Movember: Return of the Stache

Movember 2010 (preview edition)

The current edition of Movember is in full swing and we, as a team, are on our way to beating our mark from last year of $550, but I have a feeling we may land a little short. This being said, I am very thankful to those who have already donated and to those of you who have also been extremely supportive. I am asking now that if you’re able to, please make a pledge of whatever you can. As an incentive, I have made a little video to entice you into supporting me! A full, month long version will be coming out in the first week of December, but in the mean time, please donate here and enjoy:

The Streets

Anyone know what happend to The Streets (Mike Skinner)? They’re/he’s one of my favorite artists and last year was fantastic, he updated his twitter daily and posted free songs weekly but now, he hasn’t tweeted since March 8th and his site hasn’t been updated in close to a year! Where are you Mike?

Berlin

Für Alle, Die by Klee, came on my iTunes earlier and reminded me of my time in Berlin:

I, so dearly, want to go back.

Lyrical genius

I have known what I’m about to say for a while now, but just added to my beliefs the other day, with the acquisition of the most recent album of one of the biggest lyrical genius of our generation, R. Kelly.

He’s more than just a musician, he’s a storyteller. In his song Real Talk, Kells, make the listener feel like they’re right there with him when his “trifflin’ ass” girl calls him up. *The following video contains explict language*

Dat shit be real! Further wonder can be found in watching “Trapped In The Closet”, if you get a chance to watch it, you’re in for a real treat of Hip-Hopera!

The First Big Weekend

I love this song:

I first heared it back a few months ago, at the beginning of summer, and just heard it again on shuffle the other day. I really like the beat to the song and the delivery of the song is really good and unique. Too bad summer’s over, something to look forward to for next year.

September

Well, guess what? It’s September already. Hard to believe that we’re already eight months through 2009. I had one hell of a New Year’s celebrations to ring in ’09, and I just can’t believe that we’re almost full circle into the holiday season.

I’m going back to school again next week, although I’ve only been out of classes a few weeks, so it shouldn’t be too big of a shock, but the full course load may be.

I love this time of year we’re now entering, a time of scarves and duffel coats, of which I just bought a new one. So as normally I’d be wishing this beautiful weather to stick around, part of me wants the mercury to start falling, so I can bundle up again.

I’m thinking we still have a little while before I can start layering, so in the mean time, enjoy one of my favorite songs of this time of year:

Dance, Dance, Dance

A couple of days ago, I downloaded the Pitchfork Top 100 tracks of 2008 and I’ve fallen in love with Lykke Li‘s Dance, Dance, Dance. I really like how calming the song is and although I wouldn’t really classify this as music I’d normally dance to, I find it a little hypnotic and it makes me move just a little bit. It makes me really happy too, especially on such a beautiful summer day.

This American Life: Live!

Tonight, I finally got to see the live episode of the NPR radio show This American Life. And although the show was pricey, it was well worth it.

I was first introduced, and ultimately hooked to the show a couple of months ago, by my friend, Anna. It ranks up there for me with The Vinyl Cafe and WireTap as some of my favorite listenings.

I always find it weird to see radio personalities in the flesh when all you know them by is their voice. You create an image of them in your head and it takes a while once you see them talking to break that. I remember the first time this happened to me is when I first saw a picture of Rick Cluff, the host of CBC’s “The Early Edition”, which was played each morning in my kitchen before school. The sensation is sort of like finding out something about someone that you have a bond with, something that changes the way you think about them, nothing so heavy that you don’t like them anymore, but something, just enough to maybe alter your relationship a bit.

Here’s a clip from the show, a little cartoon that featured: Quimby The Mouse

Yann

Last night was a night I had been looking forward to for some time. Last night I got to go see another one of my favorite musical acts: Yann Tiersen.

For those of you who may not know of him, he composed and performed the soundtracks to Amélie and Good Bye Lenin! Both of those soundtracks were heavy on piano, and the Amélie soundtrack used a lot of violin and accordion. So I was a little upset when he didn’t play anything remotely close to what made me go see him in the first place. To be fair, there was one violin solo that he played, and that was pretty good.

The highlight of the show for me was watching the bassist, who appeared to be in need of an exorcism, really get into one song and in the process, knock over his microphone. The ensuing attempt by the stage hand to put the mic back up was pretty funny, with the bassist nearly body checking the stage hand into the crowd.

The show, overall was alright, but I was just disappointed that he didn’t play anything that made want to go see him in the first place. Here’s a clip anyway.