Erik Satie - Gymnopedies

Devendra Banhart - Foolin

Extreme Solitude by Jeffrey Eugenides

Here is a great story I read in the New Yorker. I had sort of fallen behind in my issues of the magazine so this one is from a few weeks back. Anyways, I really enjoyed the story. It's about two university students who meet in a Semiotics class and fall in love (oooh omg!) But really, I just like any story that takes place in University and shows the mysticism of the campus and everything that is being learned. Such mysticism is greatly shown through the discussion of semiotics (a subject that I still don't really understand--its like a sub group of literary criticism/theory, yet it deserves its own department and program, blah, blah, its a confusing subject.) Anyways here's the first paragraph (and obviously the link to the rest is below):

It was debatable whether or not Madeleine had fallen in love with Leonard the first moment she’d seen him. She hadn’t even known him then, and so what she’d felt was only sexual attraction, not love. Even after they’d gone out for coffee, she couldn’t say that what she was feeling was anything more than infatuation. But ever since the night they went back to Leonard’s place after watching “Amarcord” and started fooling around, when Madeleine found that instead of being turned off by physical stuff, as she often was with boys, instead of putting up with that or trying to overlook it, she’d spent the entire night worrying that she was turning Leonard off, worrying that her body wasn’t good enough, or that her breath was bad from the Caesar salad she’d unwisely ordered at dinner; worrying, too, about having suggested they order Martinis because of the way Leonard had sarcastically said, “Sure. Martinis. Let’s pretend we’re Salinger characters”; after having had, as a consequence of all this anxiety, pretty much no sexual pleasure, despite the perfectly respectable session they’d put together, and after Leonard (like every guy) had immediately fallen asleep, leaving her to lie awake stroking his head and vaguely hoping that she wouldn’t get a yeast infection, Madeleine asked herself if the fact that she’d just spent the whole night worrying wasn’t, in fact, a surefire sign that she was falling in love. And certainly after they’d spent the next three days at Leonard’s place having sex and eating pizza, after she’d relaxed enough to be able to come once in a while and finally to stop worrying so much about having an orgasm because her hunger for Leonard was in some way satisfied by his satisfaction, after she’d allowed herself to sit naked on his gross couch and to walk to the bathroom knowing that he was staring at her (imperfect) ass, to root for food in his disgusting refrigerator, to read the brilliant half page of philosophy paper sticking up out of his typewriter, and to hear him pee with taurine force into the toilet bowl, certainly, by the end of those three days, Madeleine knew she was in love.

But that didn’t mean she had to tell anyone. Especially Leonard.

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/06/07/100607fi_fiction_eugenides#ixzz0txjVS37I

The Velvet Underground - I'm Waiting For The Man

The Lonely Island (featuring Norah Jones) - Dreamgirl

By the guys who did Dick in a Box and Jizz in my Pants--Dreamgirl is one of their underrated and most likely has gone unnoticed by most.

The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra - Chicago, My Home Town

Hoodie Allen - You Are Not A Robot (feat. Marina & The Diamonds)

This song is alright. I mostly like the incredibly clever name, its like a reference to Woody Allen, but since they are gangsters they are all like "hoodie allen." Hilarious. (hope the sarcasm is coming through.) Anyways I thought it would be funny to show the little youtube conversation I had on the comments page:

So first off, I said (or as jakobsnacks): what are they sampling?

then Ayble2Do said: @jakobsnacks All you have to do is click on the info tab directly underneath the video.

It's the small arrow to the left of the play counter. It will give you a drop-down box that explains everything you need to know.

Or, you could read the title of the video and apply deductive reasoning.

Then I said to Ayble2Do: ...alright that was a retarded question I asked. It's the internet, I like my shit spoon fed to me. Do it with less bitter contempt please.

And then Mr. Super Cool Ayble2Do had better things to do then argue with me over youtube, and thus, he never responded.

Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole - Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Been listening to this song since I was a little kid. I hadn't in a while and it came to my mind so I youtubed it. It seemed like such a sad bittersweet song when I was younger, and it always made me feel a little bummy. But if you watch this video, I don't think there is anyway you could feel sad.

The Girl Who Fixed the Umlaut

 For any one who's read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, this parody written for The New Yorker will make you laugh your ass off. I was laughing out loud at work one day and I had to stop reading it halfway through, because I couldn't contain myself. I'm sure it would still be funny to those who haven't read the book, but it is like a perfect parody.


There was a tap at the door at five in the morning. She woke up. Shit. Now what? She’d fallen asleep with her Palm Tungsten T3 in her hand. It would take only a moment to smash it against the wall and shove the battery up the nose of whoever was out there annoying her. She went to the door.

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2010/07/05/100705sh_shouts_ephron#ixzz0sdmEiCYH

Peter, Paul, and Mary - Early Morning

I heard this song in an episode of Mad Men. Which is a show I highly recommend. I know some of you might think that watching television is the quickest way to destroying your mind, and well, I don't really have an argument against that but if you got nothing to do (and lets say you are tired after a long day of work and don't feel like reading) than waste your time with a little bit of Mad Men. It's a very interesting series and as I approach the end of the second season I'm beginning to form an analysis that the heroes of the story, are the women (that is, the women of the strange 1960s) and really its the men (the MAD men) who are the villains.

Also here is a link to the exact song sung again by a priest--from Mad Men!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnHDum8sG4o

The Kinks - Powerman