02.28.009

today i went to searsport, which is something i do almost everyday. but i went to my parents' house and we talked and my dad gave me a banjo lesson (and is lending me a banjo!) and my mom gave me a bag of records to take home, and so that is good. the light reflecting off the water looked like tv static. it was very pretty.

and then i went to get cash and i should've gone to the grocery store, but didn't. i did stop to get toilet paper, because that is obviously more important than food.

my car is acting up again. i'm horrendously unimpressed and scared that it will be misbehaving in cambridge. my dad just topped off the antifreeze yesterday, and it's already having problems again. i hate cars.

and the forecast for monday is looking like crap.

so i'm kind of bumming tonight. i hope this storm gets blown out to sea. and i hope my car stops acting like a jerk.




this is pretty:

02.27.009

while waiting for the water to boil out of the rice.

i feel very conflicted today. i don't know why. there is no conflict happening in my life right now, just laundry. and music. and rice boiling.

big things happening in the next few days. i feel as though i have too much to do and not enough time to do it in.

i'd like to get back up to dr. records tomorrow and buy the doobie brothers greatest hits album i saw there the first time i went. i don't know why i didn't get it when i was there. that was a major judgment error. i am planning on going into work tomorrow to do something because i do feel bad about taking off half of monday and half of tuesday.

and then in portland on sunday, there is a big vinyl sale that i am itching to go to, as i've been wanting to hit up a bunch of record stores in portland, and this way, they'll all be at the same place at the same time. and elephant6.com gets relaunched, which is going to be really awesome to have up-to-date information about all the amazing things going on. it's probably going to be the biggest website on the internet. mhmm.

and then monday is going to be pure magic. 100% pure, audible magic. delicious.

speaking of delicious, the rice has finished boiling and has now been fried. WHY DID I NOT ATTEMPT TO MAKE FRIED RICE EARLIER ON IN MY LIFE????

truth: i tried, once, when i was living in bangor. failed miserably. i don't think i had any soy sauce. and i might've used oil instead of margarine. yeeesh.

but yes, this batch could've been cooked a little more, but it was getting really smokey in the kitchen, so i said "good enough." and it is.

i would like to live in this town:



in greenland. i do not know the name, but it is probably one of the prettiest towns i've never been to. and yet strongly want to live in.

only surpassed by a place with name twins in maine and europe.

i should buy more orange and green clothing. and also, lights. and instruments. i want a shruti box pretty bad. and also, a melodica. and a harp.

and don't tell my dad, but i really want a banjo. and a guitar. perhaps a banjo guitar! he has one, i don't think he likes it very much. hmmmm....



the marx brothers were ridiculously amazing entertainers. they were all so talented and multi-faceted. and i mean, really, does it get much better than this?



answer: no. it doesn't.

02.26.009

brief tonight.

this week, i have gone from thinking hillary was moving home for a few weeks with just one cat and coming with me to see the music tapes, to thinking she wasn't moving home and not going to see the music tapes with me at all, to thinking she was just coming home for a few days and coming with me to see the music tapes, to today.

where she is moving home permanently with two cats and coming to see the music tapes. so i'm trying to cat proof tonight and trying to prepare for the 300% increase of life in this house. i don't think that's the right percentage. but there's suddenly going to be four lives here. which is exciting! i've been feeling rather lonely, so it'll be nice for her company and the company of her feliney friends.

today, i received a "don't forget about the music tapes/nana grizol/brian dewan show on monday!" email from ticketmaster, and i laughed really hard. do they really think i could ever forget such things? silly rabbits, the music tapes are for clouds.

and tornadoes.

true.

ok. i have to get to a point where i'm happy with what i've accomplished and then do what i was going to do tonight (paint my toenails red. not even joking).



it wouldn't be a brief blog without andrew bird. this is probably my least favorite song from noble beast, and i love it so much, i might explode. honestly, that album is so unreasonably good, it's almost disgusting. except it's too beautiful to be disgusting. gosh. i would like to see him again. pity i missed him in boston the day before my birthday.

02.25.009

oh this year is flying by. it's almost march. that is so strange.

i feel like i don't get anything accomplished when i get home from work. i kind of don't. i'm very distracted and silly right now. it's really hard for me to blog too.

it's like i've been this way since... october. ridiculously insane and unfocusable.

i have not been to the grocery store this week! that is quite odd.

i seriously just got sidetracked trying to find an iq test online. (132, according to this test.)

sorry. i feel funny. too many ridiculously silly things happening at work and i'm too excited and non-focusable. boop.



this is in g minor. if you wanna dance. which i do.

02.24.009

you know that feeling you get when you're five and it's christmas eve and you're supposed to be sleeping, but you can't sleep because you're so excited because it's christmas eve??

i'm going to be feeling that way until monday.

which is turning into something i am looking forward to with such a "IT'S CHRISTMAS AND I'M FIVE" perspective, it's awesome.

i should aspire to feel that way about waking up everyday. we'll give that the good ole college dropout try.

i keep looking at the past year... or not even the past year. the past six months. the past six months have just been this constant excitement for things that i don't realize are happening, or things that i don't understand why they're happening, but they are, and it's exciting. it's just this odd bursting feeling that i've had since august, which i guess is longer than six months.

but everything is just so funny. and so happy.

and so overwhelming.

i was saying to hillary that certain things make me feel so peculiar, seeing certain things make me feel so surreal and dream-worldy. it's all so strange.

i cannot wait until monday. it's going to be so much fun.

and you know, the telling thing here is that i didn't start to feel really happy again and like things in my life were actually changing until i started going to shows again. the shangri-la festival was a really important thing in my life, and i didn't realize it at the time, but it was hugely important. the first concert i had been to since sigur ros, since a part of me died at that show. and i got it back, singing along at the top of my lungs with the avett brothers in the fog in blue hill. gosh. but things had been changing prior to that. it's just that regaining that part of myself really changed the way i view everything.

the long story short is this:

there is nothing better or more important than getting to witness music live. to hear it breathe. gosh gosh gosh.



stop smiling #8 arrived at my door today. the split is brilliant, i love the pictures on the disc itself. i love why is the president crying. something about it reminds me of the sort of songs i used to sing when i was a kid. i don't know why i don't do those sort of weird impromptu songs anymore. i should. i will. making up songs is fun. and it's funny because people think that writing songs is so hard. i used to make songs up all the time when i was a kid. pretty decent songs too. or at least i thought they were decent. hm.

cannot wait until monday.

