I just made this awesome mix. There is no particular theme except that it is full of songs I've loved over the past couple of months. And it is
awesome. Epic, really. The funny thing is I did most of the ordering of the songs in my head without even listening to them and it actually turned out surprisingly well that way. Are you ready for how mindblowing this tracklisting is?
- Neko Case and Her Boyfriends - Furnace Room Lullaby
- Kristin Hersh - Beestung
- Dirty Projectors - Cannibal Resource
- Andrew Bird - Heretics
- Stars - Krush
- Regina Spektor - Machine
- Bright Eyes - Easy/Lucky/Free
- O+S - The Fox
- The Decemberists - Odalisque
- Margot & the Nuclear So and So's - Talking in Code
- Destry - Take Me
- Okkervil River - The Latest Toughs
- Joanna Newsom - Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie
- Andrew Bird - Armchairs
- Camera Obscura - Away with Murder
- St. Vincent - The Party
- Mew - The Zookeeper's Boy
- Jeniferever - Opposites Attract
I know it's kind of taboo to include two songs by the same artist on a mix (not to mention the fact that they're both from the same album at that) but I couldn't help it. I love both of those songs and couldn't decide which one to leave out and they both fit so well. Anyway, yes, I am in love with it. And will listen to it a lot. And will most likely be posting the songs for download at
urgencytobleed soon.
In other news, I can't post anymore in my big "movies I've watched this year" post because of Livejournal's stupid size limit. So I guess I'll just have to talk about the important ones in new entries after I watch them. So here are a few random thoughts on movies I've seen lately:
We were bored last Sunday and decided to go to the theater. There weren't many good movies playing so we decided on Year One, purely based on the fact that Michael Cera is in it. It was kind of a dumb movie - okay, a really dumb movie - and the laughs were predictable but it was still funny, in that mindless "I shouldn't be laughing at this because it's so stupid but I can't help it" way, though it could've been funnier. Michael Cera was the second best thing about it. The first best thing was David Cross. He's another one of those people who makes things that aren't even funny at all seem funny anyway and he was involved in all the best bits. Anyway, it was a good way to waste a boring Sunday regardless. I also bought the new Regina Spektor album. I don't even really like it all that much but I feel weird if I have all of an artist's albums and don't go out and buy the new one as soon as possible; I guess that's my obsessive-compulsive side showing - I can barely sleep right if I don't complete my collection right away. Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but still.
After finishing the book, I watched the 1962 version of Lolita since the newer adaptation of it is not available on Netflix and, shockingly, I enjoyed it a whole lot. Oh my God, Shannon liked a movie made in the sixties! This is very surprising news. I always write off older stuff as hard to enjoy because of the datedness in all categories: movies, music and, to a lesser extent, books (with books, my cut-off date is anything written before the 20th century; with everything else, I really have a hard time truly liking stuff made before the '90s - this is a bad generalization to make, I know, but I just hate listening to/watching stuff that hasn't aged very well). But anyway, I liked this movie a whole lot more than I thought I would. It was actually pretty funny and the acting was really good, so good that I didn't mind the changes made from the novel; for example, the character of Clare Quilty was given a much larger role in the film but the actor that played him was so hilarious that it was okay - plus I was totally confused (and didn't even remember who he was) when the huge reveal involving him was made at the end of the book so I think I liked it better that he was more present throughout. The only thing that bothered me was that everything - and I mean
everything - involving Humbert and Lolita's romantic relationship was left up to the imagination. This can't really be helped because of the times the movie was made in but, still, because of the vagueness of that important piece of the story, the film didn't leave me feeling nearly as affected by the end as the novel did. Oh, I also didn't like the fact that Dolores was called Lolita by everyone in the movie; in the book, only Humbert calls her that and it kind of encapsulates his whole obsession with "nymphets" into one nickname so it being used so openly in the movie totally waters down the meaning of it. I am trying to (with slow success; damn Rapidshare!) procure the 1997 version so I can compare; apparently, that's closer to the book but less critically successful. So I will be watching that sometime in the hopefully near future.
Also, I just watched Milk for the first time a few days ago and, oh my goodness, it was
so good and
so depressing but kind of uplifting at the same time. And the acting was all super amazing as well. And on a totally shallow note, there were so many pretty men in this movie that it was kind of overwhelming. It was a very nice movie to look at. As well as being very well-done.
With that in mind, here's my cute boy of the day:

(That was actually the exact picture I was looking for and it was the first result on Google. So adorable.)
Also I posted this picture the other day but it was hidden behind a cut and if I'm mentioning cute boys, I have to put this out in the open for everyone and anyone to see because it is
the cutest thing evarrrrrrrr. Seriously.

I love my Ben, I do, I do. Okay, bye for now.