In Twilight Regalia: You've been in the house too long, she said.

Recently giddy over:

Wo De Di Pan
Jay Chou: Common Jasmine Orange
And now for something completely different. No one cribs music with more wacked style than China. Jay Chou is a huge star over there on the pop circuit, and he's taken some cues from Wang Lee Hom on combining American rap and hip hop with Chinese music, something Wang Lee Hom termed "chinked out" music. This tune is a catchy hip hop with a patchwork of rhythms and even some classical piano and celeste in the break. Strangely engaging.
Man
The Bird and the Bee: The Bird and the Bee
Imagine a smash of Beck-ish Tropicalia with Suzanne Vega and top it with some cool Brazil 66, you might get this interesting pair, who are the pure-voiced Inara George (Lowell George's progeny! Who knew?) and Greg Kurstin, producer and keyboardist. It's electro-popish, but so much more diverse. Their newer live album not yet listed with Amazon has just been released (Live from Las Vegas at the Palms) on iTunes, which proves I'm no longer under a rock.
How Do You Say Goodbye?
Engineers: Engineers
I have four favorites of this atmospheric, Alan-Parsons-ish band: Thrasher, One in Seven, Home, and this one. I can't choose among them; they are all sumptuous moody lusciousness. Naturally any band I adore has the wrong picture come up on Amazon (at left is incorrect!). You can find them on iTunes.
Zombie
Nellie McKay: Obligatory Villagers
Looks: Dinah Shore. Sounds: Blossom Dearie or Dinah Shore. Content: Siberry meets Morrisette meets Mitchell. I've obviously been under a rock as I've only bumped into Nellie now. She's a well educated jazz singer (and pianist) who also writes a lot of poppy angst (where she sometimes wears thin), but her paintbrush of creation is loaded with new synthesis of old riffs. This one is just plain daffy and I adore it.
All at Sea
Jamie Cullum: Twentysomething
This is a guilty pleasure song; I don't profess to like everything he does. But this is strangely echoing a number of old tunes from my schooling times... freedom without any borders... Some of Seal, some of Coldplay, some of what we grew up with that harkens to Motown and Jazz. But it blends into a neat watercolor.
Angelhead (feat. Lili Hayden)
Supreme Beings of Leisure: 11i
Mysterious chemistry indeed: Indian melodies, a great black female lead singer, smooth triphop beats. I heard them on an ad for some liquor or something and found them to be a nice addition to my Massive Attack-type-genre. The other favorite is "Never the Same" on their self-titled album.
An End Has a Start
Editors: An End Has a Start
The Editors just make me want to go run out into the street and just keep going until I lift off. The band being almost entirely carried by Tom Smith, I was surprised it kept so energetically charged. But they need visuals to match his wonderful voice.
Never Give Up On the Good Times
Spice Girls: Spice World
I discovered this guilty pleasure very late, and I like it only because it reminds me of a DeBarge tune. Wonder if he had a hand in it. Sure does bounce.
The Bones of An Idol
The New Pornographers: Twin Cinema
I honestly don't know what I like about this song. And it isn't an obnoxious stick-in-your-head thing. And yet it just does. Their stuff does that. Noble? no. Superior musicianship? Not really. Just damn interesting.
Cante E Dance
Pink Martini: Hey Eugene!
This is a bossa nova gem done by Pink Martini - the huge Portland-based cabaret/ orchestra/ I-Love-Lucy-Ricardo-latin-band band. They are not always to my taste, but salvage up so much good stuff from the past you can't help sing their praises. The translation is loosely: "Sing and Dance, What will come God only knows, but follow the light."
Let it Whip
Dazz Band: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Dazz Band
I got an itch for some retrofunk and found this waiting to pounce on me and make me into boogymaterial. Why were they so unfamilliar a name to me when they have Earth Wind and Fire rhythms, vocals a la Rick James, and a Princelike groove that's unstoppable?
Lithium
The Polyphonic Spree: Wait
This is the most peculiar thing. It's an honest cover of the famed Cobain song -- and I hate covers unless they are amazing new twists. Here there really isn't a twist, but it's so sincere and dorky (while staying firmly devoted to the original) that it holds a great geeky power. I adore it.
Yuhi Chala Chal Rahi
Shahrukh Khan, A.R. Rahman, Ashutosh Gowarikar, and Javed Akhtar: Swades [Soundtrack]
A great Road Trip song -- in Hindi! I'll post the lyrics and encourage everyone to see the film, SWADES, about an Indian NASA scientist who returns to India to find his birthplace. And, no, this is not the album cover. That's Amazon's stupid fault.
Emily
Joanna Newsom: Ys
Don't let her voice scare you away, and it Will Scare You. Just read the words and listen: she makes jewels of harp and poems. She's one of the best poets and most interesting crafters of song to come along since early Dylan. And I can't pass up someone who actually looks like an elf. She makes things you've never heard before.
Blues in Hoss' Flat
Count Basie: The Swingin' Machine, Live!
Ah, magical Basie. If you've heard a lot of student jazz bands, you'll really be surprised by this. I had heard it played so many ways, and forgot to check the original. It was much MUCH better, so light, so carelessly tight like a well-toned dancer. It's best! I don't go for "old" music. This will never get old.
Deep Impact
Dragon Ash: LILY OF DA VALLEY
Yes, my older friends will think I've lost my marbles. But I love Dragon Ash. I mean, listen to these speech rhythm patterns. Listen to it abstractly. It's a really great piece of work, and it's fun, and it's a trip to hear Japanese hip-hop anyway. The Best Way to hear it: you should see the video (it's posted on You Tube). I can't resist the jingle bells.
Just For Now
Imogen Heap: Speak for Yourself
Yes I know. A SECOND one of Imogen. But it's the audible condensation of my favorite Christmas film, "Home for the Holidays," which has Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr. Have a listen and kvetch with the rest of us.
I Wanna Take You Out in Your Holiday Sweater
Pas/Cal: StarTime International Presents: Super-Cuts
This thing sounds like 70s TV shows. And Glitter. And the giddy stuff of holiday romances, which .... we kind of need more of.
The Moment I Said it
Immogen Heap: Speak for Yourself
This whole album is a stunner. Although entirely electronic-based, Imogen wrote and produced this richness all by herself (w/Apple of course!) and it is warm, breathing, delicate, and heart tugging. I adore the bubbly "Goodnight and Go", which is popular. But this "Moment" is the most incredible auditory description of a catastrophic argument I have ever heard. I could not have thought this one up. Immi is a wonder.
I Can't Sleep
The La's: The La's
This is true original old style gut Brit-pop. You can tell because you can make out about five words in the whole thing, and you're suddenly overtaken with the urge to buy some serious dancing boots and go stomp.