02.23.009

shoveling well over a foot of snow just as you're getting over some sort of flu-y type illness is not fun. i am absolutely exhausted and feeling pretty scuzzy.

the storm last night was pretty awesome. the wind howled all night and the lights flickered and i was certain i was going to lose power. i didn't.

i did three bouts of shoveling and actually had myself pretty well dug out by the time my dad came to plow the driveway.

didn't go to work again. it's now been a week.

took down christmas and cleaned a little today in preparation for hillary's possible return. that might not be happening. i hope she at least comes up for the music tapes show, although i'm not certain that will happen, which is sad. also, the uncertainty throws my plans into a bit of a tizzy. i'm sure it'll all work out in the end, but for the time being.

hm.

i love how quiet everything is during and after storms. the whole world just falls silent. it's really very lovely.

okay. i'm going to go shower and go to bed. so tired. i imagine i'm going to be exhausted tomorrow after work. but i gotta get back into the swing of things.



IN ONE WEEK, MY FRIENDS! ONE WEEK! almost from this exact time. it's going to be a trifecta of awesomeness, for certain!

02.22.009

tonight is the first night since monday that i actually feel like a reasonably normal functioning human being. and by that i mean, i can breathe through my nose and i am not ridiculously tired. only slightly tired. i mean, i could very easily go to bed right now and not think twice about it, but that's only because i also haven't had coffee since monday morning. but still. this is all good news, my friends. good news indeed.

this meteorological bomb that new england will be experiencing does not sound like good news. i don't like it when people describe things as being bombs that are not good situations.

here is a good bomb situation: the musical bomb that will be taking place on the first and second. the first, the space gallery is hosting a record sale from 11-4 pm. which is going to be awesome because i wanted to get to portland to scope out some of the stores down there and this just gives me an excuse to do it. and also! elephant6.com gets relaunched and will be fully updated with what's going on with which bands and that is really exciting news. and oh, the second. !!!

the second the second the second. the music tapes, nana grizol, and brian dewan at the middle east upstairs in cambridge. hillary is going to be home (!!!) and she wants to come with, and as of right now, we're planning on getting a room (right now i'm looking at le meridien because it's within walking distance of the venue and looks really nice) and it's going to be so lovely. so so lovely. i'm so excited. to a point of almost bursting. i do have to figure out if we're going to stay or not. it would be nice to not have to worry about driving home, but does it financially make sense for me to spend $130+ on a room? that is the question. maybe hillary could kick in a little. i don't know. but still. excitement!

tonight, i've been listening to the maria soundtracks. the sound of music and west side story. and gosh, i still want someone to want to burst into maria from west side story after meeting me. i want someone to be so stupidly smitten with me that they have to sing about it. is that vain? i don't think so. i just want someone to care again. pfft.

when i was young, i really wanted to be liesl. as i've past age sixteen, i've realized that i'm more maria than liesl. and in the end, rolf wasn't all that dreamy. captain von trapp, however. he's another story. i think it was just the getting caught in a thunderstorm in a gazebo thing. it was so stupidly romantic. i mean, really.

and so i sang along with the soundtrack to the sound of music at the top of my lungs, which actually made my throat feel better, which is odd, but okay.

on the swingle singers christmas album, there is a russian stchedrivka. !! it's actually the tune of the carol of the bells, and so that all makes sense.

these are the translated lyrics of the stchedrivka (according to wikipedia, where they spell it shchedrivka).

Shchedryk, shchedryk, a shchedrivka [New Year's carol];
A little swallow flew [into the household]
and started to twitter,
to summon the master:
"Come out, come out, O master [of the household],
look at the sheep pen,
there the ewes are nestling
and the lambkin have been born
Your goods [belongings] are great,
you will have a lot of money, [by selling them]
if not money, then chaff: [from all the grain you will harvest]
you have a dark-eyebrowed [beautiful] wife."
Shchedryk, shchedryk, a shchedrivka,
A little swallow flew.

how lovely! typically sung on the eve of the julian new year (january 13th). stchedrivka. shchedrivka. schedrevka. it will never not make me smile.

jingle bells.

i won a copy of the crows of pearblossom today! very exciting. i have some other book auctions ending, but i don't think i should be placing bids on them until i figure out if i'm staying in cambridge or not. hm.

i drew some good crows today. a bald eagle flew over my car as i drove home from buying supplies for vegan sundae sunday. which i have yet to partake in. but oh well.

oh man. a week from today, i'll be so excited i won't be able to sleep.

and tomorrow, i get to have coffee again! whoa. big times ahead, my friends. monumentous times! that is not a word! oh well! monumental is a word, but doesn't convey the proper emotion i'm going for. so monumentous it is!



keeping with the theme. i was actually trying to find this video for a blog a few days ago, but it works today. in all honesty, it's a constant question in my life. i mean, how could it not be?

02.21.009

today i saw four crows sitting shoulder to shoulder on a tree branch. it was beautiful.

and then i drove around, feeling very surreal about everything. it was odd and i didn't like it very much.

i finally got robbert bobbert and the bubble machine and it is amazing.

i am still very tired and not feeling 100%. sorry.



also picked up this album on vinyl. everything sounds better on vinyl. it's so lovely.

02.20.009

last night, after i blogged here, i attempted to take a nap. but was unable to sleep, due to being overcome by the urge to write. and so, since i am still feeling pretty yucky (no fever though! all day! woo!), i am going to type up what i wrote. it's really really rough, as it's under the influence of fever and some sort of fever reliever. and it's kind of disjointed and the end needs a lot of work.

okay, that's enough disclaiming.



there is an orchard to the west of the house. i had been told that the trees bore apples in the late autumn, but never in my dozen years of occupying this home had i ever seen a one.

the trees would yield foliage and flowers, but never fruit. the locals blamed it on the lack of bees; a bee farmer down the road would box up his honeybees and send them to the blueberry barrens on the mainland. apparently mainland blueberries hold precedence over my apples.

regardless, i had never seen a single fruit.

until this past fall.

the weather had been prime for apples, not too much rain, and just enough sun. every day i'd wander the rows of the trees, searching the green for a tiny sphere of something sweet and soon-to-be red. something to hold on hope to. but there was nothing.

i had thought, for a while, that perhaps the deer or the raccoons or crows that i so often saw in the fields to the east got to whatever fruit sprung from the branches in the time that would pass between my walks, but no. there was never any indication of life in those trees beyond the leaves and occasional chickadee.

