Use Your Ears: Monthly Mix - June

Here's what I was listening to in June.  Listen on Spotify here (hopefully it works!  You need an invitation to join.)

1	Peter Gabriel	Heroes	Scratch My Back	Song, and album, of the month.
2	Lily Allen	LDN	Single
3	Nicky Minaj & Drake	Moment 4 Life	Pink Friday	I resent how deeply this song has been drilled into my brain and hate Drake's self-aggrandizing, borderline-misogynist rant in the middle of it, but secretly love that Minaj compares herself to a vampire slayer AND King David in the same verse.
4	P!nk	Raise Your Glass	Single	Surely 2011's #1 prom theme.
5	La Roux	Bulletproof (Manhattan Clique Remix Radio)	Bulletproof (Remixes)
6	John Lennon	God	Plastic Ono Band	God is a concept / by which we measure our pain
7	Brian Eno	Third Uncle	Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy
8	Architecture in Helsinki	W.O.W.	Moment Bends	Saw AiH at the Black Cat this month.
9	Architecture in Helsinki	Escapee	Moment Bends	AiH frontman Cameron Bird reminds me of Dr. Janosz Poha in Ghostbusters II.
10	Jonathan Richman	When We Refuse to Suffer	Because Her Beauty is Raw and Wild	Your life becomes a bore, and you're sufferin' even more. Good reminder from Mr. Richman.
11	Architecture in Helsinki	Sleep Talkin'	Moment Bends	Did I mention that I like Architecture in Helsinki?  I’m not sure if I mentioned that.
12	Elvis Presley	Burnin' Love	Elvis 75	Lordy lordy, Elvis lights my morning sky.
13	Peter Gabriel	The  Book of Love	Scratch My Back

Their Words/Your Hands: Blackberry Season

Late August, given heavy rain and sun

For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.

At first, just one, a glossy purple clot

Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.

You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet

Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it

Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for

Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger

Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots

Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.

Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills

We trekked and picked until the cans were full,

Until the tinkling bottom had been covered

With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned

Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered

With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.

We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.

But when the bath was filled we found a fur,

A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.

The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush

The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.

I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair

That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.

Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.

- Seamus Heaney, Blackberry Picking

Blackberry season comes earlier here in DC than in Ireland; the dregs of our first batch from the farmer’s market just succumbed to rot.  Fortunately, most of them made it into our greedy mouths. Another batch went into the below recipe for Blackberry Pistachio Icebox Cake, which I made yesterday for a work pot-luck.

Blackberry Pistachio Icebox Cake

1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1 1/2 teaspoons rose water
1/4 cup sugar
A couple of packets of tea biscuit cookies, or whatever absorbent, not-too-sweet wafer you find lying around (I used the Caramel/Toffee flavor of pizzelle from Whole Foods)
3 cups blackberries, sliced in half
2/3 cup unsalted pistachio nuts, toasted and roughly chopped
1/4 cup pomegranate molasses (or more, to taste)

In a large bowl, combine cream, rose water, and sugar. Use electric mixer to whip mixture on high speed until it holds stiff peaks.

Line the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish (or whatever size you have handy) with wafers. Spread on one quarter of the cream. Sprinkle one quarter of the blackerries and pistachios on top, and finish with a drizzle of pomegranate molasses. Repeat for four layers.

Cover and chill in refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight.


Brazenly stolen and slightly reworded from Max Falkowitz’s recipe on Serious Eats

Use Their Words

"But no matter how justifiable such anger with Congress may be, we'd still like to take the chance to remind [Jeff] Jarvis and everyone else that we here in the city of Washington didn't have any part in electing the group of jokers that's playing chicken with the country's financial future -- and, in fact, they've been toying with us for years. Welcome to the club!"

- Aaron Morrissey at DCist on the trending #F**kYouWashington hashtag

Use Your Ears: Monthly Mix - May

I'm way behind on my monthly mixes.  Here's what I was listening to in May.

