Countdowning: Reflections on strange weather patterns, friends and fun!

1.  I updated my other blog where I review books, so if you like books as much as I do, check it out:   http://booktalking42.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=16&action=edit&message=6

2.Mustache!-  Eugene Hutz, frontman of the wild and crazy and rather awesome gypsy punk outfit, Gogol Bordello:   http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l02unqslod1qb4revo1_500.jpg

And here he is urging you to start wearing purple!!:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6IJfo4q1zk

3.Great rainy weather song:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QzDHPcNfrw

4.As much as it may pain me to do this, I’ll give my shout-out this week to walmart and their site to store services, for selling Doctor Who episodes for so much less than the other retailers and allowing me to use some of my tax refund in the best way possible!!  Thank you.

5.Speaking of the doctor: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=tardis&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=4795904481580632879&sa=X&ei=ZZC1TZbtDIjqgQeK2pneDQ&ved=0CEgQ8wIwBA#

6.Music that would be right at home in a Sonic game:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQyY4mn6Jjs         as well as: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrVRDzCCxwc

7.While posting I am listening to A Perfect Circle:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9MAg9E5K3w

8.  Anybody want to go see either The Decemberists or The Barenaked Ladies in July?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcGSEbfegrs                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnpqHwzWoaw

9. “New” music by Gorillaz-  The Fall, only now available for the masses on CD and digital download was only available to own for fanclub members when it was initially released on Christmas.  Why it takes four months to be available for everyone else is a point of frustration for some of us music fans.  Upon his inception of his epicly proportioned collaboration known as Gorillaz, Damon Albarn has made us redefine our ideas of what makes a band a band, and has really helped alter the public’s perceptions of genre as well, being equal parts hip/hop, rock, and everything in between.  And with The Fall, an album recorded entirely in hotel rooms along Gorillaz’ fall world tour, using an ipad, we have to reevaluate our ideas of the recording studio.  While a lot on this album seems to be hit or miss, at least in my opinion, there is a new rawness that I am unused to hearing from the typically, well-polished sounds of Gorillaz, but it is well worth the listening, and like everything Damon Albarn has created, it is in a word, interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtM_Dz9dyoI

10.  Since my dad lent it to me, I am currently reading, Stephen King’s Under The Dome.  Now, I tend to disagree with many on the subject of this author.  I acknowledge that he is a pretty good writer and knows how to churn out a story, but I’m still expecting it to fall apart by the end, the way I’ve noticed many of his books seem to do.  The set-up reels you into the world of the book, but by the end, I at least, am saying, “WTF?”  But until I can actually get around to completing one of my own stories, that is all I will say on that.

11.Looking for people to help me work on my prospective spoken word album, need some really cool music to back my words.

And that’s another week, but look forward to some playlists I have compiled for certain moods and days that I will post within the next 24 hours if I remember to.

Peace and Love,

Craig

IN lieu of your usual countdowniness heres some silliness!

Unfortunate names to have:  I. Fuktor, Attorney at law.

Susan Smells, Avon Representative

Gnomewear- clothing for gnomes.  This can also be misheard as gnomeware, which would be something to cook gnomes in, or gnomewhere, which would be somewhere that gnomes live.

Alf in Spanish:

Sunny Day Downtown Adventure Playlist!

A playlist for downtown sunny day adventures!

1. A Silent Film-Driven By Their Beating Hearts:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlMDHRfvrTg

2.Good Morning-Rogue Wave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhZEoNWZ5fU

3.Rise- Flobots: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iNv1YxcwPI

4.Blue Jean- Bowie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTYvjrM6djo

5.More Than This-Roxy Music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOnde5c7OG8

6.Jane- Barenaked Ladies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dYpNK2gaRI

7.Here Comes The Sun- Beatles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6tV11acSRk

8.Black Country Rock- Bowie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2hObZArBAg

9.If I Had $1,000,000,000-Barenaked Ladies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjvapPF8wlg

10.Turn It On-Flaming Lips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjHAQ-OfAf8

Here’s to sunny days, smiling faces, sidewalk adventures, and whatever else the season brings.