in the middle of october, after most of the leaves had slipped into their winter clothes, but were still reluctant to give up their summer homes, we were hit with quite a storm. the wind blew so hard that the shutters smacked against the house, some losing slats. it was a terrible storm that lasted for hours.

amidst all the clatter and clanging and howling through the hallowed halls of my home, i stopped and looked out the westerly facing kitchen window. the wind, so angry, was evacuating the long lingering tenants from their homes with such force, sending them out to sea, to spend the rest of their physical life decaying with lost sailors and sunken treasures. (if there is a better way to spend the rest of one's physical days on this planet, i'd like to know.)

the wind, after ripping most of the leaves from the trees, had focused it's collective strength on this one remaining leaf. brilliantly gold, it caught my eye. refusing to give up without a fight more legendary than a joe louis' boxing match, this leaf was resilient, and not wanting to let go. i found myself muttering under my breath "hold on, little leaf, hold on." i set my hopes upon it's veins.

and thus, my hopes were ripped from the thrashing arms of an apple tree. i slowly started to turn away, when something caught my eye.

in the place where the leaf had fought so valiantly, a shimmering red.

the blood of a leaf? surely not, as in my entire life, i've never seen a leaf bleed red.

a gasp escaped my lips. could it really be true?

too excited to be bothered with anything as mundane and unimportant as putting on shoes or a coat, i ran from the house and leaped from the porch, faltering to the ground, for i am not as graceful as a leaf in the wind.

i collected myself and dashed to the orchard.

and... yes! my eyes had not deceived me, a glowing red apple. the air smelled of rain and sea salt and the sweetness i had always longed to smell. a smile burst across my face, my clothes soaked into my skin as a stretched out my arm and touched it's red skin, the sphere swarbling in the wind. slowly wrapped three fingers and my thumb around it's circumference and gave it a gentle twist. it gave up easy. i sat in the mud beneath the tree, resting my back against the trunk that had given this lovely thing life, drew my knees up to my chest, and sunk my toes into the earth.

as my teeth pierced it's skin, my mouth was flooded with the taste of something so sweet, followed by something saline and warm. blood. i pulled the apple away from my lips, it was covered in blood. slipped a finger inside my mouth and felt a burst and rush. in my haste, upon falling to the ground, i had bit the inside wall of my mouth. i left my finger there, applying pressure until the bleeding ceased. the rain washed the blood off the apple, and i presumed, my face as well. i finished eating the apple as the rain started to taper off, and walked back into the house.

caked with mud, and full of hope.



yeah. it needs work, but i like it.



this is one of my favorite scenes from this movie. i'm obsessed with it. and i still want to live in pee wee's house. also, a relative of static the singing television (key member of the music tapes) can be seen at around 4:40.

02.19.009

today, i woke with no fever. i emailed my father who told me to "stay away" from work anyway, as i still felt like crap (congested head/runny nose, horrid cough, minor aches, but really, i felt better than i did yesterday). i took the tapestry down out of my bedroom window and watched the snow fall. went downstairs to make tea and oatmeal and discovered footprints trodden in the freshly fallen snow. so i opened my door, and found a bag with an lp mailer tied to the door. from merge, containing the music tapes for clouds and tornadoes, the singing saw at christmastime, on avery island, and the neutral milk hotel 33 1/3 book that i once read in a border's, and then decided not to purchase.

after my water boiled and i had prepared my tea and oatmeal, i trotted upstairs with my new deliveries and put all three albums on, in that order, and read the 33 1/3 book, which was just as lovely as i remembered it being. i don't know why i didn't buy it at the time. that was a silly decision.

wrote a very little in my actual journal, thought about trying to draw crows. attempted to draw crows, didn't do a very good job.

took a shower. realized that a premonition a kind friend had was actually really spooky. played some monopoly online. watched another john green live show. found another book i want (atlas by katrina vandenberg).

and then at around 5:45, it clobbered me.

the cold.
the shakes.
the aches.
the fever.
is back.

this is getting old. i don't understand because i was fine all day long. i fear that if it's still around tomorrow morning, i'll have to go to the doctor. i don't like doctors.

i also have no appetite, which is not really good, i don't think. i still want to eat an entire grapefruit. maybe just a slice. but then what happens if i don't get well enough to eat the rest?

i don't even want to discuss the amount of grapefruits and peppers and onions that are probably spoiling in my fridge right now. i should probably divvy up and freeze the leftover enchilada bake.

tired.




this song is excellent.

02.18.009

seriously. being sick is horrible. usually, i only get sick when i have lots of things going on and it's my body's way of telling me i have to slow down, but there's nothing going on right now (which i suppose is a good thing, given that this might have me out of commission tomorrow as well). there's no reason for me to be sick right now.

especially given that for the past almost two weeks (up until monday), i had been eating an entire grapefruit a day! that is so much vitamin c! my immune system should be in tip top shape! and like... my curries are packed with nutritious vegetables and i just don't understand. and fruit! i eat so much other fruit. this makes no sense to me in my wormy little head.

i woke up with a 100.4 fever, and it cleared up by noon, and i was running regular temperatures all afternoon, but now i'm starting to shiver and my temperature is creeping up.

again.

my head is super congested and my cough is unreal and my voice is not very good and i'm tired and achy. and all i wanna do is eat an entire grapefruit and go to sleep. but i don't think eating an entire grapefruit is what is called for when you're sick. hm.

i discovered an aldous huxley children's book that i really want to get called the crows of pearblossom. it's out of print, but someone has a weekly reader's copy on ebay that i'm watching. i also want to get amy krouse rosenthal's encyclopedia of an ordinary life. and her chidren's books. i love children's books. they are more honest than grown up books.




three videos tonight, hopefully to partially make up for my lameness. all three of which you should watch in high quality or high definition or whichever.

robbert bobbert and the bubble machine came out yesterday. i hope you went and got it.



and these next two are beautiful reflections as to how good people still exist in the world. the first is 17 things made by amy krouse rosenthal.



and this second one is the 18th thing she and a bunch of strangers made on 08/08/08 at 8:08 pm in front of the bean in chicago. because it will hopefully remind you that people, mostly complete strangers, no less, can do really lovely things together. there is a thread that binds us all, and we forget that all too often.

