my winter cap

Reality

12/04/08

12/04/2008 (Thursday) - Tonight I am going to the PostSecret event at Bryant University in Rhode Island. I am pretty excited. I quite like PostSecret, though I only have one of the books (the first one), which I got as a Chanukah present a few years ago. But I was thinking of maybe getting some of the other ones soon. It's just so easy to fly through all the secrets in one or two sittings that I feel guilty for ruining the book. But I have learned that if you set it aside for a little while you tend to forget the secrets, and so it becomes good to read again. I HOPE YOU GUYS ARE HAVING A GOOD WEEK.

Also, if you are from Is It Funny Today it would be neat if you voted for my comic, but if you don't want to, that's fine also.

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Aug27
Recent Baking Adventures: Muffins & No Bake Cookies
Baking is a lot of fun guys. It is a great thing to do with your friends, siblings, or anyone you want to bond with because you can create something, and then eat it together later. If you have nothing to talk about while you're baking, you can always talk about baking.

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

These muffins are so delicious and they are so easy to make. I made them with the 12-year-old I watched this summer, on my last day of hanging out with her.

Ingredients
2 bananas

2 eggs

1 cup of brown sugar

some honey

1/2 cup of butter (1 stick)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 1/4 - 2 1/2 cups of flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of salt

peanut butter

chocolate chips

walnuts

oats

flax seeds

No Bake Oat Rolled Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup of butter (2 sticks)

1 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of white sugar

1 tablespoon of vanilla

2 1/2 cups of flour

little bit of salt

1/4 - 1/2 cup of honey

peanut butter

cocoa

oats

chocolate chips

~~good~~

The first cookie!

No Parent Style

Not pictured: me being cool too.

Aug24
On Resenting Popularity
A few days ago, I came across this article at Spinner.com: I Hate My Hit! 10 Songs Disowned by the People Who Made Them Famous. The article touches upon a common occurrence in music that I've long thought is a big shame. It's a little unnerving to me that people so easily attach a song's reputation and reception to the song itself. Haven't we all heard stuff like this?

"That song was really great until that car commercial ruined it."
"I used to love that song but now it's just overplayed."
"It would have been a good song if the radio didn't kill it."

This kind of stuff makes me just want to shake everyone's shoulders and say, "What guys!?" What do you mean.

The philosophy behind that kind of thinking really gets under my skin. I don't feel that any music I enjoy could ever be ruined for me by any kind of external force. If the radio can ruin a song for you, how could you claim to have ever really enjoyed it, if liking it is so dependent and conditional on how many other people like it too? It's a shame that it has become both common and socially acceptable (even expected, in some cases) to use reputation and popularity as factors in determining whether or not you claim to enjoy something, and, in too many cases, likely whether or not you actually do enjoy it.

I know I shouldn't speak for others, but I will speak for myself. I catch myself subconsciously wanting to scorn stuff that is really popular. I catch myself wanting to go for the less obvious favorites when picking a song from an album, because there's this small part of me that's wired to believe that if I think an artist's most popular song is actually their best, then I'm just appreciating their work on the surface and not diving in deeply. Why do these thoughts exist? I don't want to blame some vague, distant object like a society or a culture, so I'm going with this reason: deep down, I have some insecurities, and feel that I need to validate myself somehow, and appreciating stuff that other people don't get (being misunderstood) seems like a pretty good way to do that; seeing stuff that other people don't see gets me thinking that I have some deeper, truer appreciation for art and it feeds my superiority complex. Or: I have doubts about my self-worth, and getting to believe that I get something more deeply than the masses gives me not just a sense of connection with the art I'm appreciating, but a sense of ownership, and then I get to walk away happy with a feeling of validation and worth. Getting around those misguided ways of thinking is totally my problem. But something tells me that I'm not the only person in the world to have experienced these kinds of thoughts. Something tells me that it's common.

