Daemonia Nymphe

Daemonia Nymphe Live from ermitikos on Vimeo.

Somebody's been listening to crappy Top 40 radio again...

...and doesn't have a sense of humor.

In Search Of: _______________

I'm currently listening to Yo Yo Ma play Bach's Cello Suites I-III. "Play" is hardly a word I'd use to describe his craft. Ma's cello work is alternately heavy and emotional, light and playful, whatever Bach's score calls for. But Ma not only performs, he becomes one with his instrument. There are moments on the recording where a sharp intake of breath can be heard. In my imagination, I wonder if it is him or the cello.

This is what I listen to at the office to escape the banality of everyday life here.

I can't wait for the weekend to begin

• Michael Gray's "The Weekend" is still in heavy rotation here. It's so damned catchy! Yes, it's a Monday-wish-it-was-Friday kinda week. (I leave for a campout Friday...)
• Check out this silkscreening tutorial from no media kings.
• Stef is blogging again, hence her move from "dead and neglected blogs" to "the others." Check her out! (And we'll very slyly mention here we'd love to see a reciprocal link to HN on her site...)
• The FLDS wackiness is still playing out. The children of the group have been separated from their mothers due to the investigation into physical and sexual abuse. I feel really bad for those kids, born into that bizzaro world of sequestered life, especially all the young girls that were forced to marry much older men (WTF?!). Look, I'm all for religious freedom, okay? Wear your hair in a funny way, dress your kids like little farmers, have multiple wives/husbands, whatever---just don't abuse kids or women or animals! When your religion gets into centralized patriarchal power mode, with male power, pleasure, and dominance at the core of all things, then you've got a big mess on your hands. That shit never ends well. Hello...Davidian Branch or Jim Jones, etc, anyone?

"What do you mean it's 7am?!"

That's what I said to myself this morning after wrestling with the alarm clock since 6. My apologies to Baby G for my being one of those people.* We had a busy weekend, so it's really no wonder I had trouble getting up. We scored free tix to the Texas Wine & Food Festival Friday night and ate our weights of some really good gourmet and some kinda meh gourmet. I also sampled all the wine, vodka and rum that I could. I had some very bizarre dreams that night, as you can probably imagine. Best sample? Definitely the Dallas Fish Market's Hawaiian Escarole Sashimi with lemon glaze and capers. Holy gods that was heaven in my mouth! And the chef was a very nice guy, too!

Baby G and I also biked a lot. We probably rode about 8 miles total over two days. I take that back, I did about 8 miles, Baby G did more, as she went out a 2nd time yesterday evening. I was still sore from Saturday's ride.

I'm currently listening to "The Weekend (Extended Vocal Mix)" by Michael Gray. It's some of the gayest music I've ever heard, but I can't stop shakin' my booty. Funny side story: I knew a guy in college named Michael Gray. He was an adorable gay man who wouldn't acknowledge he was in fact gay. I hope he's out and proud now.

*Yes, I'm one of those assholes who sets my alarm to ring an hour ahead of time, so I have time to "wake up" before I actually have to get up. It doesn't work yet I still do it, hence my status as "asshole."

Food, Music, and Beer

• Raleigh NC has banned new sink disposals because too much kitchen grease is accumulating in the sewers and it costs too much to clean it out. Of course, people are upset. I, however, think this is brilliant! I mean, it's not exactly the most difficult thing in the world to scrape your plate into the trash after you eat, nor is it hard to drain the cooking grease out of the frying pan into a jar for later disposal. I can't tell you how many times in my life I've seen people put grease (and other things like cereal, lettuce, etc) down the drain. If you've ever had the unfortunate experience of a backed up sewer line at your house, you probably feel the same disdain I do about food in the drain. Drains are for water not food! Start a compost pile and become an even more friendly citizen.
• The bloated beast known as SXSW is finally over. Yours truly managed to avoid the mayhem and come out the other side in one piece (although I almost hit a couple drunk pedestrians, through no fault of my own). However Baby G scored a wristband and saw some shows! Maybe she'll even post a little something about it here....??
• Dublin Ireland hosts its annual St Patrick's Day Parade. Whaddya bet they don't drink green beer, instead going for the good stuff? Indeed!

Thank the F**king Gods Friday is Here

Can we say "sleep deprivation"? I think I've gotten enough sleep this week, but the time-change has really screwed me over. Eating half of one of Stef's special cupcakes last night didn't help with the drowsiness either. C'est la vie.

SXSW is going on this week. That means this town is crowded with every rock rat and unwashed hipster from every corner of the world. I hear many bands I actually like are in town, but I don't plan on seeing any of them. I instead have been listening to live radio broadcast and my own mp3 player. No crowds, no pushing, no sticky floor. No having to rub up against 30 strangers just to go to the bathroom. No $9 beers.

Speaking of music, did anyone hear that one of my favorite movies, Saved!, has been turned into a musical and will be produced on Broadway? Crazy.

Gem Sweater

Last night we saw Leslie and the LYs...it was awesome! Even better? I met her in the bathroom before the show! She hugged me and asked what my favorite song was. She's actually smaller in person than I thought she would be...I guess b/c her hair looks so big online. She and her band rocked us for an hour or so. Jaime bought me many shots and I drank them all. Baby G kindly bought me 2 bottles of water, which helped somewhat with my hangover this morning. It was all worth it, however.

Leslie and the LYs

This old robot is staying up late tonight to see her favorite new artist.

Literacy or Open Marriage? Let's pick the scandalous one to open with!

Eyeroll. The Daily Mail chose to focus on a vague comment Dolly Parton made about her marriage instead of the literacy program, Imagination Library, she's touring the UK to promote.