02.17.009

another reason why being an adult sucks.

being alone and being sick.

when you're a kid, i don't think you ever realize how awesome you have it when you're sick. if you have a reasonably kind family, they take care of you. they make you soup and tea and bring you juice and crackers and the medicine you require and word searches and tissues. they watch bad tv with you. you ring a bell, and they come to you. they make sure you are okay, and that is a really nice, warm thing.

when you're an adult, and you don't share your life with anyone, and you get sick, it's horrible. you have to go to the store (with a fever) to buy your own medicine and soup and crackers and tea and juice and tissues and word searches (which i forgot to get this morning, and thusly, have been bored OUT OF MY MIND the entire time i've been awake today. i'm not functioning enough to actually do things that need to be done. it hurts to stand). i don't have any living room furniture, so i can't watch tv. i could nap again, but i took a really long nap when i got back from the store, and i fear i'll have trouble sleeping (even though i did buy tylenol's multi-symptom cold medicine, nighttime formula). i could sit in bed and read, as i often fantasize about doing, but that seems a little unattractive. i do have a bell next to my bed and have been ringing it, in hopes that someone will hear and come take care of me.

i should probably now mention that i get really miserable when i'm sick. in case you haven't noticed.

i did have a really great fever dream before i woke up this morning where i attended barack obama's inauguration with my sister and one of her best friends and a friend of mine from high school, and when the president came in, they had him standing in the middle of this giant tuba that was on wheels and they were wheeling him around and it was pretty awesome. and then we were in a convenience store and these two guys were arguing over canned beans and then they started throwing punches and there were muppets and it was really strange.

and i kept having really crazy fever visions last night while i was trying to sleep. really brightly colored things involving singing saws and snow and crows decorating christmas trees draped in snow (probably because it was snowing last night, and harold ramis is lying outside my house) with acorns and apples and cinnamon sticks, and burl ives was singing and ....

02.16.009

dear friends,

i am sick. or getting sick. either way, i feel as though i've been run over by several trucks carrying lots of tons of pellets (i got my pellets today, and that's the only reason why i've added that. because pellets are heavy and i feel run over). everything aches, my head is swarmy, my throat is impossibly angry, and i am freezing, despite the current temperature in my house being 71 degrees.

this all being said, i am taking tonight off. which i would feel bad about, given that i took thursday and friday and saturday off, but i feel really horrendous and can't focus on what i'm doing enough to even give you anything worth reading. so i mean, it's either i call it quits now, or i rabble on about how good potato leek soup is (cliff notes: it's really good).

here's to a better feeling tomorrow.
love,
maria.



oh. here's one of my favorite they might be giants songs. this should make up for the lack of an actual blog. okay.

02.15.009

yesterday, i had the thought while driving over the evil bridge of doom™ that it must be a lot of fun to jump off a bridge. i mean, until you hit whatever is underneath, that feeling of falling must be great.

i have falling dreams sometimes. and i really hate them because they feel so real, and also because i find the sensation of falling from heights to be kind of nice. which is really weird because i am absolutely, horrendously, cripplingly terrified of heights.

today, i had the thought that i don't think right. a lot of bizarre disconnects happen in my brain. re-wirings and whatnots that i don't think most people have. i imagine most of what i think looks rather off to people who don't know/aren't me, which i suppose is one of the problems with blogging. but also one of the wonderful things. of course, if you're reading this and you know me... well, you're probably realizing you don't know me as well as you thought. hmm.

i am wondering if other people see birds as often as i do. i know that's a really strange thing to wonder, but it is what's at the forefront of my thought process right now. i'm never even really looking for them, i just turn my head or something catches my eye or i am just strangely compelled to shift my eyes a little to the right, and there's always a bird there. i saw a hawk in frankfort today. it was really nice out today.

i have this new project that involves going to every bull moose music in the state. i figure that is not normal and a little strange, but i think it makes sense, because they all have somewhat varying vinyl selections. for example, the bull moose in brunswick had selections from regina spektor and the shins and dr. dog that neither the bull moose in bangor or waterville had. i should really calm down with my vinyl buying journeys, as i should start saving some money for things coming up (the music tapes/nana grizol/brian dewan show is in two weeks from tomorrow! !!! i am so excited!), but i still haven't ordered from orange twin yet, and there's a lot i want from orange twin.

i also have to order another ton of pellets. and it's funny because i feel like i was just complaining about. because i was.

i really like kiwis. both the fruit and the bird. and the new zealanders. hmmm.

i took harold ramis down. he's lying outside right now. i haven't vacuumed up the needles he dropped. i should do that soon. i also have to finish taking christmas down. i really hate doing that. i don't want to. i just want it to be christmas forever.

today as i was driving to brunswick, a song came on my ipod, and i just about exploded from happiness. it was sunny and warm (relatively speaking), and the clouds that were around were cirrus and cirrocumulus and they became good friends to me and there were a lot of birds.

oh! i saw a crow in someone's front yard in stockton springs, i believe, and he was standing on an apple that he was eating! it was really lovely. this actually might have happened somewhere closer to thomaston/warren. i can't remember. that's the problem with having to drive, i can't make notes as to where these things take place.

but yes, it's very nice to feel that happy. i think it sunk in today. i came home and looked at the remnants and it didn't feel like something that never happened. it felt real for the first time since it took place. which is silly, because i know it was real, i know it happened, it just seemed so... far fetched. and surreal. a lovely dream.

here i am, i'm waking up.

mammatocumulus clouds are my among my favorite clouds. in case you were wondering. because they look like bubbling dry ice. and they look so soft and sweet and yet oftentimes, ominous. i wish all of my floors could be mammatocumulus clouds. and then lying on the floor and listening to records would honestly be all i do. ever.

dr. dog's we all belong is a phenomenal album. i'm listening to abbey road right now, and abbey road easily surpasses it, but man. dr. dog is pretty great. i should acquire more of their albums on vinyl. i forget that i like them until i listen to them again. it's as though they are the new califone. i used to forget (!) how much i love califone until i would listen to them. i go through phases with my music. waning and waxing, full and new. it's all so lovely. i do still wish for more ears frequently.

and i still find it funny that it's so hard for me to breathe during certain songs. hard in a really beautiful way. goodness.



i'm getting to the point where i can't recall what i've already posted here for youtube videos. if there are ever any repeats, i apologize, but you must understand that if i do post the same video again, it's only because i absolutely love that song. okay.

THAT BEING SAID, this is just a... bouncing-off-the-walls, crazy happy, ridiculously pogo inducing song. i love it. robert schneider is a genius. robbert bobbert and the bubble machine drops tuesday. IT'S GOING TO BE AMAZING.