	Artist	Title	Album	Notes
1	David Gilliland & Jeffrey Lyman	Sarabande et Cortege pour basson et piano	The Wind Compositions of Henri Dutilleaux	As noted previously, my new favorite bassoon piece
2	Fleetwood Mac	Secondhand News	Rumours	Thanks to a lovely mix from a lovely lady, Ms. Laura
3	Jens Lekman	You Can Call Me Al (live)		Found via Miss Moss's Simon/Garfunkel/Covered mix
4	Auditorium	Sunday	Be Brave	Also found through Miss Moss.  This song has gorgeous layering, and is about a first winter snow. Probably my favorite song of the month.
5	TV On the Radio	Killer Crane	Nine Types of Light	Ethereal.
6	Robyn	Hang With Me	Body Talk	Keep it tight.
7	R.E.M.	At My Most Beautiful	Up	A sweet song that Mariele included on the mix for my bachelorette.
8	Katy Perry	E.T.	Teenage Dream	I have a very minor Katy Perry problem.  This is not the Kanye West version.
9	Ke$ha	Your Love Is My Drug	Animal	I also have a minor Ke$ha problem.
10	Auditorium	All Your Days	Be Brave	Folky and wistful.
11	Sia	Clap Your Hands	We Are Born	From a fab mix of female artists I got in a Design Crush mix swap.
12	La Roux	I'm Not Your Toy	La Roux	Incredibly catchy.  Also from the Design Crush mix.
13	Kate Nash	Do Wah Do	Bridesmaids Soundtrack	The most simultaneously joyful and angry song I've heard lately.  Design Crush mix again.
14	Lykke Li	Breaking It Up	Youth Novels	Great percussion.
15	Jackson Sisters	I Believe In Miracles	Jackson Sisters	Don't you?  Not to be confused with La Toya & co, the Jackson Sisters were a 70s disco family group out of Compton. c/o DC.
16	The Chemical Brothers	Asleep from Day	Surrender	Miss Moss mix.  Good for sleepy afternoons.

Once In A Lifetime

Since the wedding I've been putting off writing down how everything felt, with the exception of a few memories jotted down the night of.  I'm deeply happy with how everything turned out, though I wish the night had been about four days longer.  (We actually meant to make it a bit longer, but accidentally put a slightly later time on the invites than we meant to.  Ah, well.)  Looking back on the night, I keep thinking in superlatives: everything looked beautiful, everyone was helpful, everybody danced, the food was amazing, the clothes were gorgeous, the weather was perfect . . . but I really kind of believe all of those desciptors.  It's kind of nuts how well things went. 

Paradoxically, this has made it incredibly easy for me, the eternal regretter, to hone in on the few things that did not go 100% perfectly.  I'm not going to talk about them here because they're seriously minor, and I've learned already that bringing them up only keeps them alive.  But I'm working on letting go, and the more time and distance I have, the littler and sillier they seem.  I'm sure that in time they will fade completely, and the big-picture gorgeousness and love of the day will wholly overwhelm any lingering doubts.  Without further ado . . .

Fond Memories:

- The heavy moment right before the processional started.  Though surrounded by loved ones, E, birds and boxwoods, I felt shaky and overwhelmed.  Closest I came to crying the whole day.

- Walking down the aisle not to a sea of faces, but a sea of cameras.

- Our beautiful, awesome, amazing, gorgeous, perfect wedding party.

Don't they look beautiful?  Everyone chose their own outfits.

- Listening to my good friend read the same passage for us that I had read at his civil ceremony & watching him try not to cry.

- Having a brief moment alone with my brand new husband and a bottle of rosé.

- E bustling my dress after the ceremony, since he was the only one who I had shown how to do so.  (Thanks to Sarah for the beautiful bustle!)

- Giving a small impromptu speech when E and I rejoined the guests for cocktails.  I realized that on the walk over I had been looking for four-leafed clovers, as I frequently do, and then thought to myself: "Look all around you, and look next to you.  What more luck could you need?"

- Joking through our first dance, to "The Book of Love" by The Magnetic Fields.

- The positive SWARM onto the dance floor when "Twist and Shout" came on after the first dance.  And how everyone stayed up and dancing through the next 10 or so Motown classics before starting to take breaks.

- Dancing with EVERYONE to Like A Prayer.  That song is my jam forever and always.