And I naturally fled.

I shan't have ended up doing, actually DOING, much of anything with my life, I don't think. But I have been able to point my finger and tell the story of what I see fairly interestingly I think. I don't have the reporter's attack, nor the poet's patience, but I still can waltz language around a little. (Strangely my husband spontaneously bursts into humming resonantly "Singin' in the Rain" while typing over his new laptop. How we do collide inexplicably, this Korean guy and I. )

I have no idea what to do with my life now. But I've talked about that. Where are the children? ... Oops, I forgot to have them... right....

I have dying rats and desperately sick fish and I can't connect with anyone for the life of me. I have nothing in common, so much so that I spew out stuff I shouldn't when people actually ask me to say anything.

For example, the other night at a meeting for restructuring my nutrition habits (a.k.a. a weightloss class), I thought I'd be a bit light and tell them about myself, as we all were required to around the circle, in a light-hearted way, why I was there and what I wanted to lose the weight for, yada yada. And I found my reasons were:

1) Clothes for fat people are made like crap out of polyester and bad stitchery, if you can find them at all;
2) I have a 10 years younger Korean husband, and I don't look like I match him;
3) I really don't like resembling my Aunt Eleanor all THAT much;
4) People really fucking HATE you inexplicably when you're fat; and
5) I don't want to freak out my Korean relatives when we go to visit them.

Then the others spoke after a strange quiet (I thought they'd laugh but of course they all just thought I was odd to be so uncomfortably frank). They said their reasons were:

1) They have grandchildren to keep up with;
2) They have been diagnosed with a medical condition for which their medication trashes their metabolism;
3) They had back surgery and were in bed for months unable to exercise;
4) They have been 200+ pounds in high school and now they're double that;
5) They have been told to lose weight before they can have their other-problem-related surgery;
6) Everyone in their family dies of weight problems and heart attacks and they don't want to.

God did I feel like a schmuck.

I was incredibly sad about it the next day, how insensitive I'd been. I just kept living in my head, and I guess that's the whole problem is that I am entirely in my head almost all the time, without too much interruption, even from my husband. Even the activities I try to entertain myself with. I just don't have enough engagement in this world. I don't like it much, truth be told. And when I do, I long to find someone who understands the WHY of it that I just encountered, but ... they never ever get it.

The other day my boss said, so WHO'S PLAYING TONIGHT???? with a big grin on his face, knowing I'd be stumped. He knows I have no clue what's going on in sports, I hate it. I keep up with nothing of it. It counts for nothing in my world unless it has aesthetic value or courage on an individual scale, such as my Olympic obsession. I would have loved to quote Noam Chomsky at him, but I fear for my purse.

I guess after all this time in my life, even now that I am not doing much that could be termed ART at all, I have become pretty much like what one of my favorite sculpture teachers described himself to be: "An artist -- because I'm pretty much useless at anything else."

I have somehow decided myself and yet not fulfilled myself, and am in the process of being physically erased, daily, all the while.

I have to get busy. I have to look up from what I'm doing. I have to go play with some elements of chaos, even if it means babysitting; SOMETHING. I have no growth. I need it desperately, if for no reason other than preventing my own entry out of creativity and into psychopathic abandon.

I'll therefore state what I've been saying for the last three years:

I NEED A DAMN DOG.
I WANT A DOG.