02.14.009

i have to take down harold ramis. all of the water is going to his new growth, so every time i touch him, this insane shower of needles comes down. i figure he's a major fire hazard now, and that's sad.

which means i also have to take down the rest of christmas.

AND yue222qi678 is gone!







sad. but i did make a really good enchilada bake today. hmmm.

taking tonight off. i promise to be back tomorrow.



i wish there were more videos of this song floating about the interwebs. because it would be the only song i ever post.

02.13.009

yeah, still taking tonight off.



i would feel wrong leaving you with nothing, so. my saw really enjoys singing this song. which is funny because it just started singing it one night, and i was all excited about it. so, yup.

02.12.009

i'm looking at thimbles and small trinket-y tchotckes online.

i'm taking a break. no real online blog tonight or tomorrow. quite possible saturday as well. my head is a little screwy.

unless really big amazing things come to me/i settle in for the evenings early. which probably won't happen.

okay.



i can't express how delighted i am to discover that lisa hannigan is making beautiful music! she was so amazing when i saw her with damien rice years ago. the most ethereal being i had ever seen, but i like this video much more because she seems more real. more like someone you would run into at a pub.

02.11.009

i don't know what there is to say about today other than this.

my mother knitted me a penguin afghan. it's in the top five best things ever given to me.



also, my 4th grade teacher's husband fixed my car's radiator. he asked what grade in high school i was in, which is awesome. i don't mind looking young (even though i don't think i look all that young), because in twenty years, that's going to be great.

and i have my car back.

and i listened to califone after showering tonight.

it was a good day. i am tired and hungry. go figure. brevity is not such a bad thing.



i'm in the process of trying to teach myself the accordion bits from these two nesey gallons videos on youtube. they are lovely songs, and the videos are beautiful. i'm very anxious for nesey to release something stunning into the stratosphere. entering orbit.

02.10.009

things like that make me wish i lived somewhere else. but in my home. it's an odd sort of confusion that leads to me not knowing where i really should be. i feel misplaced.

vacant vacant vacant full. my mouth is very dry, i wish i had some califone albums on vinyl. i started my record/writing/reading niche tonight. i moved all the totes and boxes into hillary's room, set out the little rug i had been using under my desk, put up some string lights and set up my portable record player. it's nice to have the music right outside my door. it'll be great to curl up and write there soon. i'd like to get floor pillows and tapestries too. now that i'll be utilizing that niche, there is no doubt in my mind that it will become my favorite place in the house.

the floor around harold ramis is molding. apparently, i'm sometimes not very intelligent and didn't check to make sure the tree stand was fully closed before putting him in (more likely, i was so excited to get him settled into my living room, i completely forgot), and so apparently, the tree stand is partially open, and he's been leaking.

for two months. i put a towel around the base of the stand and covered it with a tree skirt.

and then i forgot about the towel/leaking tree stand until last night, when i went to water him, and peaked beneath the skirt, and the towel is soaked and absorbing the floor stain and the floor itself is wet and grey and white with mold. i'm glad that the floor is going to be replaced soonish. i should probably undress my house from christmas soon. i don't want to look completely insane.

(even though i am.)

my federal return came in today. i'm having a very hard time not spending it on things (i've been kind of unsuccessful, as i went to bull moose tonight... but i did only spend $60! as there are many ebay auctions i'm watching and other things that i will need money for in short order). and i have a lot of bills to pay, and i only received half of last week's pay on friday, so i'm kind of struggling. and i still have to pay the mortgage. seriously, having responsibilities makes me very frustrated. i just want to buy albums and pretty things and tickets to places and concerts and amazing things. i really want to be able to travel at some point this year.

i'm so out of focus today. it's really frustrating. i am also still very tired. i had lovely waking dreams this morning. i don't like getting out of bed after having such nice thoughts echoing about my head in the few minutes i spend in limbo between awake and asleep. i also find that having really lucid dreams right before i wake up makes me more tired than just waking up regular. i think that's strange, but to be expected. because in some lovely fuzzy part of my brain, the things actually happened.

and since my living room floor is going to be replaced soon, i really want to draw all over what is there now. we are tearing it out completely and redoing the subfloor, in an effort to make it a little more level/a little less horrible. so i think i should be allowed to write and draw all over the floor. i'll check with my dad at some point. and also, i want to write and color on the sheet rock that i have propped up in my record niche so as not to knock things off the ledge and down the stairs.

i write a lot about writing, and then i never actually do the creative aspect of it. i do this daily blog thing, and parts of it are good (i was quite fond of yesterday's beginning), but mostly, it's this horribly self involved crap that i hate doing, but if i don't do the self righteous stuff, i can't even get to the smallest pieces of good.

so, i don't know. i really just need to get home in the afternoon and get into a routine again. and so far, daily writing is the only new year's resolution i've upheld. but it's hard to be motivated to work out and eat right in the winter. you can't go outside for long amounts of time because it's so cold, and all i ever want to eat is hot, comfort-y foods. i had the thought today that if i just cut my caloric intake, i should be able to lose some weight fairly easily, as i am pretty active at work. i don't really remember my other resolutions. oh, to do something new every week. i did okay with that for a while, but i'm struggling now. i wish things would just calm down in every other aspect of my life so i can just do the creative things i want to do. and knowing how things work, they won't calm down until the snow melts and it's warm out. and then i won't want to be at home doing creative things. i'll want to go to cemeteries and go on night drives and go to visit a lot of people.

athens popfest isn't happening this year, which is sad, as i was hoping to use my tax return to go. i think everyone is still waiting for information on xx merge with bated breath. i hope something is announced soon.


speaking of merge, eleven years ago on this very day, in the aeroplane over the sea was released. mind you, i didn't hear anything off of it until four years after, but still. it was a big deal. it still is a big deal.

happy birthday, aeroplane. i love you on a tuesday. and everyday.

