i am trying to break your heart

So I used to have regular playlists every week-- or tried to at least-- but it slowly dwindled once lala.com went defunct. I tried making a Rainy Day Songs playlist today and it turned into this sort of sad sack progression of a (doomed) relationship? Starts off nice and ends sort of no bueno. I guess that sort of works for a rainy day playlist in terms of gloom. Oh well. These are good songs. Listen to them!

the minor fall and the major lift

Magnetic Fields - With Whom to Dance
Beirut - Hallelujah
The 6ths - You You You You You Katherine Whalen singing a song by Stephin Merritt (of Magnetic Fields)
Noah and the Whale - Five Years Time
Jens Lekman - La Strada Nel Bosco

Sorry for the lack of posting, but I've been super tired lately, even though this weekend I did a whole lot of nothing except eat. Eat... and play my new ukulele! It's pretty pretty. I've already semi-learned a few songs, like "Hallelujah", and "Postcards", and "New Soul". I lovelovelove it! And in honor and reverence of that love, my mini playlist is comprised of all ukulele songs. There are plenty more by both Beirut and Magnetic Fields but I didn't want to make it heavy on one artist, so look 'em up!

I also spent the weekend with four crazy little dollfaced girls, which is why I'm so tired. I'm glad I have the day off today. It was a nice and pleasant surprise. I've decided to spend it cleaning, running, yoga-ing, and crafting. Doesn't sound very relaxing, but it is. Really.

Here's a picture of my new little beaut, followed by some pictures from the weekend and a ukulele session from Yael Naim. (I should have thought to take some outfit pictures. Nonetheless, I'm wearing the oversized chiffon blouse in bone with the navy tap shorts from American Apparel and then the vintage cutout schoolgirl dress from California Select.)

I hope your 4th of July was splendid! What did you all do?

when the stars go blue

I know "Hallelujah" is most likely Leonard Cohen's masterpiece, but I've always always had a soft spot for "Suzanne". I think it had something to do with it being the first song of his that I'd heard (besides Hallelujah, of course) and oh! the lyrics just blow me away. Like a great song should, it makes you sort of not able to breathe-- catatonic in a good way-- if that even makes sense. Oranges and tea from China. I don't know how to explain it. Anyway, this playlist started off as one revolving around really great lyrics, and then it evolved into character sketches, and then it just kind of got away from me and became its own thing. Enjoy.

Also, I haven't much listened to Sean Lennon's music and I think I might give it a listen sometime soon. Isn't his lady pretty though? Here are some pretty pretty pictures of Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl.











Lastly, I made a yummy concoction my best friend/former college roommate Abby and I would make all the time. We got the recipe from her older sister, who calls it Mud, but for posterity's sake we'll refer to it here as simply chocolate parfait. Super simple and easy to make.

domesticity

It's almost been two weeks since I've updated, and now that I have a big project that I've been procrastinating way too much on that's due tomorrow, I've decided this is more important. Not a lot's been going on but I wanted to share with you that I helped make the best homemade chili last night and I was really proud of us and how well it turned out! I wish I had taken pictures. It had all the necessary spices and red and orange and green bell peppers and tomatoes and deliciousness all mixed together.

Oh, also, I found out this weekend that I have an above average IQ, almost to the genius level. I guess that means my mind is advanced enough to really truly appreciate things like this::



Also also, I found a willing photographer. Now I just need a willing me.

And I know it's been weeks without a playlist, but I'll make it up to you I swear. Here's the one I'd started two weeks ago but never got around to finishing. I have a few ideas for future playlists lined up too, and they're real good. Promise. So here's a get up and get going playlist for ya. That last song is because someone brought up the Pulp Fiction scene and now I keep wanting to listen to it every time I get ready in the morning.

and that's how i felt.

This is a cute little youtube video that came up when I was looking for "Apple Trees" by Eels, since it wasn't available to put on my playlist. I likes.



This one's a little broader themed than my others. Sort of a May/springtime/let's-go-fly-kites-and-have-a-picnic-and-wear-sundresses kind of theme. (I know, I know, there are two Donovan songs, but you're just going to have to deal with the awesomeness.) I had a theme in mind last week--a GOOD one-- but since I took so long, I forgot and now it's escaped me, sadly. Any themes you'd like to see me tackle? Let me know.

Also, I'm close to working up the nerve to take pictures of my outfits. Want to be my photographer? I don't have a tripod. :)

true love will find you in the end

I have a tendency to be inexplicably, unmitigatedly cheery in the most dire and trying of times, and sometimes this works in my favor; in others, not so much. Today I experienced the former. My car had trouble acclimating to the 86 degree weather today, so it decided to overheat on the way to the post office after class-- even after I blasted the heater, the guage my engine thermometer persisted. So I popped the hood in front of the post office and got down to business. While waiting for the radiator cap to cool before adding more coolant, a number of well-intentioned men offered their help, which I politely refused. The last good samaritan, in response to my giant grinning "No thank you, I have one!" after he asked if I needed a funnel, waved out the window of his truck and said, "Thanks for the beautiful smile!" The best part was that he was this old grizzly looking, bearded man. I think a positive outlook is almost always beneficial when hoping to receive some positive karma in return, even though the turnaround may not always be so quick.

