January 2010
160 posts
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“‘Why do you feel like the world is going to come to an end?’ I later asked a...”
– From John D’Agata’s What Happens There in the Jan ‘10 Believer magazine
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Mr Violin & Dancing Bear : Page France
...
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Summer Anne's Best 125 Songs of the 2000s, The...
Bold indicates what I think is particularly good / interesting writing on a song.
125: “In The New Year” by The Walkmen 124: “The Start of Something” by Voxtrot 123: “Lose Yourself” by Eminem 122: “Sing Songs Along” by Tilly and the Wall 121: “This Is The Dream of Win and Regine” by Final Fantasy 120: “Greater Omaha” by...
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Phosphorescent singing Willie Nelson’s...
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J.D. Salinger has passed away at age 91.
I opened my favorite Salinger story, “Seymour: An Introduction” as soon as I heard. I flipped right to the middle of the thing and the first passage I read was this one (Seymour to his brother, Buddy):
When was writing ever your profession? It’s never been anything but your religion. Never. I’m a little overexcited now. Since it is your religion, do you know what you will...
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vinh asked: What is your stance on Pete Rose, pre-Steroid and post-Steroid Era?
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“He has tremendous passion for the game,” Bagwell said of McGwire. “Man, he’s...”
– Bagwell on McGwire, Bohl Games.
Thanks to my dad for sending this my way.
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“Dining by myself … is a scary prospect. It’s not a coincidence, perhaps,...”
– Adam Roberts.
Been trying to get over this lately.
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Remember how Whole Foods CEO John Mackey is crazy?
OMG, this is crazy.
stephenfalk:
katherinespiers:
He has just announced a new program whereby skinny Whole Foods employees will enjoy bigger discounts at work than their fat colleagues. Nope, not making it up. BMI-based benefits, people. Can we stop shopping there now?
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Summer Anne's Best 125 Songs of the 2000s: #1
“Do You Realize??” by The Flaming Lips
Read the introduction for details on my criteria.
And if you’re reading me in tumblr’s dashboard, be sure to visit the blog directly for video.
First of all, read Ted Jillson on this song and his son Nathan.
Here we are at number one. And why?
Musically, there are bleeps and blips, keyboard sounds that make an attempt to be...
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Summer Anne's Best 125 Songs of the 2000s: #2
“New Slang” by The Shins
Read the introduction for details on my criteria.
And if you’re reading me in tumblr’s dashboard, be sure to visit the blog directly for video.
The prettiest I’ve ever felt was upon hearing these words about this song, from someone I love(d):
I won’t ever be able to hear this song without thinking of you. Even when I’m...
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I let out a cry, as if I'd heard everybody I loved... →
Thanks to Michaela for bringing to my attention this incredibly moving piece on Haiti by Regine Chassagne of the Arcade Fire.
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Summer Anne's Best 125 Songs of the 2000s: #3
“Wake Up” by The Arcade Fire
Read the introduction for details on my criteria.
And if you’re reading me in tumblr’s dashboard, be sure to visit the blog directly for video.
This song gives me goosebumps. The first time I saw this band live goes on a very short list of experiences (a few times by the ocean, a couple while falling in love, one on horseback) in my life...
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Summer Anne's Best 125 Songs Of The 2000s: #4
“Paper Planes” by M.I.A.
Read the introduction for details on my criteria.
And if you’re reading me in tumblr’s dashboard, be sure to visit the blog directly for video.
Musically, this is the theme song of the decade. The first few seconds make me smile every time. There’s something thrilling about the production of this song: the beat is incredibly simple,...
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“I never even told him this, but I remember that Eminem came into the studio when...”
– Jay-Z
The whole interview — with Elvis Mitchell — is great.
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“Who will teach me to write? a reader wanted to know. The page, the page, that...”
– Annie Dillard, The Writing Life.
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Summer Anne's Best 125 Songs Of The 2000s: #5
“The Bleeding Heart Show” by The New Pornographers
Read the introduction for details on my criteria.
And if you’re reading me in tumblr’s dashboard, be sure to visit the blog directly for video.
Someday I’ll make a movie, and there will be a really good scene right in the middle, and this song will play. There will kissing, and running out into the streets...
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Summer Anne's Best 125 Songs of the 2000s: #6
“While You Were Sleeping” by Elvis Perkins
Read the introduction for details on my criteria.
And if you’re reading me in tumblr’s dashboard, be sure to visit the blog directly for video.
Dylanesque. I hate that word, but it works in this case. This song, which made it to #6 even though it had no cultural impact whatsoever, even though I’ve never seen Elvis...
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Summer Anne's Best 125 Songs Of The 2000s: #7
“Hey Ya” by Outkast
Read the introduction for details on my criteria.
And if you’re reading me in tumblr’s dashboard, be sure to visit the blog directly for video.
“Y’all don’t want me here, you just wanna dance.”
Easily, obviously, the best dancin’ tune of the 00s. Wait, no, maybe the best dancin’ tune ever. We used to have...
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James Franco Finally Fully Explains How His Grand... →
“In the next year, Franco will star in Danny McBride’s medieval adventure comedy, Your Highness, and play a small role in Tina Fey’s Date Night, which he said is how he ended up on 30 Rock as himself, in love with a Japanese body pillow named Kimiko-tan. When Fey told him about the role, he said, “I thought it was pretty weird at first, but then I met Kimiko and she’s so pretty and sweet. I...
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I love grocery shopping.
It is hard to beat the feeling of being at home with a clean kitchen that it full of food. I did a Big grocery trip yesterday and I can’t get the smile off my face ever since.
For breakfast: grits and all my favorite cereals, apples and oranges, chewy kashi peanut butter bars, some local eggs that can get wrapped up in homemade tortillas or fried on an English muffin. For lunch: bread...
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Summer Anne's Best 125 Songs Of The 2000s: #8
“Red” by Okkervil River
Read the introduction for details on my criteria.
And if you’re reading me in tumblr’s dashboard, be sure to visit the blog directly for video.
A song for everyone who is “full of fictions and fucking addictions,” reminding them that there is hope for connection, reunion, and sincerity. That the world is not as bleak as it seems....
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Summer Anne's Best 125 Songs Of The 2000s: #9
“First Day of My Life” by Bright Eyes
Read the introduction for details on my criteria.
And if you’re reading me in tumblr’s dashboard, be sure to visit the blog directly for video.
1. The first time I heard this song was, I believe, the first time it was ever played live. We were in San Francisco and Conor said he had just written a new song. The room was...
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Summer Anne's Best 125 Songs of the 2000s: #10
“Chicago” by Sufjan Stevens
Read the introduction for details on my criteria.
And if you’re reading me in tumblr’s dashboard, be sure to visit the blog directly for video.
This song has a certain power and pull that is impossible to articulate. Maybe it is the beautiful, swelling instrumentation. Or the repetition of “all things go,” three words that put...