02.09.009

skeletons of sunflowers lined the walk to your house. they swarbled in the wind with the apples who refused to let go last autumn. the fog horn sounded twice, and a hawk circled overhead. it was definitely a monday.

how my day worked today:

woke up, made breakfast, started freaking out. cried. left for work, half teary. was followed by a state police officer until stockton springs. got to work. worried, stopped worrying, played with tape. worried. started to sweep the floor. worried some more. had coffee. swept the floor some more, but this time, while listening to the apples in stereo. worried. went upstairs to work on the website. worried and made good progress. worried. worried. made a lightbulb (okay, didn't really make a lightbulb, but i colored it nicely). worried. ate some clementines. drove home. retrieved bills. smelled like citrus. worried.

i still smell like citrus. and i'm still worrying.

i made enough curry to feed the majority of the elephant six collective this evening (assuming each member only wanted one serving). it is good and i added no salt, and am salting each serving individually, as last time, i put way too much in, and it overwhelmed everything. and i bought plums! i am very excited to have one tomorrow with lunch. which may or may not be leftover curry. and by may or may not, i mean, will definitely be.

the moon is too beautiful tonight. the woods look like a kind place for me and a few deer and crows to drink tea in. even though it's quite cold. they look friendly tonight, the darkened pines and the naked deciduous. waxing crescent two days after cambridge next month. funny how time works that way, in that it always keeps happening, but there are these little happy, accidental overlaps....



this song makes my skin crawl in the best way possible. in the way that makes me want to have tea with deer and crows on full mooned evenings.

02.08.009

i'm having a weird day. i drove too much today. which is problematic because it's not my car. but not problematic because it was my gas. restless sundays have returned. or maybe it was just today, since it was so warm.

another problem i'm having is with my current eating habits. for example, today i had a peanut butter and mel-o-creme sandwich for breakfast, a grapefruit and pretzels for lunch, and way too many salt and vinegar chips as a snack. and now i'm not really hungry, but i should probably eat something protein-y, as the only protein i've had today has come in the form of peanut butter, almost twelve hours ago. i really should make curry tonight, but i don't have enough potatoes. i have two things of tempeh i need to use within the next four days, which is why a curry is appealing, because i can just crumble it, fry it up, and throw it in the curry. but then i'm going to be eating curry for every meal for the next five days, and that seems a little ridiculous.

perhaps i'll just cook up some tempeh tonight. although probably not. probably a veggieburger. oh, maybe some pasta would be good.

...

do you really care about this?

a better question: have i mentioned that harold ramis has new growth
(i should clarify that i am referring to harold ramis my christmas tree, and not harold ramis the actor/director/writer)? yes, it's true! despite having been cut down since probably november, he has new, pretty fleshy green growth on him, and i am so excited by this. and proud! because he's obviously quite happy in my living room. and so i can't take him into work to become firewood yet.

photographic evidence:



i saw a lot of crows in my travels. they were out enjoying the warmth, too. mostly in pairs, but there was one up in the very top of a bare birch tree, and i wanted him to be my friend. i would get him rubber fishing boots. i imagine that crows have very calloused feet. i do too. every little step that leads me closer to being a crow, i'm going to take it.

and so, since it was so warm, the snow has started to melt. i'm so stupid because i really enjoy warm winter days, but i hate the way the snow looks once it starts to melt. all wilted and sad, brown and dirtier than it's been. the only niceties when it comes to melting snow are the fields that are untouched. but there are so few, because of snowmobilers. there is one in stockton springs, and i love it. and when the snow melts, veins form, little crevices in the white, indenting the pale skin, creeks for the runoff to go downhill towards the street. and i imagine from crows-eye-view, it looks like a giant white leaf. how pretty that must be. yet another reason to want to be a crow.

amazing sky today too. gray at first, but clearing in the afternoon.





because of the wind. it is so windy. it's shaking my house. which would be kind of disconcerting, were it not so amazing.

i've been thinking a lot about how certain things have unfolded in my life, and it's all very strange and overwhelming. example: if i had never befriended the girls' in my gym class freshman year of high school over ten years ago (who became two of my best friends), and were i not so easily influenced in my teenage years and weren't talked into volunteering on a local independent film production the summer between my senior year of high school and my freshman year of college by one of them, what happened on new year's day of this year wouldn't have happened. that is such a huge realization. and such a weird realization, given that one of them i never really talk to anymore (the one who talked me into working on the film), and the other i miss constantly. and they're not really friends any more either. it's all so strange. time and evolution.

i just really want a boy to hold my hand and play monopoly with. and listen to records. and color. and take me away from here. somewhere soft and safe and without maggots.



when i find myself having a bad day, i come home and watch this video. and if this video can't pull me out of it, something is seriously wrong. can't wait to see julian and his friends (fleshy and otherwise) play again! and then we all get to play with julian and friends after (maybe during?) the show too! i love the announcement elephant.

02.07.009

my head functions in rather peculiar ways at times. today, i was thinking a lot about houses. more specifically, houses that i want to live in. and more accurately, my little dream houses.

i don't understand why nobody has actually built a house out of legos. i would pay top dollar to live in an actual lego house.

also, a log cabin.

and a stone cottage.

and a micro house.

there are so many places i want to live, and i'm so scared i won't be able to live in them all during my life.

an ice palace!

harum - dih - dih - trum - tum.

although, that last one would require certain definites before i would actually do it. like the presence of a singing television, taller-than-thou metronome, clapping hands are waiting, and a little nomadic friendy or two. or twenty. hundred....

i've become super obsessed with the spam bot that leaves poetry on the townhall forums. so much so that, yes, i will actually be making a shirt declaring my love for yue. and i'll wear it for valentine's day and no one will understand anything on it, and it'll be nice.

i'm very quickly finding things to spend my tax return on, which is really distressing. i plan on going on a major vinyl adventure throughout the state, probably this upcoming weekend, and there are things on ebay that i can't live without. that i will honestly sell organs and appendages to own. i don't need a spleen to live, do i?

i thought so.

i did do part of the vinyl adventure today. went up to dr. records and purchased satchmo's golden favorites, donovan's greatest hits, harry nilsson's son of a schmilsson, and captain kendall morse's seagulls and summer people: a record of maine humor, all used, for a total of $12. lovely. dr. records smells exactly like i remember it smelling. i also went to another store that was very disappointing. too small and crowded and there was a ladder involved and i am scared of heights and i'm not about to climb a ladder to find albums.

somehow, i always run out of either fabric softener or laundry detergent before the other. i don't really understand it.

i can't wait until fresh produce is readily available again. i really want cherries, and there are none available right now. i've been thinking about going raw vegan during the late spring/early summer, but that would require me eating a lot of nuts and beans. i don't know that i'm up for that. we'll see.

either way, i'm definitely binging on fresh fruits and vegetables hard this year. there's going to be a constant barrage of fruit salad in my life, and i can't wait.

i am very tired again. i think i'll turn in early. again. because i am old. still.



this song is one of those songs that makes me stupidly happy when i hear it. i wish that video existed from when the album version was recorded, because i picture every single member of the collective in a living room, around one microphone. and it makes me stupidly happy.

