since I've been riding public transportation for about 4 hours a day the past few days, I've run out of new music to listen to.
But! The national album is unreal. The guy's voice (I apologize for not knowing his name) is so deep and eerie. Lends to a great sound for the band. Its also great music to listen to while going through newark (as I am right now). the dark sound matches the texture of this rundown city. Currently driving past abandoned warehouses, graffiti lined streets, and gigantic cranes that don't seem like they've worked on a project in years.
I find myself having a tough time reading on the train during my commutes now. Its the 1 time in my day that I have some time to myself. I've been finally able to look back and think about my life this past year. Everything was so fast that I was unable to examine anything that happened. Sitting here looking at the window let's me reminisc - and I'm enjoying it.
While I'm meandering - books. I just finished "goodbye columbus" by philip roth. Its a great story about summer romance between a girl who lives in short hills, nj and a guy from newark, nj. Being that I pass through these two towns every day when I head to work and that I frequent both these places, I found the book more interesting than I think most would (though it won the national book award, so apparently others enjoyed it). Roth's description of the polarities between the 2 cities and the lifestyle differences is what makes the book so great. Short hills is in the '50s is already the tennis playing, preppy place while newark is the tougher, working metropolis. I liked that aspect of the story more than the true narrative. It was fascinating to see that these 2 cities haven't changed much in roughly 60 years. Roth's description could still be applicable today, but Newark would be even rougher now.
I'm onto "do androids dream of electric sheep now" by Philip k dick. I know - its an awesome title. And I seem to have a thing for writers named phil recently, but we'll ignore both these facts. The novel is the inspiration for the film "bladerunner" which is one of my favorite movies of all time. Ridley scott created such a lush fantasy world. At the time, the film was extremely under-appreciated, but has come to have the respect it deserves in recent day. The novel is very different from the film, but it is only an "inspiration" according to ridley scott. It gives a great background story for the protagonist rick deckard. The film ignores this and casts harrison ford as the badass android-killer with no explanation for his demeanor or profession. I'm only 40 pages into the novel, but Dick has already established a great, fantastical environment. I'm sure the book will be great - updates to follow.
And finally, the reason I started writing this post. I became bored with my new music so I revisited some old stuff on my ipod. And! I refound sufjan stevens. I had an odd obsession with him in high school and am rekindling that now. His music defies true categorization. It goes from folk, to rock, some classical tinges, and mostly just truly original. There's about 25 of his songs that I think are all great and the rest of his catalogue is also noteworthy. But there's something about his music that keeps me coming back. He creates such complex layers in all of his songs. Every one sounds different from the last. He uses melodies, progressions, and time signatures that are rare in modern artists. He's slacking on his goal to make an album about every one of the 50 states. I'm upset about this solely cause I want to hear more of his music. He's covered michigan and illinois, so I'm assuming new jersey will most likely be next. It makes sense. His christmas album was also great, though not the most christmas-y music. In conclusion, he's awesome and I can't wait for his next album
Wow that was a lot. And all written from my phone! Thank you moto droid phone [edit - pictures put in afterwards... phone cant do it all :( ]