- Getting in the middle of a delish slow-dance sandwich with two lovely ladies as Pete Townshend crooned "Let My Love Open the Door" (the E. Cola Mix).

- ICE CREAM SANDWICHES and PIE.  Served on DRY FREAKING ICE.

- Fabulous jerk chicken and spanakopita and mac 'n' cheese and so much more.  Though it was hard to eat at all - I swore I'd be the bride who broke the "forgot to eat" curse but my body was NOT having it.   Thankfully it was also hard to drink (kept leaving my beer bottle places, to go dance), so I did not disgrace myself.

- Good friends' beautiful, heartfelt toasts.

- Our amazing impromptu centerpieces.  We had planned the mason jars with battery-powered twinkle lights inside, and stolen the idea for tiny plant favors (thanks Mike & Meri!) but it was my overbuying of flowers and the last-minute arranging powers of E's mom and some dedicated wedding party members that really made the centerpieces truly awesome.  At the end of the night, nearly every single jar (lights, flowers and all) went home with a guest - so I guess they liked them!

- SO MANY HUGS.  All night long.  Non-stop hugs.

- The amazing way that everyone - and especially our immediate family and the wedding party - pitched in.  In the frantic hour and a half before things really got going, everyone was constantly on the move, hanging things and arranging things and collaborating and communicating and working miracles with (leopard print) duct tape.  We could NOT have been luckier, and we do NOT for a SECOND take for granted the effort they put in.  Thanks so much, everyone!

There's so much more.  I can't even start.  DIY photobooth pictures are up on Evan's Flickr (look out for the human pyramid!)  Professional photos should be coming soon.  Gratitude and joyful memories know no bounds.

Note: We don't have professional photos back yet, so these photos are all courtesy of my dad, my fabulous friend Carla and my cousins Laura and Stacy.  Thank you!

Use Your Eyes: Personal Style

Okay!  I am working on WORDS (for reals - both about my Very Important Wedding and other things, like vocabulary that I learned from reading Dune), but in the meantime . . .

I don't know if it's some sort of Caribbean hangover or a post-wedding backlash or what, but my fashion interests have definitely taken a turn for the eclectic lately.  First I became obsessed with this outfit worn by Natalia Tena (aka Tonks, aka Ellie from About A Boy) at the Harry Potter premiere in London:

Picture courtesy of The Independent

And then I got all hot and bothered about this colorful tips tutorial that I saw on Design Crush:

From The Beauty Department

And tonight I found myself totally smitten by the amazing site Hel Looks, which captures hipsters in Helsinki wearing wacky clothes:

Soooo, let's make some colorful-scarf, floral-print, cowboy-booted magic, people.  The universe demands it.

P.S. Pictures this weekend.  Promise.

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaack

Hi all, I'm back from my wedding and honeymoon, and finally starting to put my life in order again.  Hopefully that order includes many words in the future!  But for right now my daily list looks like this:

To Do:
Care for plants
Clean floors
Post pictures online
Start thank-you notes
Catch up on Google Reader

Actual Accomplishments:
Drinks w/ friends
Eat too much sushi
Fall asleep on the couch 5 minutes after getting home while watching Antiques Roadshow

It is an exciting, and productive, life that I lead.  More soon!

No Words

Laura Ingalls Wilder, YOU DONE GOOD.

From My Daguerreotype Boyfriend

Maybe I'll make some words sometime soon.  In the meanwhile I have a LOT of Google Reader to catch up on, and some wedding shit, I guess . . . plus I have to watch the Muppet Movie, so, you know, priorities.

Use More Words

WORDS I LEARNED LAST MONTH  

flailure (n): portmanteau of "failure" and "flail," meaning a failure characterized by vigorous but erratic and unproductive movement

Usage: "The mind-bending, Escher-like I-didn’t-say-that-thing-I-said weirdness of Mr. Gingrich’s flailure on this issue I think is exceeded only by the best new thing in the world tonight."

