To Kingdom Come by Passion Pit

I received Passion Pit's Manners cd as a Christmas gift, and every track on it is quite wonderful. The band has been getting tons of buzz over the past year, and rightfully so; I'm glad I bought into it.

Here's "To Kingdom Come," which I seem to can't stop playing:

Awesome Amaaaazing Best Happy Also Amazing Killer Lovely

Ok. Here goes. Catch-up time!
So I went through my last few posts, and I realized that I basically haven't updated properly since September. I deserve quite a few slaps on the wrist.
Since a whole semester has flown by and thus many many events, bullet list the format be:

Chronological events since last September-

-the Boston trip was awesome!
--Cabaret was amaaaazing. It blew my expectations out of the water. Our seats were in the absolute most front possible. We felt IN the show- the actors were performing all over the place, even cutting through amongst the tables. Bonus: Amanda Palmer came out at the very beginning of the show dressed in a sheer, barely-there dress and rolled around on the stage right in front of us. She's quite beautiful.
--the day before we saw her in a mini-concert, Amanda Fucking Palmer's Late Night Fucking Cabaret. It was also quite beautiful. She played Ampersand, I almost died.

-Halloween was one of my best ever. Maybe the best. (It lasted approximately 4 days). I got to dress up as a Gryffindor student and Captain Hammer. Fuck yes.

-The boyfriend and I broke up. It's pointless to go into details. But I had been thinking about breaking up for a while anyway, and it's definitely for the best. We just didn't fit. And now I'm happy.

-November was also amazing. My New Jersey bestie came to visit and we had an EPIC weekend. All in one day (starting at 12:00am) we saw the premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt.1, ate the delicious dumplings on the Corner, visited Downtown (yummy tea & hookah, found a legit hippie headband at a legit vintage oldies store), and saw Dave Matthews Band in his hometown on his second-to-last concert for who knows how long. He played Halloween. We almost died.

-Finals were killer. I basically lived in the library. Along that note, my grades for my first semester at my new school were the worst I've ever gotten. Ironically, these grades I worked the hardest in my life for. Such is life. They're not terrible, but I plan to do better.

-Christmas was lovely. I got a television! We might have to rearrange the dorm room around it though...which I'll feel bad about.

That about sums it up. I'm going back to school this weekend and I'm pretty excited. I miss my friends and I'm definitely sick of my family (I was from day one). Though I'll miss relaxing and just watching TV shows all day. Seriously. I've watched seasons 1-3 Deadwood, s1-4 Mad Men, s5 Dexter, s1 Twin Peaks, s1 Doctor Who, and half-way done with s5 Supernatural. Wow.

Hopefully I'll be better about updating in the future. D'oh.

Oy

Oy. I've gotten pretty bad at this, n'est-ce pas?
BUT I'm on winter break. And you know what that means.....plenty of free time....and you know what that means......plenty of boredom! Huzzah!
So I'll be back with updates shortly. I promise.
It will probably be in bullet-list form again. Cause I think its been months. Right? I haven't checked. Since I don't remember, I take that as a "yes."

Procrastination: UVA Edition

I am back to my procrastination ways.

Arrived at the library at 1:30pm. Switched from reviewing Bio to working on 7-page Herodotus paper at 4:00pm. It is currently 6:02am and I have one page completed. The paper is due tomorrow today at 1:00pm.

ASPCA; White Knuckles by OK Go

Ok, another installment in my music list. I think I'm just going to copycat iTunes a bit and call this series "Gee.Ay.'s Discovery Download." As in, I discover, and you should download. Or, in actuality, since I don't plan to become a prolific blogger and like keeping it more as a personal journal, it's more, I discover, I downloaded, and now I won't forget about it. Maybe ten years from now I can come back to his humble blog and rediscover amazing music that had become dusty over the years. That would be ideal.

So now for the next installment.
I *doubt* I'll ever forget about OK Go, since I love them so. I'm mainly posting the next video for its awesomeness. The song("White Knuckles")'s great too, but I want to focus on the video. Basically, the band hired out some rescue dogs and trained them and now are promoting the ASPCA. Clearly they know the way to this girls heart.
If anyone does read this post, please please please find some extra cash in your heart and buy the video for your personal computer pleasure. They're donating the net proceeds to help even more rescue doggies.

Now, finally, here's my newest discovery download:

Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear

Next song is for my ongoing list of awesome music that I've recently discovered and that everyone should know. Clearly I need to come up with a better description and name. But not now. Because now I just want to post this.

Before you listen, I recommend watching it on mute so that you can be creeped out and possibly scarred for life like I just was. (My roommate is sleeping. I am awake and procrastinating.) I had no idea what the music video was like; I always got an artsy naturey vibe when I listened to the song. I guess I got the artsy part right...but definitely not the 'splodey bug-eyes one.



I actually discovered this song last semester. I can't *exactly* remember how, but I was basically obsessed for a week and then it kind of faded into the obscurity of my giant itunes library. Then itunes reminded me of its loveliness on shuffle today. Gotta love the rare times when it takes a break from constantly bringing forth your most embarrassing tunes and dusts off a fun gem instead.