Like I said, I don't want to speak for others here. I do want to speak for myself. Frequently, I have to consciously correct these ways of thinking. I have to stop my thoughts and go through a process to realize how ridiculous I'm being. Thankfully, I started realizing this a long time ago, so for the most part, those misguided thoughts don't get in the way of my actual opinions. When they come up, I know that giving in to them doesn't bring me any closer to music that I enjoy, but rather it pushes me further and further from the point of it all: connection, sharing, joy. Music should bring people together, and not be a means for a person to become separate.

It bothers me as well that artists sometimes get this way with their old material�that they too come to feel and believe that songs of theirs have been ruined by popularity. I can understand being an artist and not wanting to feel like you're eternally defined by one song you wrote that you don't even believe is a good representation of your music as a whole. But I think there's a big difference between wanting people to look past the hits and between denouncing a song you wrote because you don't like the rep it got.

Using an example from the list that I frequently think about, I believe it's a shame that Thom Yorke is both so adverse to the idea of performing "Creep," and so resentful of the song's fame. I think it's a shame that in general, in my experience, Radiohead fans have such a negative reaction to Pablo Honey. I've heard Radiohead fans brag that they've never even listened to the album the whole way through, and I still can't figure out what about that would make anyone think it entitled them to bragging. Do I think Pablo Honey can be favorably compared to any other album in Radiohead's catalog? Not so much. But that doesn't mean it's not a great album! It doesn't mean that "Creep" isn't a really good song. "Creep" captures the desire we all have to be and feel accepted, and it's beautiful. It blows my mind that there are probably tons of people who'd scoff at me saying "Creep" is an awesome track because they believe feeling superior is a means to feeling accepted.

I've also taken notice that Brand New has adopted a similar attitude toward most of their first album, Your Favorite Weapon. I feel similarly about their debut as I do about Radiohead's: it doesn't even touch upon how profound and amazing their later releases are, but that in no way negates any artistic validity the record does have. I understand that, in some ways, Jesse Lacey is resentful of Brand New's first album because of the false image it promotes of the band. He wants fans to see past the angst-filled boy wishing diseases and car crashes upon ex-girlfriends because he wants it to be realized that he's got more than that youthful anger inside of him. I think what it gets down to, for me, is that I think it's unnecessary to denounce your youth to prove that you've grown up. To quote Dumbledore, "Old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young."

The reason I think Your Favorite Weapon is a great record, and the reason I will always think it's a great record, is because the stories it contains are timeless. That's always the reason. Whether or not we mature and move past that point of angst, of wanting to stay young, we were there. It's the same reason why I think children's books make up some of the most important literature ever penned. There is something beautiful about being young, naive, quick to give into impulses and emotions, curious�that we too often grow up to forget. Ultimately, I think there's more maturity to be found in embracing the parts of your past that have changed, than there is in resenting, or even just ignoring, them.

Some bands are pretty good about it. Wilco has progressed from the alt-country days of A.M., but every so often they throw in a song from their debut into their set. When I saw Jeff Tweedy do a solo show in March 2009, he played "Casino Queen" and it was really fun to watch. He also played "A Shot in the Arm" and "I'm Always in Love," both of which are from Wilco's third album Summerteeth, and two tracks from their double sophomore release Being There. He's not saying, "Hey we have some ambient sounds now and 'Less Than You Think' is unnecessarily 15 minutes long so we don't play old songs anymore." Songs represent moments in time, and I think it's so admirable when artists not only realize that, but embrace it. (Keep in mind, I don't want to throw stones at any of my favorite bands, even if I do disagree with some of the attitudes some of them have adopted.)

I think it'd be cool if one day Radiohead opened an entire tour with "Creep," or if Brand New started rotating all the songs from Your Favorite Weapon into their show. I already have great respect for both those bands, but that potential gesture would increase my respect far beyond what it already is. I hope we can all take time to remember that songs are songs, and most of them were probably born in someone's basement or kitchen or shower or car ride home, a voice and a guitar, and the ones that get popular are no exception.
Aug18
"You Wouldn't Have to Ask" by Bad Books
I'm sitting in my room on an unexpected day off, enjoying a simple breakfast I just made (french vanilla coffee and homemade toast with cream cheese), reflecting on Kevin Devine's current project, Bad Books.