... this is a good substitute though. when this was the second song played at the portland show, my head kind of exploded a whole bunch. and i'm so anxiously awaiting the announcement about the next circulatory system album. because it's going to be beautiful. until then, this will tide me over.

02.06.009

you know, i was going to write about today, but now that i am tucked in, i am just feeling lonely and sad and tired and uninspired. i am going to bed early tonight.



three years ago tonight, i was in the third row while this song was performed. he was somewhere in the crowd behind me, and neither of us could find the other prior to the start of the show. this song was the closest thing to dying that i have ever felt in my life. i held my hand over my heart for the duration of the show. anytime i hear this band, my hand instinctually moves to my heart. because i fear that if i don't, it will leap out of my chest and try to go back, instead of moving forward.

02.05.009

today, i spent a lot of time laughing while video chatting with hillary. we were working on the website for work, and it was nice to see her and hear her voice. i miss her, even though we don't necessarily get along all the time.

i was outbid on the music tapes 12" i was watching, which is alright because i know who it's going to and she's another super friend of the music tapes and she just got an awesome tattoo based off of the artwork included on the insert of said album, so that's alright by me. as long as i know it's not going to someone who isn't going to enjoy it and love it the way i would.

(it's also alright because someone just listed another copy of it! and i'm going on a vinyl adventure this weekend, so who knows, maybe there is a used copy just waiting for me to find it somewhere in maine!)

oh, i don't know what else there is. i just watched too much television and now my brain feels all mushy.

i'm on a big veggieburger kick right now. i feel as though i have already posted about this, but i don't care. i absolutely adore gardenburger's veggie medley burgers. i wish i could find the black bean chipotle variety. if i do end up in portland on my vinyl adventure, i should go to whole foods and see if they have them there. and as far as tasting like actual hamburger, boca burgers probably win. so either of those patties with a little vegenaise and yellow mustard on bread with dill pickles and you pretty much have my entire diet. plus grapefruit.

seriously, the acidic food addiction is a little troubling. i don't know. crazy.



hey everybody! it's a two-for day!

okay, so i realized the other night that i have yet to post a video of the wiyos, which is a crime against all people trying to keep old timey music alive everywhere. i discovered them through curtis eller, who i discovered through my father, from this video.



curtis eller is an amazing banjoist and acrobat. i hate that i haven't seen him live yet. one of these days, i will and it will be so much fun.

ANYWAY. i HAVE seen the wiyos live. they played in rockport, of all places, on a humid august saturday night. there were thunderstorms the entire afternoon and early evening, the air smelled of ozone and wet pavement. it was lovely. they performed completely unplugged in a very small art gallery and they are amazingly entertaining and really nice guys. if they ever roam even remotely close to where you are, make the effort to go see them. you will not regret it, they are so much fun. they also do a beautiful version of summertime which is excruciatingly sexy and sultry, without meaning to be. they played it the night i saw them, i almost died. the album version is just as good. but yes, you should see them live if you can. (tour dates found here. i hope to see them live sometime this year again. so good.)

02.04.009

the month of february is 1/7th over.

it is strange to me that a place i used to call home so affectionately looks so foreign and cold to me now. even though the only things that appear to have changed are the furnishings and the occupants, it is completely not the place i loved so much that i would have these amazing dreams where the house would twist into something different. the place where i had a chimney running through my bedroom. the place where i first realized i was in love. the place where my heart was shattered. the place where things splintered and caught fire and were destroyed. they have been rebuilt, outside of those walls. but the things that took place while we lived in that home... i hope the new residents can feel how much happened in that house. the history we etched in there. i know there is still creosote and glitter in my old bedroom. that is the only solace i am getting out of this.

still no heat in my car. i drove up to my mechanic's from work (45 minutes away) only to discover that he couldn't get to my car today. drove back to work. then drove back to my mechanic's when my father realized i should just leave my car there and he can get to it when he gets to it.

i can't feel my toes. i took a shower when i got home tonight, and i still haven't fully regained the feeling in my toes. once i crossed into hampden on the way back to work after leaving my mechanic's the first time, i was certain they had fallen off. i tried to wiggle them in my boots, and nothing happened. and i was so cold that i started to cry, but it hurt so much that i stopped almost immediately.

but i did see a bald eagle flying over the penobscot in winterport on the way up to my mechanic's the second time.

and my father is letting me borrow his prius, which is a really nice vehicle. i'm trying not to be a hyper miler, but i fear that i am. i watch the miles per gallon gauge like it's my job. crazy.

speaking of work, i've been splitting wood for two days straight now. it feels so good. my head is kind of all over the place and for some reason, splitting wood focuses me. i don't know why. but that's alright.

i went to the store tonight to buy more grapefruit and potatoes, and my debit card wasn't in my wallet. i started to panic really bad, but upon arriving home and dumping out the contents of my purse, i remembered that i had tucked it behind my checkbook on monday when i went in to visit my friends at my old job. i am a little crazy. oh well.

i was thinking about cooking tonight, but i am very tired. i can't get enough sleep again. i don't know why this is. the cookies i made last night came out really well. i can't wait to try my hand at vegan-izing other recipes.

most endearing thing of the day come's courtesy of an emusic article entitled indie rockers share their first crush that was linked on the merge records blog (during my daily check to see if anything about xx merge has been released). and who did they ask that could possibly respond with the most endearing thing of the day?

julian koster, of course!

"Funny as it might seem to say, my first crush was not on a human being. In the basement of my grandparents house there was a toy Manhattan island. It was very old, faded and made mostly of painted wood and, I guess, tin. I doubt I would've been allowed to play with it if anyone knew I'd found it. It had elevated trains that lit up when you plugged it in. I was in love with it.

Then, my Dad moved to Manhattan. When I went there, it was like meeting someone you'd adored from afar in real life. People in my family used to joke that I loved the city, which embarrassed me. It actually made my cheeks turn red, because I didn't exactly know what romantic love was all about, but i felt pretty certain that the city and I had a romantic relationship. I was quite devoted to it."

so sweet.

and now, to offset the sweet, here's something bitter. friday is the 6th. i just realized this now. it made my stomach turn. three years ago. i wish i could forget these things that make me nauseous at the mere thought of them. but i can't. good weather for airstrikes, indeed, but it was not an alright start.

but it's okay, because the sweet isn't as sweet without the bitter.



to end on an appropriate note, one of the most stunningly beautiful and heartbreaking songs i've ever heard and not understood most of in my life. as featured in the science of sleep (which is one of my favorite movies ever), coutances by dick annegarn. i am kicking myself so hard for not including this on a mix that took a little trip recently, but maybe there will be another mix. who knows. but yes, this song is lovely and sweet and sad and happy and falling into bed, exhausted. that is actually a really accurate description. this song is everything you could ever feel as you fall into bed. mostly just exhausted. okay.