Internet Star: Leslie Hall

I had never heard of Ms Hall before yesterday but now I'm hooked on her hilarious and danceable tunes. My favorite is "Willow Don't Cry," an ode to Willow Offgoode in the movie, Willow. Check out the video. The song actually starts about 2 minutes in.

"My Grandmama Abdul..." Hah!

Whew! Until next year...

My final bib. instruction class went well. The students were responsive and eager to find info for their research papers. It's still a relief that I don't have to get in front of a class of 18 yr olds again for another 12 months. Now that I'm back in my office, I've got the headphones on to block out a certain chatty coworker and student worker; I'm enjoying a very cheesy remix of Xanadu by Hanna. It's like an ironic rainbow explosion of ghay in my earphones. Sassy!

Sara, Sara, storms are brewing in your eyes...

That damned song has been stuck in my head for 2 days now!

In other news, the weekend is finally over. I say finally because it was crazy. My car broke down Friday at 5pm, I spent $600 fixing it, I had to work a full shift on Sunday, and yesterday I spent all day catching up on all the stuff I didn't do Saturday and Sunday because of work and car problems.

In still other news, Daxie has started pretending he is homeless by taking to sleeping in this cardboard box. What am I going to do with this drama queen?

Stupid celebrity quote of the day

Oasis guy, Noel Gallagher:

Speaking of why the record is so close to his heart, Noel revealed: "'Sgt Pepper' is special for me because I was born on the 29 May, and it came out on the 1 June. So when I was being born in St Mary's Hospital, Manchester, it was being played on hospital radio."

Ummmm, it took 3 days for you to come into the world? Your mother must be a friggin' saint!

"Baby" Songs

Um, if you want your infant to grow up to be musically literate, perhaps starting him or her off on these CDs would help? I know I'd want my baby to drift off to sleep to the gentle sounds of Tool. Wouldn't you?

Just for Baby Guanaco

Recent pre-order boxes for the upcoming Playstation 2 videogame "Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks The 80s" have revealed more tracks for the game, the latest include:

1. Anthrax - "Caught In A Mosh"
2. Iron Maiden - "Wrathchild"
3. .38 Special - "Hold on Loosely"
4. White Lion - "Radar Love"
5. Scorpions - "No One Like You"
6. The Vapors - "Turning Japanese"
7. Winger - "Seventeen"

It is not known which, if any, of these tracks will be original recordings or covers. They join the previously announced tracks:

1. "We Got The Beat" (The Go-Go's)
2. "Balls To The Wall" (as made famous by Accept)
3. "Only A Lad"(as made famous by Oingo Boingo)
4. "The Warrior" (as made famous by Scandal)
5. "18 And Life" (as made famous by Skid Row)
6. "Bathroom Wall" (as made famous by Faster Pussycat)
7. "Lonely Is The Night" (as made famous by Billy Squier)
8. "Nothin' But A Good Time" (as made famous by Poison)
9. "Play With Me" (as made famous by Extreme)
10. "Shaken" (as made famous by Eddie Money)
11. "Synchronicity II" (as made famous by The Police)
12. "I Wanna Rock" (Twisted Sister) (original recording)
13. "I Ran" (Flock Of Seagulls) (original recording)
14. "Round And Round" (as made famous by Ratt)
15. "Metal Health" (as made famous by Quiet Riot)
16. "Holy Diver" (as made famous by Dio)
17. "Heat Of The Moment" (as made famous by Asia)

The game is expected to see a July 17th release date. (Source.)

And Baby G, you KNOW you're playing The Warrior with me --- I call bass!

The wheel in the sky, it indeed keeps on turnin'

Last night, we celebrated stef-is-super's birthday with a dinner followed by chocolate pie with brownie bits topped with whipped cream and toffee chunks! Yum!

Tonight we're going to a Journey sing-a-long featuring band videos and live accompaniment. It promises to be awesomely bad! Woot! Break out yer mullet wigs and start cryin'!

Tomorrow we turn in our keys to the old place and say goodbye to that haven of silverfish with the outdoor(?) laundry room and the les enfants terribles across the ravine. (Um, we don't care to listen to what you're listening to at 3am.)

Saturday we relax, take in the local Pride parade, and unpack. And unpack. And unpack. Oh, yeah, and unpack some more.

Control

Hey, Joy Division fans --- check out this clip from the movie, Control.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Been outside twice today. Each time it was harder to return indoors. The day is a clean bright blue. An invisible cool mist floats through the fattened green trees. Birds are chatting each other up and I responded with Break It Down Again through the sunroof of my car. A little dark I know, but I only appreciate the beauty and exhilaration of this perfect crisp spring day because it is so rare.

"No sleep for dreaming say the architects of life
Big bouncing babies, bread and butter can I have a slice
They make no mention of the beauty of decay
Blue, yellow, pink umbrella save it for a rainy day
And all the love and all the love in the world
Wont stop the rain from falling
Waste seeping underground
I want to break it down."

Things I am digging riiiiiiiiiight now!

• Patrick Wolf's The Magic Position. It's poppy, it's sad, it's a hot mess and I can't stop listening!
• Sugar. I think I've eaten 2 rolls of mini-Sprees and 6 Hershey minis. Drool...
• The Office. A new ep shows tonight!
• Moving into new digs. I can't wait to live in a new place; however, I am decidedly not digging the actual moving process.
• CafePress. More info coming soon!
• The Wizard of Oz. I'm currently reading a book of essays about Oz and L. Frank Baum. Very fascinating. Who knew my favorite children's series was so subversive? The books were definitely not about "going home." If anything, they were a call to children everywhere to run away! Wooo!
• Short sleeve shirts and comfy sandals. Summer is coming.
• Cake decorating. I have a feeling it's going to be my next crazy hobby.