Bad Books is the child of Kevin Devine and Manchester Orchestra, with KD and Andy Hull at the front, and backed up by the rest of the guys from MO. They've all been playing together for years, so what makes this different from Kevin playing along with a couple songs during Manchester Orchestra's set, or from the guys in MO backing Kevin up as The Goddamn Band�or, excuse me, The Goddamn Orchestra? In some ways it can't be all that different�it will be the same friends, the same energy, the same musicians. What's different from the collaboration we've seen between these two artists on stage is that the Bad Books album is a collection of songs written by both Devine and Hull�each writer contributed five songs to the record, and they both worked together to mold and build the songs to the stuff we're going to hear in October. This album will show us what happens when the two artists work together from the start, when they collaborate before they take the stage.

So the first single was released the other day! It's called "You Wouldn't Have to Ask" and you can listen to it on the Bad Books Facebook Page. For the sake of links, add their Twitter to your list, and their website too. Don't forget MySpace, or the band's label, Favorite Gentlemen.

I like it a lot. It's a good pop song, so how couldn't I be into it? From the Bad Books website, "Bad Books cradles a much more noticeable pop aesthetic and energy than either artist has probably ever showcased before." This is so true. This track is very catchy and it's more straightforward than anything I've heard from either artist. As a big KD fan, one of the things I take note of in a song is whether or not there's a chorus. If you scan his catalog, lots of songs don't have them. It's this amazing thing I noticed in his writing, that both inspires me and scares me. That fact that this one does sport a chorus is a clear pointer that we're getting something more obvious than usual.

The structure of this song is pretty standard as far as pop songs go. More complex verses that tell us the story, and a lyrically simple verse that's giving us the big picture of the song. A bridge that builds up to a big instrumental section and then slows down for another verse. This structure is so popular because it's so brilliant and effective all the time, and yep, add this song to the list of ones that pull it off.

I played this for a friend of mine who enjoys Kevin Devine, but isn't a big fan like I am, and she heard the first verse and laughed a little, "Sounds like Kevin Devine�bundled bunches break brain branch�." And it's true: he's a master of alliteration, and it's great writing. Right now I don't know who came up with what, but based on what I know, I'm guessing Kevin's got something to do with that language.

Something I am so glad to hear in this song is backup vocals. Vocals vocals vocals! A strong display of back-up vocals is something that I consider to be one of the most important things that builds a pop song. The other most important thing is acoustic rhythm guitar, which this song has also got. It's golden. I often picture melodies as little threads or ribbons that float around the song, and too often the ribbons are too thin or flimsy to solidly stand on top of a full performance of drums, guitars, bass, and so on. I like that I can hear everyone singing along.

While a straightforward pop song, there's a lot more going on here. One of my favorite things is that muffled building-up scream we first hear before the second chorus, reminding us, "Well if it wasn't�you wouldn't have to ask." I hear Manchester Orchestra there. The scream reminds us that yeah, you can bop your head and sing along to this and grin and stuff, but when you see this performed live, this is something both the band and the audience are totally gonna rock out to.

Bad Books is a lot more than Kevin Devine + Manchester Orchestra. There's something intangible that's getting created in the combination. This track has this amazing charge to it that I'm really excited to hear in full-length, and see in person on their upcoming tour. Good art is more than the sum of its parts, and that's something we have here. What makes it work? It's impossible to pin down precisely where chemistry comes from, but I think friendship is one of the most important things. You can hear how happy these guys are to be working together, and you can hear that they're doing what they love with people they love. Music is a medium for spreading joy. I want to see and hear a band with members who're having a good time with each other, who are so inexplicably happy to be doing exactly what they are doing. That intangible gratitude is what I hear on this first single.

There's something new that comes from these two songwriters working together. One of the most beautiful descriptions I've heard of songwriting styles comes from BNL's Kevin Hearn. He was asked to describe the difference between Ed Robertson's songwriting and Steven Page's songwriting, and he said that they were both wonderful writers, and if he had to sum it up, he'd say that, "Ed writes with his fingers, and Steve writes with his hands." With the pair at hand, I'd give Devine the fingers and Hull the hands. On the Bad Books website, Kevin admits, "�I think Andy trusts his instincts to lead him to the right place in a song, and sometimes I want to outthink my instincts because I�m scared of repeating myself, of resting on my laurels."

