Recommending Music

I just read another person's top ablums list and started thinking (again) about how recommending music works. Like, can you really find great music from someone else's top list? Well, yeah. But part of it is that you already like some of their favorites. Say I read a top classical pieces list, I dunno what I like in classical music, so I'd probably nod my head and say yeah that's good, only to never listen to it again. But if I already like the bands, then it turns into a list of music I already like/know/have and that gets boring. What I usualy look for is a few albums I like, usually the basics in a top list, and then hope the list is 20% things I haven't heard of or don't have. Then I get those and the chance is usually high that I will like them.
This idea goes into how I make mixes as well. I don't always like to throw songs I know someone has and likes into one, I like to switch it up and take them in and out of what they know and like. Hopefully they like a song and look it up or ask for the album. That's rewarding.

Why my ankle hurts...

I think my ankle hurts because it was on a textbook when I slept. No, I didn't fall asleep studying, haha that'd be the day. I didn't remember that the textbook was in my bed, as it was quite a mess. My bed included, as of last night, a textbook, 3 CDs, a notebook, my computer(playing music to sleep to), and almost my entire wardrobe. When I got back from the cities this weekend I had two bags full of clean clothes. On the bottom of one of the bags was my toothbrush and toothpaste. So, in a quick effort to brush my teeth, I emptied one bag to only find there were only clothes. So, empty the other one and find it. But now I have a bed with all my clean clothes, and it was a lot of clothes. So, after brushing my teeth and getting into sleep mode, I decided I would put them away later and pushed them to one side of my bed. Well, it took me till today to put them away. And my bed slowly got additions to its mess like a game of katamari. Anyways, that's why my foot hurts, I think. That or I just stepped on it wrong.

In twenty years...

I'm reading the watchmen in preparation for the movie coming out tomorrow. I downloaded the pdf and I'm halfway through it so far. One common thing that I see the various retired watchmen think is that they don't know why they did what they did. Why did they dress up and fight criminals? In their old age, they say it was a fad and that they were bored. I say that isn't it. They did those things because they believed in something, justice. It let them go out and risk their lives day to day. They believed in something so strongly that they devoted their lives to it. It takes a strong belief to not give that up as the "fad" dies and move on to "real life." That was their real life. That was what they did. In the end, they were prevented by more legitimate reasons like laws and public distaste. But twenty years after they were the watchmen they look back and almost laugh at themselves for devoting their lives to something. I hope I never look back and don't see why I did something with my life.
My point is that what we do, right now, is important. It is the most important thing we will do. And if we don't see that, then what's the point? If tomorrow matters more than today, what is the point of today? I know I have the urge to do things. I want to do a lot, and it isn't because I'm bored or it's "cool," it's because I feel the need I know that if I don't do something, I will be miserable. I am miserable because I don't do anything, I know this. And when I am doing something, I am at my happiest. Last summer I sat in my basement with Colin and we made music and T-Shirts. That's what we did, and it was fantastic. I don't do anything like that right now. Because in addition to feeling good when I am creating something, people make it better. I will try harder and put more into something if others are involved. It might be my work ethic saying that if I do my best, others will do their best, but I've done that and no it can fall through. The people you work with have to care like you do. I have partially thought about taking a semester or two off from school to just do things that I feel like I can't right now. Now, I'm not going to because right now I can't focus enough to make that time worth it. But the fact that I feel like doing something that much makes me feel bad that I'm not. I was thinking, after the P.O.S. show last weekend, that it would be awesome to be surrounded by people with this feeling. Have a collective of people working together. I see this in the doomtree group, and in various bands. They live to create and they join together and create together. I think it is wonderful.
I see it here in Morris occasionally. At the jazz concerts where a combo will blow me away because of how they take what they're doing. They put their hearts into it and it shows. Also at open mic nights, when people do a song together, there is a lot of heart behind that. And it is something that takes practice to make work so well. Working as a group is a skill and I'm kinda sad that I'm not actively practicing that skill. I hope that soon I will feel more that I am, but for now I'll keep looking and practicing on my own so I'll be prepared.

A to Z

So I like mixes, a lot. Today for my radio show, inspired by those old countdown shows, I did an a to z of martin's indie picks. So not just all music, but mostly indie music. It was fun and rough. Here's the list:
Animal Collective - Fireworks
Beirut - Nantes
Clout Cult - Everybody here is a cloud
Dirty Projectors and David Bryne - Knotty Pine
Eyedea and Abilities - One Twenty
Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
Grizzly Bear - Don't Ask
Hush Arbors -
Iron and Wine - The Sea and the Rhythm
Jennings, Mason - Big Sur
King Kahn - Torture
Lightning Bolt - Birdy
M.I.A. - Bird Flu
Noah and the Whale - Jocasta
Of Montreal - Softcore
Plastic Constellations - We Came to Play
Q and Not U - Wonderful People
Radiohead - Idioteque
Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook
TV on the Radio - Dancing Choose
Ulysses - Push Your Away
Vampire Hands - Stunning Blonde
Why? - These Few Presidents
Xiu Xiu - Crank Heart
Yeasayer - Tightrope
Zox - The Squid

This isn't candy

I went to health services today to get a cold pack. It comes with a baggy of sudafed, a baggy of Tylenol, a pack of cough suppressors, cough syrup, and tissues. It's pretty great that I can get it for free too, cause all that costs money. But the cough drop suppressor things make my whole tongue go numb, my throat too, but it's the tongue that is more interesting. Then after sucking on one, I drank some pop, and it was the strangest feeling. Like, kind of cold and sweet, but only on a few parts of my tongue. I think you all should try it sometime.
Oh, and they made my arms numb for a bit, it was crazy.

vodoo chile (slight return delay)

Songbird's release, "hendrix", that was set to be out in Feburary, has been delayed because it makes vista crash too much. Sad day, because i've been waiting for the ability to have it watch folders and fetch album art in a stable release.