It took me longer than it should have, but I've finally put the playlist together. Lala is going all defunct on me as of May 31st, having been bought out and eliminated by Apple. There's talk of an iTunes.com sort of deal, with a similar layout and structure, but we'll see. For now, I'm using my old playlist.com account (that I used to use for my now-abandoned myspace playlists). And since there technically wasn't a playlist for you guys last week, tomorrow you'll get a second one, which will put me up to speed. Good things come to those who wait while I procrastinate.

And now I'm off to go eat a Panera bread bowl. Le yum.

These are all covers, and all wonderful. Especially #9. ;) Enjoy.

. . .to prove we can all get along the lumpy, bumpy, long and dusty road.

I absolutely adore Audrey Tautou and I think she's darling in Amelie. It's actually pretty surprising that I don't own the dvd. I usually steal my sister's copy and don't return it for months and months until she complains repeatedly. In any case, this video is the theme "Comptine d´un Autre été: l´Après Midi". It's beautiful. And the video has all the great little clips from the movie that I love, especially her digging her hand into the beans. That's my favorite scene from the clips in this particular video because I would always do that, ever since I was little going to the supermarket with my mom, and even now.

Don't you think this would make a great song to walk down the aisle to?


So I started off with the not-so-brilliant idea of making a playlist of amazing songs/themes/scores from movies I love. Not brilliant because it's such a broad theme for a playlist. Do I only want instrumental themes? Great rock/indie songs? Performances in movies? It's too much. Maybe I should have made a series of them because I certainly couldn't fit all of them into one playlist. And I certainly wasn't going to take the time to make three separate ones. Maybe another time. Also, I had a hard time not picking songs from Wes Anderson films or ones scored/written by Jon Brion. Either way, here is a mishmashed jumbled playlist with no order to it because it's making me get cranky. Below it is the track info (what movie it's from, etc.). edit: I added "Wake Up" from the Where the Wild Things Are trailer and "If You Rescue Me" from Science of Sleep, so they're not included in the picture of the tracklisting.

come sing me a happy song. . .

As always, gimme recommendations to other soundtrack songs. There were plenty I didn't include that I wanted to due to lala's selectivity and other outside factors. The songs in Youtube form rather than included in the playlist are done that way because I couldn't find them and/or they had pretty videos to accompany them. :)



The awkward flirty looks are precious. (They're in a cramped tiny listening booth in a record store, for those who haven't seen the movie). This movie and Before Sunset are the reason I am not ashamed of my past love for greasy Ethan Hawke. Especially that cute little fake telephone call scene in the restaurant. Also makes me in love with Julie Delpy.

who's gonna love you buried underground?

So here you have it; lately I've been listening to female artists--which is rare for me, so this playlist is a girl-powered one, but definitely not in a Spice Girl (grrrl-power) sort of way. In a cute sweet wallflowerish sort of way, for the most part (with the exception of Karen O). In a me way. Please give more suggestions for girl musicians; I'm pretty limited at the moment.

Chan Marshall


The third song on the list is cute, and I love Cat Power. Not really sure who the other girl is. I also wanted to put "Running Up that Hill" and something Joanna Newsom--most likely "Good Intentions Paving Company"--but lala didn't let me. Jerk. Oh, and J, Priscilla Ahn is the one I thought Erin reminded me of. If you look her up on lala it just reaffirms my comparison (I learned how to play "Dream" and "Wallflower" years ago. I don't really listen to her much these days though). :)

In other non-music-related news, I cannot wait for the Aimee Bender reading at school next month. Click on her name to go to her website. It's pretty neat and has some of her stories on there for you to read. I need to have her sign my copy of Willful Creatures!

Priscilla Ahn


Jenny Lewis


Zooey

god help the girl

Binki Shapiro from Little Joy


And this Pixies cover by Emmy the Great was on top of the list of girl music I've been listening to lately, but alas, not to be found on lala.


Emmy the Great


And ending with something non-girly, but very much lovely and wonderful.

"Life is one fool thing after another whereas love is two fool things after each other.”

Here is my hip little prepster halfie chid I've been hiding from the world. But who would want to hide someone so cute and adorable? (Nat says she's a mini me). lovelovelove.



April Fools! (I only wish she were my child).

Another little idiot::


. . . . .

Sometimes it'd kind of be nice to have the insensitivity of Facebook. My friend, Nolan, wanted to play an April Fools joke and be engaged on Facebook. So he tried to send the approval to me, but was like, "It says you're in a relationship!"; something I didn't change because I didn't think to. And so I said I would remove that-- finally-- and when I went to edit my status, the link I had to click read: Cancel Relationship. Blurg. So I thought about it, somehow irrationally holding on to this final vestige of something that doesn't exist, and then I clicked on it, and it turned into "Don't Cancel Relationship" in case I was having second thoughts. So I guess it is kind of sensitive. In any case, I'm engaged.

And..

Your weekly playlist. I don't need to tell you the theme. Call it "Little Idiot" :)
(I apologize in advance for the lame Cardigans cover, but I couldn't add the real version. Stupid Cardigans. Also, two of the songs only have "fool" in the lyrics. Suck it.)

A poet once said, "Only a fool laughs when nothing's funny"--Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

Happy April!

Little Idiot