🙂

Countdowniness featuring mustaches, new music, and comic book geeking out!

1.This week’s mustache is a character from one of the best movies in existence:  http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/inigo-montoya.jpg. “You killed my father, prepare to die!”

2. I heard this song on a drive home one night on WEQX, Vermont’s awesometastic alternative station and I felt the great need to share it worldwide.  A Silent Film seems like a band much worth checking out.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlMDHRfvrTg

3.Here’s what I’m listening to as I compile this list:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K913KVe3kH8

4.I’ve been reading Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed comic The Sandman lately, having realized that the Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro has all 11 compiled volumes.  Like all his work, it seems to flow by its own logic, and the substance found therein being the substance of dream, the main character being the very personification of dream itself, a dream logic that allows the story to move in pretty much any direction.  Gaiman’s imagination is caused massive ripples in the world of comics, novels, movies and children’s books.  Imagine what someone like him could do in other media, like video games!

5.Supercenter is opening tomorrow.  I would be lying if I said I was one hundred percent thrilled.  I mean I’m used to this new store by now, having done much of the setup, but being faced with customers as far as the eye can see, as a cashier on grand opening day? Holy Consumerism Batman!  Don’t forget to shop around, one stop shopping is a fallacy.  It is nice there though and better looking than the other store.  At least it’s brighter inside.

6.Radioland fun:  So this past thursday, I was featured on Adam Hogue’s radio show, Within The Unknown- Writers on The Air. And it was a lot of fun to share my voice with the world in a way I never really have been able to before, even though I am no stranger to being on the radio.  It was a great success from what I hear, for I couldnt listen in to my own show, now could I?  Great pairings of songs I like with poems I wrote, followed by a guest stint on Danger Blossoms, wherein everyone in presence performed a moving rendition of Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots!  Don’t forget to tune in to either of these shows thursday nights. livestreaming wknh.org.  And if you are interested in reading your work on the radio if you are a writer, Adam would love to have anyone.

7.I went to a place known as Zoomass, (Umass amherst actually) and had awesome adventures, eating in more than one dining commons(I’ve never known such stuff) which have better food than the one I have grown used to being a Keene Stater. Other adventures include a walk through noho, including a stop at the super awesome toy store, and remembering what its like to live in a dorm.  Good way to start a week.

8.Wearing plaid shoes!

9. Much Ado update- I unwittingly went to last night’s rehearsal without realizing that the clown’s were not called for.  Oops!  It was okay as there were a few absences, and I read the part of Ursula to great effect! Oh how I love the theatre!

10.Book Sales- Keene Public Library had their spring book sale on Friday and Saturday, so of course I went on the second day for the fun that is $5 bag day.  Found my friend Felix a German curiosity that I am sure he will enjoy, whether or not it serves any “practical” purpose.

11.On a final note, I urge everyone to watch copious amounts of Doctor Who!

Ciao.

Can’t think of 11 things right now.

I keep getting sidetracked from my countdown this time, so I will just remind everyone to tune in at wknh.org Thursday night at 830 to hear my read some of my writings.

Also I leave you with good music:

Tea Drinking Music

So I had a feature on driving music, but what about music for any other daily activities. One activity that I make a habit of is tea drinking. If not at any other point in the day, I drink it in the morning to help me wake up, and at night to help me relax into sleeping mode.

I found myself waking up to some delicious darjeeling by tazo teas, chock full of antioxidants, and exotic flavor. And as I was going about starting my day, I put on the song Moonage Daydream, from Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” album, and continued to go through some of my favorite tracks in his catalog such as Man Who Sold The World, Aladdin Sane, and I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spaceship. Darjeeling and Bowie= waking up, and starting the day happy.

And as my day wound down, after a long and highly stressful week at work, I found myself listening to the ethereal sounds of Icelandic Post Rock outfit, Sigur Ros. Most of the words being in a entirely made up language that uses only syllables with a full musical advantage, it is so easy to just zone out and find your calm, your clarity, to relax and just let the music become you, in a sense. And with that, I found myself drinking Equal Exchange Peppermint Tea, fair trade, yummy, and soothing much like the music.