When I first got wind of Bad Books, I had to suppress a few thoughts like this, "Man, screw this, I just want a Kevin Devine tour." I'm a fan of Manchester Orchestra, and I've been listening to them since they became a band, but there was a part of me that wanted to cling to what I already knew I loved and avoid the work of getting used to something different. Thankfully, I'm over that, and I don't seriously believe that the independent work of each artist is threatened by Bad Books (crazy!). All the energy and excitement surrounding this release is infectious, and I'm so happy that they are following their instincts and going forward with this project, as opposed to just brushing it under the carpet as something that 'may happen later if we have time for it.' It's better to give songs a proper place when you have them, as opposed to letting them get dusty and feel homeless, hidden beneath your staircase or in your closet somewhere.

The full album drops October 19, and the guys are embarking on a short east-coast tour shortly after. For those of you who don't live in New England, I'm sending good thoughts that they'll come to your city soon, too.

Lyrics, as far as I could figure:
Crooked days come bundled up in bunches
They break your brain like a branch
And push you out here asking after for something
you should know I don't have

If I had it you wouldn't have to ask
If I had it you wouldn't have to ask

Later on when you bargain with your mirror
and you ask is it really that bad

If it wasn't you wouldn't have to ask
If it wasn't you wouldn't have to ask

How could you know if you didn't?
What's left to say when your tongue's turned to ash?
Well I tell you you're finally forgiven*
So you wouldn't have to ask

Shoot what's left, slip inside your sinner smile
Another man in a mask

If you faced it you wouldn't need a mask
If you meant it you wouldn't need a mask
If I could fix you you wouldn't have to ask
If I could help you you wouldn't have to ask

*I'm still unsure about this line!

Preview more Bad Books songs:
The Easy Mark & The Old Maid

Mesa, Arizona

You're a Mirror I Cannot Avoid
Aug17
Creating Bread
Recently, I made bread. Making bread is really fun and not all that complicated, and in the end it's delicious! Here is a guide using some photos and some words on HOW I CREATED BREAD WITH MY FRIEND, so maybe you too can enjoy a fun day creating bread with your friend.

You start by putting yeast in a bowl, and adding water and olive oil. We used two packets of yeast.

Then you add some honey and some salt! The salt is not pictured, but you know it's in there.

Man if you're me, you might wanna lick the honey that gets stuck on the bottom of the cap. We finished the bottle! We put in about half the bottle.

You let it sit for a little bit (20-30 minutes) and it starts to look like this.

Oh my gosh like this!

Then you beat it up while you add white flour and wheat flour (use both!) and beat it up the whole time.

It's really fun to hold and squeeze in your hands.

THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID, AT LEAST.

It's sort of like a baby. Rachel said to me, "Julie, if you drop that bread, I'm gonna freaking kill you or hurt your feelings."

That really did the trick, so I put the bread back in the bowl.

Put a warm towel over the bowl, and let the bread rise for 20-30 minutes. It will look like this! I was a little scared/intimidated...yeast is alive? And now it's rising up against us? Oh no.

Take it out of the bowl and put it in a pan you can put in the oven! I wanted to make bread with "dots" which I learned was actually corn meal. You can see the dots on top!

Put dots on the bottom too.

We wanted to put spices in one of the loaves. What you have to do in that situation is put the dough on a clean, floured surface.

Spread some butter and olive oil on the dough.

Then put whatever spices and stuff you want! We put minced onions, rosemary garlic, Italian herbs, and other tasty stuff too.

Roll the dough like this!!!

This is the spices loaf in a pan.

If you want you can put some honey on top of the dough before you bake it!

Aw they're friends!

Friends inside the oven too!

Mmmm...

So you bake the bread until it's golden-brown-ish-however-you-like. When it's done, you might want to cut the bread with a knife!

BREAD UP CLOSE! REAL BREAD.