BFP Bullet Fucking Points & AFP Amanda Fucking Palmer

Holy crapola. I'm getting behind on updating again. Quickly:

-UVA so far is working out lovelely.

-My roommate is pretty awesome.
--Sidenote: although my roomie last year was pretty awesome too, she was kind of antisocial. And I'm slowly realizing that just chillin with her alone together in our dorm is basically the reason it took me forever to make friends last year.

-Expanding off the sidenote sorta, having a doorstop to keep our dorm door open is THE BEST THING. Seriously. I know half the hall pretty well now.

-Already visited NoVA for the bf and Mason friends. It was quite successful and the drive was under 2 hours. Good: I can go up there often like cake. Bad: I'll now being going up there so often the gas money will be killa cake.

-ONE MONTH UNTIL BOSTON
--Sidenote: Have I mentioned this? The bf and I bought tix to fly to Boston for Amanda Fucking Palmer in Cabaret and Amanda Fucking Palmer's Late-Night Fucking Cabaret. His parents used their points to get us a hotel. It's going to be so fucking awesome. Did I also mention that this will make me literally go broke? I've been saying I've been broke for a while, since I have no job, but that was just figuratively, since I have no job. Now it will be literally. But it shall be the most fun going broke I will likely ever experience. Fuck yes.

UM...YES. Ms Palmer beckons and I come.

Read that as you see fit.

JGL hitRECord Natural Woman

Have I mentioned how awesome and amazing Joseph Gordon-Levitt is?
Besides his gorgeous looks and wonderful acting and film choices, he started his own production company spawning from his website hitRECord.org. Anyone can sign up and join, create art, share it, and then anyone else can take your art and add to it. People can just build and build and build off of one another's creativity to produce something even more inspiring and beautiful. Basically, it's genius. It also reminds me of how much I want to be artistic and creative again, a la my Leonardo's Camp and middle school days.
Anyway, the whole point of this blog at 1:46AM on Wednesday morning was to share this adorable video:



Could he be anymore charming? (The answer is, "No")

Tattoo Ideas

Every once in a while, my brain grabs onto this topic and I just start jonesing. My mind gets focused for once. All on beautiful, expensive tattooing. I won't be able to think of anything else. I get into designs, placement, research, etc.
I'm in one of those funks now.
I have two AMAZING ideas. One new, one old.
Old: one of Louis Wain's schizophrenia-induced kaleidoscope cats
My favorite is "Gouache"

I chose to research Louis Wain for my final big senior project/presentation last year. His story is as fascinating as his artwork, and I return to its beauty often.
This tattoo would be very inspirational for me. It would remind me of Louis Wain's life, and thus, how no matter how difficult and dark life becomes, there will always be art, creativity, passion, and beauty in the world.

New: M.C. Escher

I've loved M.C. Escher ever since my grandmother gave me a book about him. Recently however I've been sort-of "re-discovering" his artwork through my ever-changing desktop wallpaper. Now that I'm home, I remembered that book, and frantically searched for it. So far, no go. I expected it to be on my bookshelf like it was for so many years, but it's gone. Tomorrow I plan to scourge the entire house.
For the tattoo, I was thinking of one of his classic tessellations.
I love this particular example because of the shape. It's just a few birds that loosely fill a circle. The most classic of his designs taper into points that I feel wouldn't fit a body space very elegantly. To elaborate on body space, if I got both, I was thinking that "Gouache" would go on my inner arm and then I'd have to take samples of Escher's work and form them together so that the birds could flow/cascade on my side, like following the natural contours created by my ribcage.

Though I'm still not positive though about which M.C. Escher art piece I would choose. This is why I wanted to find and consult my old book. I love so many of his designs, I know it will be difficult.
Oh and I wouldn't just get an Escher tattoo solely because of it's beauty. It would commemorate my grandmother- she would never want me to get a tattoo completely devoted to her (i.e. face, name). This "commemoration" is fitting because she gave me that book (obviously) and because she was always introducing me to art. She loved going to museums and seeing art exhibitions, and I loved her and I miss her every day, and I wish I hadn't been so obstinate in my young age.
You can probably tell that I'm beginning to get ramble-y. It's late in the night and thinking of my grandmother stirs many thoughts and emotions, rendering me linguistically useless.

I think I was able to remember and put down most of my thoughts about these tattoos. Finding an artist I trust enough to transcribe them onto my flesh will be the most difficult step though... But I have plenty of time, as dictated by my bank account and unemployment.


My poorness plus this new frenzy has REALLY got me dying for a job now. Maybe spring semester? We'll see.

First Semester Friends Please?

Move-in at UVA is a week from tomorrow. Ugh.
I'm really not looking forward to it. My first semester at Mason was quite awful (socially, not academically), so I'm basically dreading this first semester at my new school. I'm just not good at making friends anymore. Well...I'm not good at pushing myself to make friends. It's a lot of work for potentially little payoff. I'm praying begging hoping that fortune favors me this time and everything just comes together like it seemed to do with my hometown friends and their schools.
Pretty pretty please?

Oh and my class schedule is a mess. I'd also love for that to come together sometime soon.