from the 5/18 Rachel Maddow Show in reference to Newt Gingrich's flip-flopping on the Ryan budget and Medicare

untzy (adj): onomatopoetic expression describing the downbeat of techno music; used to describe venues which strive to be trendy by playing loud electronic music and which may emphasize style over substance
Usage:"I’ve never had dinner at Masa for a few reasons: It always seemed packed and—to be honest—a bit untzy. I love to people-watch during dinner, but I wasn’t fond of the spin-class-gone-Euro ambience."
from the Washingtonian's Best Bites Blog review of Masa 14 (Urban Dictionary definition here)  

bollard (n): a short vertical post, typically used to block vehicle passage  
Usage: "In D.C., that steady progression has seen ever more buildings ringed with bollards and outfitted with metal detectors, sealed entrances, and cordoned-off steps . . ."  
from a City Paper article about post-Bin Laden security in DC  

daylight (v, alt.stream mechanics usage): to come to the surface, specifically in reference to an underground body of flowing water
Usage: ". . . put in place a trash trap at the mouth of the stormsewer outfall so that trash and debris washed through the storm sewer system is collected immediately as the stream daylights."  
from a stream conservation document (I am such a sucker for verbed nouns.)  

condign (adj): fitting or appropriate, especially in reference to a punishment  
etymology: com = with; dign = dignity, worthiness  
usage: "The dwarf muttering a terrible oath looked round as if for some weapon with which to inflict condign punishment upon his disobedient wife." (from The Old Curiosity Shop by Dickens)
from: Ugh I can't find it! I saw it in the comments of a well-known blog with cranky/amusing/controversial commenters - DCist, Prince of Petworth, Regretsy, something like that. I am ashamed to say that I thought it was a typo, but I looked it up immediately and was appropriately chastened.  

longueur (n): a tedious passage in a work of literature or performance art.  
Usage: "If this book of 400 pages had been devoted to her alone, it would have been filled with longueurs, but as the biography of a family it has the merit of originality."
from the Dictionary.com Word of the Day

Use Your Ears: Concert Review Part 1 - Titus Andronicus

On Thursday E and I went to see Titus Andronicus at the 9:30 Club.  For those who are not up on their Civil-War-themed-indie-rock albums, Titus Andronicus recently made critical waves with 2009’s The Monitor, which ties Civil War history and Springsteen-inspired epic singalongs to lyrics about post-adolescent anxiety, rage and ennui.*  This might seem to you a jarring combination, with the ideas disparate both in aesthetics and general societal import, and that is because it is, and they are.  Execution on the Jersey natives' album isn’t perfect either: sometimes the songs feel a bit flat, and front man  Patrick Stickles' vocal stylings hover in the purposefully-grating-punk register more often than I would prefer. 

Nonetheless, the album is full of interestingly layered rhythms, catchy rock anthems and infectious energy.  Track 1, “A More Perfect Union,” is a stab at the millenial’s answer to Thunder Road (“Baby we were born to die”) and "Richard II" is an uptempo barroom ballad built on pure hatred for its subject ("And at the end of the day, to whatever extent that you hate yourself, it isn't enough").



Live, the band's energy coalesces nicely.  Each member of the now five-piece outfit has a designated dance, ranging from classic indie spasticity to restrained head bobbing to full-on headbanging.  At least one band member actually rocked his own glasses off his face during the set, which I think we can all agree is a pretty good sign.  A mosh pit of fans in front of the stage (yeah, at 9:30 Club, on a Thursday) kept those in the audience on their toes through the performance as well.

Songs were rendered admirably, though without the interesting Civil War era quotes that punctuate the album.  Singalongs were plentiful and reasonably enthusiastic, and an electric violin even made two appearances (with mixed success).  Banter was minimal, which was fine; when it did occur it was enthusiastic and grateful, which I love to see in a band.  There was a certain sense of dude-itude about the songs themselves, and no dearth of fist-pumps, but the audience was pretty well mixed gender-wise.  Plus, the band's lone female member Amy Klein was far and away the best and most energetic dancer; she totally won the night.

Verdict: Worth the $10 cab ride to get there on time.**

*Sample singalong choruses: “The enemy is everywhere,”  “You will always be a loser,” “They’re all going to be laughing at you,” “Please don’t ever leave.”
 **Though it sadly meant we had to leave the delicious Taqueria DF, where we were helping our good friend Mae celebrate two very exciting personal milestones, before the flan arrived.