mike mills + blonde redhead

it's a match made in heaven! i strongly encourage anyone who loves blonde redhead and mike mills to check this out. it promises to be amazing! miranda july may be there, too. the icing on my little stalker cake.

the red balloon

i know there may be someone out there that cherishes this book as much as i. off and on, since i was a kid, i have thought about this story. i had read it when i was very young and every now and then it surfaces in my mind, just like its enigmatic main character. i always wondered if i would ever come across it again.

i purchased it at this online used bookstore called abe books

the story is about a lonely french boy named pascal, who befriends a red balloon as his companion for the day. the adventure follows as the two float through the old streets of france, the marketplace, the boy's school and among his friends there. i remember there being a horribly sad but beautiful tone to the whole thing.

the film version has no dialogue just amazing lo-fi music playing in the background.

spoiler alert: the balloon ends up flying high over the parisian rooftops and away from the heartbroken pascal and he is again alone in the big city. sad...

come to find it was written by albert lamorisse, a french filmmaker who made it into a short. the film won the grand prix at the cannes film festival in 1956 as well as an oscar the following year. pascal, i believe, is his son.

unfortunately, he was killed in a helicopter crash in tehran in the '70s, while filming what would be his last contribution to the film world, le vent des amoureux (the lovers' wind). other titles of his films include: voyage en balloon, fifi la plume, and crin blanc.

albert apparently has a fascination with all things aviary. it's tragic that he died flying but maybe meant to be(?)

it's my party

you know the rest.

blind

i found this amazing website of polaroids from all over the world called polanoid.net. it reminds me of a time when i was about four or so. and my dad's friend was sleeping on the couch. my parents were still together. i remember it like yesterday or maybe even a couple days before that sometimes, when i'm not so awake. he worked the graveyard shift.



i found a polaroid on the coffee table. it was some time in the '70s. if i told you my exact age, maybe you wouldn't be interested in this story any more. so we'll just say "sometime" in the '70s so i can remain a mystery. isn't that the way it works? is that why people never like to tell each other their real age?



i wanted him to see the picture. i woke him up. he was wearing a white t-shirt. i pushed the picture up into his face and i said, "look!" that's when i learned the concept of focus. i put it too close to his face.



he said, "i can't see what it is. you are holding it too close to my face!" he was mad. i was hurt because how was i to know that it is so hard for people to see things when they are right in front of their face?



i have lived that way ever since. trying too hard to see everything right in front of me. sometimes i over-compensate and see things that aren't really there. and sometimes i try too hard to make other people see me, too.

do yourself a favor

read this book. i haven't started it yet but i know it will be very good- one i will probably never let anyone else borrow because it is too dear to my heart, although i know it would be a nice thing to do for someone else. but as many people who know me will tell you, i am weird about my things.

click here

and then you will better understand the photo below:

me vs. today

i don't know if i feel more like the bull or the fighter but i think you probably get the idea.

i got no idols

just like juliana hatfield used to say, it is dangerous to idolize anyone. in fact, anything for that matter. but as long as we know this, does it make it ok for me to be obsessed with electrelane? i promise, it's in a healthy way.

if you don't know them, you are doing yourself a disservice.

check 'em out: electrelane website

check out a couple of my reviews here: la record
and here: no shouts no calls

photo courtesy of pitchfork

quote of the year

"It has always been chilling to me how easily people will give up their humanity. I’ve come to believe that there are really good people in the world and really bad people and each will always be that way. Then there’s the vast majority in the middle who are just looking for cues on how to act, which can make them capable of great kindness or unfathomable cruelty." -Steve Lowery (The District Weekly) in response to the negligence of Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital in Los Angeles

take your coat off

this is a blog for you and me.

welcome to my attempt to document these times - an archive of past and present music, art, gossip, literature, magazines, zines, culture, my life, your life, our life, and anything else that sits in this space i call my mind, which is more like a place where things get lost, forgotten, and purposefully and unintentionally ignored all at the same time. basically, this will serve as an extension of my memory... at last.

thank you for listening and i look forward to both amusing and annoying you. i promise i will try not to be as irritating as i know i am capable of being and show you good things you will like and probably dislike, too.

i hope to impress you or make you not like me... that would be ok, too.