinese and African American) (questionable. Her father is apparently part chinese but "unnamed" according to wikipedia.)
7. Vanessa Hudgens (Filipina, Spanish, Chinese, American Indian, Irish. Ridiculous conglomeration.)
8. Sean Makin - the violinist from Yellowcard.
9. Kristin Kreuk - Actually I have no idea who she is. But I recognize the picture.
10. Ashanti - African American and 1/4 chinese
11. Karen O - Actually I knew that she was hapa. But I still love it.
12. Kirk Hammett - Lead guitarist of Metallica.
13. Michael Kirney - A very interesting fellow. I've never heard of him, but apparently he's a ridiculously smart kid. Finished high school at age six.
14. Ne-Yo
15. Sean Paul

People I definitely knew were hapa.
1. Sean Lennon
2. Apolo Ohno
3. Mike Shinoda
4. Tiger Woods.
Why are these all boys? Who knows.

And then there's me...Japanese, German, and Irish. Anything else? I don't know. I can't remember. It sounds more interesting than Japanese and WHITE, doesn't it?

LAST.FM

2007-06-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

www.last.fm/user/picadillette/

New and exciting. Hurrah! More internet ways to keep track of my every mood and whim. Yea, but seriously. Check it out. Maybe it will expand my horizons, since I don't have enough money to buy every cd I could possibly want.
For example:
Arcade Fire
Syd Barrett
Modest Mouse
Soka
The Bird and the Bee
Jamie T

July 21st, 2007

2007-06-01T22:22:00.000-07:00

And do you know what day that is? I bet you do.
IT'S HARRY POTTER DAY! The last book of seven. The very last! The end all of end alls! When we finally find out all about Voldemort and the other horcruxes. When we find out if Dumbledore comes back! Which is obviously the most important part.
I'll let you in on a little secret:
I still think Snape is going to be on the good side. Or at least he's going to be a pain in the rear until the very very end and then he's going to do something selfless.
And then either Neville or Harry will die.
Although when you look at those in conjunction - maybe Snape will save Harry or Neville from death?
Anyway, it's very exciting. I'm reading the fifth and sixth as little bit of a catch - up.
It's ridiculously easy to read them. I'm already on about page 400.\

Too much Harry Potter hype. It kills me.

2007-05-29T23:47:00.000-07:00

Don't feel like sleeping.
So, instead, I'm watching lame tv and daydreaming over clothing. It's the only thing my brain is capable of at 11:58 PM.
Actually, it's not lame TV. It's six feet under. Nothing like dead people walking around and having conversations with gay religious funeral undertakers. Adorable scruffy haired funeral undertakers with paternal instincts to rival those of a mother bear.

My camera came, and I took a hot picture of a radish.

Finals week....

2007-05-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

is finally over!
Actually, it didn't take as long as I thought it was, and it wasn't nearly as hard. The first grades have already started coming in. So far, so good.

I just ordered this camera from Costco. The entire reason I'm buying it is so I don't have to argue with my sister over cameras this summer, since she will be at Stanford and Michigan, and I will be in Lenox, MA. Apparently you can run into Joshua Bell in the woods there, and if I run into Joshua Bell and I don't have a camera.
Well.
Somone's head will roll.

Speaking of cameras, there is such a movement of mechanical cameras and watches in the popular culture. At a rock concert a few weeks ago, the guitarist had the best old camera - it wound and clicked and clacked and had finicky parts that might break if you smacked them hard enough. But at least you could see fissures if it broke instead of just a bug in the system.
He worked it too - he had the gloves and the glazed look.
It must be part of the revival of old stuff - so everyone went through their victorian-esque phase and now we've moved on to... I don't know, the sixties?
Maybe it's just a backlash against not being able to find your phone anymore because of how small they are. OR crappy cell phone pictures.
I ask you: When you can take amazing pictures with these new digital cameras why would you put people through the pain of hundreds of blurry pictures?

And what about watches? Men's watches are big contests for who can have the most gears. They tell the time in several time zones, and do leap years, the exact day of the week.
But they don't make them like that for girls. Not enough room on the feminine wrist, apparently.

Happily Entering the Blogosphere

2007-05-22T21:38:00.000-07:00

Hello,
Apparently high rise pants are on the way in. Who knew?
And now that we have that out of the way let me assure you that this is the last you will be hearing about them.
This blog, currently, is going to cover the following topics:
1. Interesting events occuring in my life.
2. Interesting events occuring in other people's lives.
3. Interesting music that someone needs to listen to, somewhere. (Genre is not important, however, rap and country* have to be really damn good)
4. Interesting things found during procrastinating. (other things that are related tp procrastination: writing a blog)
5. And some and sundry very NOT interesting things. But we'll talk about that when we get there.

So for now, with a perspective,
<3

*Jolene is the one exception to the exception, of course.