02.03.009

the problem with not having heat in my car is that i am so distracted by the cold while driving that i don't notice all of the pretty happenings in the world. i don't recall seeing anything while driving today, except the road ahead and my speedometer. i sped the entire way to and from work. oh, i did watch my breath as it left my mouth while i shook so hard. i wanted to sleep. it was a very strange and unsettling feeling.

i wish i knew why the only foods i am craving are very acidic. grapefruit and salt and vinegar chips and pickles. perhaps i have been eating too basic foods? is that even possible?

actually, i will use the following as an explanation for wanting very acid-y foods: for the past few mornings, i have awoke with califone's when leon spinx moved into town in my head. it always exits very quickly, but it is there. and so i guess that is about right.

i should read more. i've been reading pilgrim at tinker creek on and off for a week or so now. my problem is that i love the way annie dillard writes and sees the world so much that i don't want to read it too quickly; i want to savor being pulled into her world like it's a fine wine or fancy chocolate or time spent with really magical people. and so i read a page every other day or so. it's unreal. i'm only on page... fourteen or so. i feel like, once i'm done reading it, it will disappear. i know it won't, but i'm horrified that it will just be erased from literary history.

it's the same feeling i get when i listen to in the aeroplane over the sea the entire way through. and first imaginary symphony for nomad. and black foliage. when you're in the throes of these really masterful pieces of art, you don't want them to end because you're scared they will fall off the face of the earth.

i am certain and terrified that one day, they will. all the beautiful things that i hold dear. so i really have a hard time buckling down and listening to those albums all the way through. i certainly listen to individual songs from them constantly with no problem, but listening to them all the way through scares me. that people have the capacity to make such consistently and constantly lovely things is wonderful, but it is an incessant worry of mine that they will disappear. another completely irrational fear.

and so, i read a page every day or so. perhaps this weekend i will just stay in and finish it. and then i'll listen to every album i love all the way through. just to see if the world stops turning.

so if it does, i apologize in advance for ending the world.

i think i am getting too stir-crazy and cabin-fevery. i should probably allow myself some time away from my online existences to do the creative things i want to do now, before the weather turns warm and i am out of work at four and able to do lovely things in the afternoon and evening.

walks, for the most part. i love spring walks. when everything smells like mud and things being born. there's a cemetery i'm dying (oh, bad) to explore. i see myself spending a lot of time there with headphones and a notebook. it'll be lovely.

anyway, i'm off to attempt veganizing a family cookie recipe. here's hoping my car magically starts producing heat tomorrow. oh, and a song.



i want to live in this music video. i think that is okay.

02.02.009

punxsutawney phil saw his shadow today. six more weeks of winter.

a nice thought: as long as they are cast on snow, daytime shadows in the winter are never actually black. just blue. most other seasons cast black daytime shadows. but not winter.

today i saw three crows at work. down on the snowbank, by the road. two of them were picking at the snow, and the third was just hopping along. they were very sweet.

and on the drive home, i was stopped behind a car that was turning, and there was a crow on a branch by the road, and it stared right at me.

today was a nice day. i woke up early and went to the bank to deposit some cash. sang along with chocolate usa's smoke machine the entire way to and from bangor. won a test pressing of the music tapes' please hear mr. flight control, which i am very excited about. got to split wood for a while at work.

i'm in the process of compiling a list of jobs i would like to try.

i believe i would make a fantastic railroad engineer. i like being alone, and i love trains.

i would also love to work on a cargo ship, but not for very long.

i'd love to be a firewood splitter.

and obviously, a music store clerk.


anyway. grapefruit is on sale at the store this week. 3 for $2. i picked a good week for a new addiction. and also, i am crazy about vegan burgers right now. which is good because i think i've been slacking in terms of my protein intake. i do have a bunch of tempeh i should eat soon. hm hm hm.

i am going to turn in early tonight to make up for the fact that i woke up early. it's only fair.



no song tonight, but a clip from the beatles' classic, help! this is one of my favorite scenes. i really need to get this on dvd again. and my mom is amazing because she not only has help! the actual album on vinyl, but also the help! soundtrack which includes a bunch of the instrumentals on vinyl. awesome.

02.01.009

happy february! one month down, eleven to go. and what a month it was.

today has been a day of culinary experimentation (i made pasta salad tonight. and by "made pasta salad", i mean, i cooked some pasta, drained it, cooled it, cut up a red pepper, put it in the cooled pasta, and added italian dressing. it's delicious. and i'm waiting for the chocolate chip muffins to cool to give them a try too) and musical disappointment (i purchased the apples in stereo's electronic projects for musicians and the vinyl is warped and the download code is expired. lame lame lame. but i did also purchase elliott smith's either/or and sufjan's come on feel the illinois on vinyl too, and they are both lovely). i saw a lot of crows today, so that is the sign of a good day. and i filed my taxes and am getting back my largest return ever. i'm planning on heading south for at least one of the major music festivals happening. probably xx merge. but man, i'd kill to go to popfest too. i guess we shall see.

muffins are good. i over-baked them a little, but they are still really tasty, so that's what matters.

it was so overcast all day today. tomorrow, it's going to be almost 40 degrees out. insanity!

and i have a few important ebay auctions that i'm watching ending in the next few days. i am faced with giant conundrums in regards to two of them. i guess we shall see how the morning plays out. because i should theoretically go deposit cash into my checking account so if i do decide i want to go after the one ending tomorrow morning, i can.

which probably means i should go to sleep. hm.



i hope you are prepared to overdose on robert schneider, because tonight makes back to back appearances for mr. s.

or more affectionately, robbert bobbert.

robbert bobbert and the bubble machine is one of the three albums that pop into my mind when someone asks me which albums i am most looking forward to this year (andrew bird's noble beast [already out] and the new circulatory system are the other two).

and i mean. come on. he does the robot. which is reason enough to watch, but the song is also an epic freakin' jam. SO. EXCITED.