Hulled, Roasted, and Salted (or: can I eat 3/4 of a pound of sunflowerseeds?)

Here is my past four days:

Thursday:
I didn't have class until 3 so I didn't really do anything before then. I finished the paper that was due in my ethics class and kinda hung out till then. Oh, right, it also snowed. Like, a lot. So I got a ride with Meghan to campus because she offered. So the plan was to be on campus from 2:30 to whenever I left open mic night (usually around 12). With the idea of 10 hours on campus, I was not thrilled. But whatever, I went and brought a can of soup to eat there. It felt weird bringing a can of soup to eat, borrowing a bowl and spoon and heating it up (very messily) in a microwave. The bowl was too small, so it was more difficult. The first one had all the liquid and splattered, the second was all the mass of the soup. Then I had a KUMM meeting at 6 and went to my AI class's group programming meeting thing. It was fun, kinda. I don't think the other two guys got what I was suggesting and so I took over and just typed it out and stuff, so it went faster. I got what to do and I haven't necessarily been to class all that much (oops). But then I went to the TMC to get a good seat for open mic. I was going to preform, but I chose not to, and good choice because my voice was going that night. Getting sick is lameski. Open mic blew. Like, I always know that it has been getting progressively worse as time goes on, but I always go, hoping. But I get out before the love songs started. Then I went home and probably did nothing.

Friday:
Slept through AI, because I'm just genius enough to not go after I actually do the group work. Yeah, sad. So, in lieu of not being able to get up, I made a list of things I needed to do that day, buying an alarm clock was on it for sure. My phone just doesn't cut it for waking me up. I have this alarm clock at home that uses the idea that waking up to sunshine or light is a smoother feeling. So the clock starts to light up about 10 minutes before the alarm goes off. It works pretty well, problem is that it always has a faint glow, so it can be distracting. But not more than my stereo flashing the time like a VCR. The list also included buying shelves for organizing, doing laundry, picking up my room and reviewing music. I went to school for my two afternoon classes and then went to pamida to buy my needed items. They sold neither. Blast, foiled again. But then Meghan pointed out that I can just go while I'm home. And I knew I could grab my old alarm clock and probably a shelf from home too, both for free. Sweet deal. So, I did some laundry, of which I fail at every time. I leave clothes in the dryer. Sometimes for hours, sometimes for days, and I just deal with it because I for some reason don't want to get them out. Weird, eh? But anyways, at night I went to the jazz concert and it was simply amazing. Just amazing. Bob (my housemate) and his friend Gill did this amazing piece that battled guitar against saxophone. And Gill did his circular breathing on sax which is always amazing to see. After that I watched Hot Rod and loved it. Went to bed.

Saturday:
Woke up actually at a decent hour for a Saturday, 10 AM. Did some stuff, played some WoW, got ready to go home. Drove home. Got home at about 5. Hung out with my dad and mom for a bit before going to the show. Told my parents about a student at Morris committing suicide and they pointed out that I've been around more death and loss than they had when they were at my age. It was a downer, but it was great to talk to them about real things, it's something I don't do nearly enough. Going to the concert was kinda a mess. Tessa had txted me asking if I wanted to carpool, and figuring it'd be her colin and I, I said sure. but she wanted to leave like 10 minutes earlier than colin was going to be free. So it was just her and I. Eh, not horrible, but, y'know. got to P.O.S. concert and the next 3-4 hours were amazing. Maybe another post for that. After the show Colin and I went to Francis' to see some people and what not, ended up leaving to go hang out at my house for a few more hours into the night. It was great, although I was exhausted from being sick and a long day. Went to bed.

Sunday:
Got up at 9, hung out with parents. Did laundry that i brought home. Played drums, GTA IV, and watched TV. Ate doughnuts. Talked to my dad, the motivational speaker, for a long time about lots of things. It was amazing, as it always is. He knows so much about psychology and even though he doesn't actively use it, he can pull it out and it makes so much sense. So, I got pumped for life and stuff. And the talk was free, usually that would cost hundreds of dollars, sweet deal for me. Found a shelf I wanted, put it in car. Put stuff in car, avoided getting too much food from my mom that I would forget to eat. Got Meghan and Jake, drove to Morris. Cleaned my room, reorganized my stereo set up. Started reviewing music and playing WoW, then switched to reviewing music and writing this. And now I'm writing this sentence, and from now on it seems kinda stupid to keep going on.