January 2012
6 posts
Tales from the Turntable, Part One
I got a turntable for Christmas, and of the first few albums I bought to kick off my collection, I didn’t expect for the best sounding to be Give Up. Ben Gibbard’s voice would sound beautiful coming out of anything, but the album’s music pings out of the speakers and reverberates off our wood paneled living room walls, each beat a revelation.
Give Up is one of the first...
2 tags
December 2011
2 posts
November 2011
1 post
Proud Moments In Science, Pt. 1
My boss: So! Are you ready to do that all-important experiment?
….
Me: Which is….?
October 2011
2 posts
“Novelists think a lot about God … [because] we create whole worlds and we people...”
– On today’s Fresh Air, writer Scott Spencer talks about religion, chaos, prison writing, violence and defending others. (via nprfreshair) Also, this:
[S]tories hold power because they convey the illusion that life has purpose and direction. Where God is absent from the lives of all but the most...
3 tags
July 2011
1 post
Embarcadero →
“If you don’t understand nostalgia, just return somewhere you fell in love.
June 2011
3 posts
Stevie Nicks: Soundtrack of my life →
zzzan:
thingsiatethatilove:
fuckyeahstevienicks:
The Fleetwood Mac veteran and solo star picks the music that has inspired her through her 40-year career.
”[Blonde in the Bleachers] is about a girl who [sings] “tapes her regrets to the microphone stand, she says ‘you can’t hold the hand of a rock’n’roll man for very long’”. I never saw myself as the girl in the song – I identified with...
six word story every day. →
ifoundthisforyou:
dear jenny,
i’m sorry i’m a slacker at this blog. perhaps sharing my newest obsession can make up for that.
love, lj.
Dear lj,
I love them; can we make one?
Love,
Jenny
May 2011
9 posts
Places I'd Like to Put a Turntable
1) My kitchen, right on top of my island. There is a turntable now, or there was this morning before I left. When I get back this evening, it will be gone.
2) The lab, hooked up to the stereo system. For late night pipeting and early morning rat collection.
3) The backseat of my car, for long trips by myself or driving with a sleeping boy.
“In an effort to get people to look
into each other’s eyes more,
and also to...”
– “The Quiet World”
[Jeffrey McDaniel]
April 2011
7 posts
The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We're All Going To... →
“Culling is easy; it implies a huge amount of control and mastery. Surrender, on the other hand, is a little sad. That’s the moment you realize you’re separated from so much. That’s your moment of understanding that you’ll miss most of the music and the dancing and the art and the books and the films that there have ever been and ever will be, and right now,...
Nobody In This Sh*thole Gets Me: Runnin' Her Hands... →
sarahb:
camplittlewolf:
Here’s list of words and phrases that are OFF LIMITS if you’re ever around me:
- “cool beans”
- “mani/pedi”
- “fro-yo”
- “get you some”
- “whatever’s clever”
- “baw-chicka-wow-wow” (I really thought we’d finally eradicated this, but apparently some moms you went to high school with are still…
I would like to add my old complaints “rockin’ the [Chucks/red...
designers.mx →
ifoundthisforyou:
dear jenny,
bad news first: i will unfortunately not be able to make it for easter eggs and i am truly sad for that.
the good news: fishing? YES. and these mixes.
love, lj
Dear lj —
So…the idea behind those mixes is pretty incredible.
I am pleased to say that I’ve finally put together a mix of my own…I just have to aggregate the files onto one...
The Forgiveness Parade
There’s nothing like a full moon reflected in the eyes of a blind man using a telescope to stir a bowl of Russian alphabet soup for the cosmonauts who orbited the shadow of Jupiter and are landing in an ocean of tears shed by cold blooded murderers who miss their mothers convulsively in their prison cells being wheeled caravan-style down Oswald Boulevard as part of the Forgiveness Parade...
March 2011
11 posts
“It seemed like a good year for grand gestures.”
– This American Life No. 347: Matchmakers
Coming Soon to a Tumblr Near You...
My labmate Ryan is the world’s number one purveyor of terrible movies watched on TV. Today, for example, he told me the entire plot of a movie he watched yesterday entitled Cherry 2000. Each story is usually accompanied by interjections — the year it was made, someone’s hairstyle, what obscure actor has a cameo 56 minutes into it.
As you can imagine, these are fun and...
"Seven Must-Listen This American Life Episodes" →
A few weeks ago, while I was driving home late at night, I was trying to find an NPR station that wasn’t playing classical music (as some stations do on weekends). But there was no luck — just 4 stations playing the same fire-and-brimstone religious program.
In the car, I switch between music and NPR, depending on mood. On longer trips, NPR almost always wins out because I like to...
WatchI am in love with this song right now. I wanted to share it, but there is not a single thing (well, says about 2 minutes of research) on Youtube about it. It’s by Maximum Balloon, which is a side project of TV on the Radio’s guitarist. Each song on the album is sung by a different artist — this one is Ambrosia Parsley, the singer of a band called Shivaree, which I’ve...
Damn, Gina: This will be unpopular →
sarahb:
I think following Charlie Sheen on Twitter is as nasty as keeping or following a hate blog. You’re seeking some cheap entertainment in someone else’s pain and problems. You realize this guy isn’t just an asshole, right? He’s an incredibly unwell asshole. I realize that waiting to see what over the…
I have bipolar disorder. In 2006, my life splintered into a thousand pieces. I...
February 2011
8 posts
"The PP & Me: Why We All Need Planned Parenthood" →
I love this essay about Planned Parenthood — one girl traces her experiences with Planned Parenthood from her teens until now. Planned Parenthood gets a bad reputation as an abortion provider, but abortion only comprises 3% of their services. They also provide access to affordable yearly exams, birth control and STI testing. As a nation, we can’t afford to see Planned Parenthood...
“You know, I love hearing people sing, whether they sing well or not. If they...”
– Terry Gross, from her Fresh Air interview with Ed Helms.
Always magnificent, here she puts words to something I’ve been trying to convey for a long time. I love to hear people sing, especially when they know they’re not good at it. It has no pretense, no antics — just words,...
"A Parade, Restored: A Maurice Sendak Mural Goes... →
Uh…Fuck Yeah, Maurice Sendak!
Seriously, though, how wonderful it would be to have Maurice Sendak as your parents’ friend? Especially if he was painting such lovely things on your walls.
Oh, for any of us to be that lucky.