And then maybe some more people.

Places you should go.

How to Get the Weight of Your Own Head
....Without decapitation of course. Would it make you feel better in your diet battle to leave it out of the picture? Some very humourous physics postulations and retorts.
Wendy Waldman - My Last Thought
An accoustic, almost folky warmth from Wendy - but much more complex. She's only available on Longhouse Records, so I'm presenting her video on YouTube instead. Gorgeous song with subtle changes from an old friend, mentor, and solid composer.
Mooncakes Fascionable
I stumbled across this page too late for last September, but MAN these look fun. Will try to find them next time around.
Another Fun iPod Story
This soldier's story had better not be fabricated. I'd love it if it were really true. Could be!
Godiva Mocha Gets My Vote
This reviewer is funny but he seems to like the product only somewhat; I absolutely ADORE (and should not have) it. Just don't think of it as COFFEE. It's not.
All My Sick Friends...
will like this silly penholder. Just gave me a chuckle.
Is Corn Fuel a Joke?
This blog has some pretty interesting figures. If this is true, I would go with good old solar collectors. Er, well, new ones.
Made in Taiwan: Flourescent Pigs
Yup, you can get just about anything in Taiwan, but you won't find these in the food markets. Not yet anyway.
Why snowflakes do what they do
Somehow I never bumped into an explanation of this atmospheric phenomenon. It's so logical! Of course! Duh! Why didn't I think of it.
A SNOW Museum??
YES!, and where else, but in Japan. Lovely pics, from a CalTech-er.

Much Ado About Nothing:

Symphony 4: America's Mercy War
Emily Wells: The Symphonies: Dreams Memories & Parties
Musicianship she may well have; presence and a good show she may present - I'd have to see her to say. But on listening without seeing her, I'd say it's just an updated Melanie, and her symphonies are just pop music with quartets and some rough edges. People who like Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsome will find her roughness appealing. The thing is, that grows tiresome if there's no amazing writing. Newsome and Banhart are fine writers. I don't think Emily is, sorry.
1234
Feist: The Reminder
I knew it was a Mac commercial ditty, but expected some substance upon examination. What I found was Joni Mitchell Lite in the vocals, and lyrics that made only a vague hint of sense. Then there's the scary multicolored people in her video.... just pretty much of nothing.
5:55
Charlotte Gainsbourg: 5:55
I have always loved Charlotte as an actress, what with her Patti Smith-like quirky looks and serious, soft voice. So I tried her album. A few tunes are nice, but I found it surprisingly unsophisticated musically (for a person who I suspected might be) and rather too Claudine Longet. Nothing but a soft breath of frost, and it dissipated too quickly.
Miss Murder
AFI: DECEMBERUNDERGROUND
Can I just say how old they looked and plasticly made to younger on SNL? It was just Wrong. Worse, they've been lame not just lately, but for years. WORST, they snagged the cover artist that did The Birthday Massacre's album art and STOLE THEIR RABBITS!!
One Road to Freedom
Ben Harper: Fight for Your Mind
Bleghhhhhhh. Badly executed, uninteresting, and shamelessly promoted. I think I had someone else in mind (whose name was it then?) when I chose this freebie.
Atlantic
Keane: Under the Iron Sea
I adored the opening section of this tune -- magical drama. But it was suddenly dragged away into Queenland/Rufus imitation, like most of the rest of their stuff. I tried, guys, I really did.
Thinking Underage
Teddy Geiger: Underage Thinking
I feel sorry for this uncontestably beautiful child of 17 who has been fed media all his life, spat it back cleverly, and been packaged like a Calvin Klein ad when he is really not very special. I would hope someday he will be, but signs point to "no". He will have a lot of lucky groupies, though.
Bom Bom Bom
Living Things: Ahead of the Lions
This was described as "glam" in feel. Uh, what unresearching 20 year old decided that? It was also described as an anti-war protest, and that the band is iconoclastically political enough to get banned from the Viper Room in L.A.. That falls when you listen to the lyrics. It's sarcastic, but I could just as easily see it be used by a film like Jarheads, glorifying as well as not. And most of all, it's a lame 70s riff that's not been tweaked at all. BOSTON would have been more original than this. Plus side: Lead singer Lillian Berlin (who used to have a boy's name back in Missouri) has a beatiful husky dark voice. Maybe they'll get better with time, but I'm bored.
Bliss
Muse: Origin of Symmetry
Queeeeeeeeen!! QUEEN! Have I mentioned before that Muse makes me CRAZY? Have I mentioned they are a fuzz pedaled revamp of Queen tunes? This piece is purely that. I like two of their later tunes, and that's about it. Not this album.
Pistol of Fire
Kings of Leon: Aha Shake Heartbrake
Garage band raw dry recording, rehashed traditional rock structures, and a vocalist I don't care about. That being said, I think they'd be very fun in concert. But nothing I want to buy, really. Everything Secret Machines is truly, this band is falsely. This doesn't seem synthesized into a new form, it just feels cribbed.