The Flying Machine

Some stuff I haven't been able to turn off:

• Jake Fussell - Star Girl, Rabbit on a Log (myspace) All of the songs Jake's got on his Myspace page are pretty much playing around my place nonstop. Listen at how warm and relaxed that sound is, just a voice and guitar playin' blues that's as comfortable as old blue jeans. I don't think he's got any albums, though, so this is all I've got for now. Sigh.

• The Kinks - This Time Tomorrow (YouTube) 'Cause it was in The Darjeeling Limited trailer and also in Les Amants Reguliers which I am dying to see.

• Rogue Wave - Eyes (IGIF). They've got a new album coming out. I'm excited.

• Flight of the Conchords - uh, all of their songs. (YouTube) Yeah, I like parody songs, especially by guys who can use "muesli" in a rhyming couplet. Also, they're cute.

• John Vanderslice - Time to Go (high-res video) New album coming soon!

• Leatherbag - Tennessee (lonesome music) Definitely an early Red House Painters vibe.

• Lil' Wayne - I Feel Like Dying (FADER). The sampling is brilliant. And haunting.

• Jim Jonsin - Beer Buzz (myspace) A freestyle throwaway summer sample that'd be great on a mixtape.
  

Posted by Sarah at 1:43 PM | Permalink

I know that all of Wes Anderson's movies are kind of the same but I still love the hell out of every single one. They work for me. AND THERE IS A NEW ONE COMING SOON. How did I not know about this sooner? It comes out in just two months!

Watch the trailer, y'all.

(via Kottke)

Posted by Sarah at 11:54 AM | Permalink

Yeah, sorry I've been so MIA lately on the life-updates front. All I've been is grumpy, so you don't really wanna hear it anyway. Got some Big Topics I want to write about up on the horizon - but I can't get there 'til I get through some seriously backlogged work projects. It sucks being poor and it sucks being broke and working side jobs to pay for rent and gas and the shit your car needs to stay running well and the new stereo that you're going to try to install yourself because your old one got stolen and then your iPod got stolen and then your tape deck broke and now all you got is the radio. Thank goodness for the radio.. but there's entire hours of country out here where you can't even get a radio station.

It sucks having to reap the stress you sowed when you procrastinated for all those weeks and said yes to all of those fun, irresponsible things and pretended your work would do itself. It didn't. It won't.

I wonder if switching my freelance graphic design pricing from by-project to by-the-hour would cut down on the micromanaging and hassles I have to deal with.

I wish I had something to stop these bug bites from itching. They get me while I'm sleeping, the bastards. It is too hot for nightclothes, it is too hot for sheets. It is too hot to do anything but stand by the fan and flip through magazines with a cold rag on my neck.

I can't listen to music when I'm at home because my computer overheats. But if I could, I'd put these songs on. Especially Ethiopians and Red River Valley. I never do get tired of John Darnielle.

Posted by Sarah at 3:37 PM | Permalink

This is totally a seagull after my own heart.

A seagull has turned shoplifter by wandering into a shop and helping itself to crisps. The bird walks into the RS McColl newsagents in Aberdeen when the door is open and makes off with cheese Doritos.

Amazing! Apparently he's become a regular. I don't blame him.. but I question his choice of chip. Doritos? Eh. Go for the Cheetos, man. The picture is priceless -

Posted by Sarah at 3:24 PM | Permalink

Holy cow! Check this OUT!

Researchers at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have developed an inexpensive solar cell that can be painted or printed on flexible plastic sheets. “The process is simple,” said lead researcher and author Somenath Mitra, PhD, professor and acting chair of NJIT’s Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences. “Someday homeowners will even be able to print sheets of these solar cells with inexpensive home-based inkjet printers. Consumers can then slap the finished product on a wall, roof or billboard to create their own power stations.”

I also love the way they talk about how the power is produced, because I love buckyballs:

Mitra and his research team took the carbon nanotubes and combined them with tiny carbon Buckyballs (known as fullerenes) to form snake-like structures. Buckyballs trap electrons, although they can’t make electrons flow. Add sunlight to excite the polymers, and the buckyballs will grab the electrons.

(via MoJo's Blue Marble)

Posted by Sarah at 2:27 PM | Permalink

Not cool office behavior:

Popping around a corner and into one's office with a baby-voiced "Peeeeekey Boooooooo!"

Not cool at all unless you're interacting with an actual baby, and even then it's questionable at best:

Baby-voice, baby-talk, or anything like it.

Posted by Sarah at 1:10 PM | Permalink

Co-worker A, describing a local legend:

She was a great big tall horse-faced woman, mean as a snake, swore like a longshoreman.

Posted by Sarah at 9:29 AM | Permalink

Back in the swing of things in Eastern Oregon. It is still hot out here. Really really hot. New York City was fantastic amazing and so on. Pictures soon. Stories if I get around to it. My laptop has been rendered quite literally unusable due to the heat - it can't function without overheating when the indoor temp of my apartment is 97 degrees. Ugh.

Posted by Sarah at 12:54 PM | Permalink

Wildfire season's in full swing out here. From an article on the the last huge fire, 80,000 acres, which happened a few years back:

"At one point, this fire was six miles wide and moved eight miles in 10 minutes," Masinton said.

Posted by Sarah at 12:28 PM | Permalink

Off to the City tomorrow morning. Excited. Not taking a laptop or even any checked luggage. Very excited. Catch you on the flipside!

Posted by Sarah at 3:25 PM | Permalink

L: You're going to sign it with something sincere, right? From the both of us?

E: Uh, I was gonna cheap out. Here we go: "Best wishes, E"

L: Oh come on. I can do better than that! "Best, L"

Posted by Sarah at 1:32 PM | Permalink

OK, so I have some great friends from New Jersey. I do. But these ignorant tools who are suing their neighbor for erecting a quiet, attractive, clean-energy-generating windmill in his backyard deserve nothing but WINDMILL PUNCHES TO THEIR IGNORANT FACES.

Maybe because, as Mr. Mercurio’s neighbors Patricia Caplicki and John Miller say in the lawsuit, in a 14-mile-per-hour wind, the three fiberglass blades produce noise greater than 50 decibels, the rough equivalent of light traffic or a noisy refrigerator.

The suit also says that the spinning blades throw “strobe-like shadows” on their property from noon to sunset. (NYT)

OH HORRORS. Come on, people. I hope I never live in a neighborhood where people are so small.

Posted by Sarah at 8:17 AM | Permalink

By the way, I got some great photos when R came out to visit.

Posted by Sarah at 9:41 PM | Permalink

Ooh, I've been gone for a good while, eh? I'll be back soon. News on the horizon:

- Exciting summer adventures
- Exciting upcoming fall adventures
- EXCITING NEW JOB starting this fall
- Hanging out with R, Sally, and David
- Good times on the West side
- Foodstuffs, including cold-brewed coffee and key lime pie

Posted by Sarah at 11:27 AM | Permalink