If you want to eat a sandwich on your fresh, homemade, delicious bread, you could maybe cook some onions!

Oh my god and maybe add some mushrooms.

Oh and maybe snack on some bread while the vegetables are cooking ;)

Pretty much done!!! We melted some cheese on top too.

Rachel and I were so nice that we offered sandwiches to everyone in my family, and my brother accepted. Wow we are so nice.

Ta da! To make your sandwich extra delicious, you could try adding some hummus and poppyseed dressing. This is what I did!

After your sandwich is done, you might want to go watch How I Met Your Mother with your friend. This is what I did anyway.

To make bread, all you need is:
Yeast

Water

Olive oil

Salt

Honey/brown sugar

Flour (white and wheat)

Butter/pam spray

Whatever spices and things you want (optional)

Corn meal (optional)

Be creative.

Aug14
7 Reasons Why Styrofoam Is Bad, and 7 Ways to Hold a Dunkin' Donuts Iced Coffee Without Being Awful
Since I live in Central Massachusetts, there are about five Dunkin' Donuts locations on every street near me. According to http://dunkindonuts.com and their Store Locator, there are over 20 locations within 10 miles of my house. I like their coffee, but they're not the most environmentally conscious company, nor do they have the most environmentally conscious customers. In fact, many of their customers enjoy Being Awful.

I first started noticing this trend when I was in high school. About halfway through my time there, a Dunkin' Donuts opened up in town, and suddenly the best thing to do before high school was to go to Dunkin' Donuts and get an iced coffee.

It started to really infuriate me when I would walk down the hall to my locker, and I'd pass about a dozen girls all holding iced coffees inside styrofoam cups, as if it was the coolest freaking thing ever. They looked sorta like this:

But don't let that image trick you into thinking that Being Awful is limited to girls who got to go to high school with me--just the other day I saw three police officers banded together with styrofoam cups outside their iced coffees. See?

Why does spell-check keep on telling me to capitalize 'styrofoam?' It's so Awful it doesn't deserve a capital letter! I guess it's a proper noun somehow, but who cares?!

Why is styrofoam bad?

Instead of boring you (and me) with science or whatever, I've composed my own list of why I think styrofoam is bad.

1. Every pore of styrofoam is equal to a thousand tears.

2. Styrofoam separates children from loving mothers.

3. Styrofoam kills butterflies.

Styrofoam would have killed the butterfly as a caterpillar, but gets greater joy from destroying more beauty.

4. At night, styrofoam burns your house down with fire and laughs.

5. Dementors eat styrofoam, and it makes them sick!

6. Styrofoam is mean to the earth.

7. Styrofoam doesn't like muffins.

I think it's bad enough that Dunkin' Donuts sells actual drinks inside styrofoam cups, so seeing people get extra styrofoam because they want to avoid getting a few drops of water on their hand or because they want to look stupid is almost too much for me to wrap my head around. I'm actually operating under the assumption that anyone who gets a styrofoam cup with their iced coffee is trying to look like an idiot, because I'd like to believe that no human is so awful that they think avoiding getting their hand wet should be a higher priority than not trying to kill the environment. I guess another reason someone might get a styrofoam cup is to not get their hands cold, and all I have to say to that is get a freaking pair of gloves.

Because I have a lot of faith in humanity, and really just believe there are awful things but no awful people, I thought it would be beneficial if I explained some Awesome And Acceptable ways to hold an iced coffee. I came up with 7 ways, but I'm sure there are more. Here they are conveniently explained for you with words and pictures:

How to Hold An Iced Coffee Without Looking Stupid Or Being Awful

1. With your head.

2. With your hands.

3. With your hands and your body.

4. Cradled in a hat like a cute little iced iced baby.

5. With your knees.

6. With your hands like this.

7. With your hands like this.

I'm saying 'You're Welcome' in advance to anyone who was previously unsure what the best way to hold an iced coffee was. Here are 7 best ways. You are totally welcome. I hope this was informative for everyone reading, and remember, styrofoam is bad guys!

Thought of other ways to hold iced coffees? Discuss them here or email me!
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