Music Monday: Rilo Kiley/Jenny Lewis

...and here we are, back to single acts for a week rather than an overall theme. It's about time that Rilo Kiley and its lead singer, Jenny Lewis make an appearance here. I'm sure most of you will be familiar with the band, as well as Jenny Lewis' solo efforts, but as it's my job to compile, here I am. I tried to get The Dude to listen to Rilo Kiley back in the day, and he was all, "Whatevs. Where's my Rocky IV soundtrack bitch?" I'm paraphrasing, but it sounds about right.

Now, I need your opinions on the manner in which Music Monday is presented. I do sometimes struggle sourcing some of the music on YouTube - either it perhaps a bit too obscure, or due to copyright and the like, videos can't be shown. Because of this, I may change to a more common song, or perhaps leave you with some godawful fan interpretation video which inevitably sucks.

On the other hand, it's nice to watch music videos if they're well done. I have at times put up live performances as well, which, depending on the artist, can be quite entertaining. It gives you something to actually look at, which is kind of the point of a blog.

When visiting DefiantMuse the other day (on her blog, not in real life, if only...), I noticed she had a handy dandy playlist embedded within her blog post. You can select which songs you want to listen to, and you can pop it out as well. Genius!

So my question obviously is - which do you prefer? I'll put them both on here, and you can judge for yourselves. I'm the world's most indecisive person, so no doubt I'll do both every single week. I aim to please you see.

Wait, who was I even blogging about? Oh yeah, Rilo Kiley!

The Moneymaker:



Silver Lining:



The Frug:



Asshole:



Portions for Foxes:



Jenny Lewis feat. Watson Twins

Rise Up with Fists:



Born Secular:



The Charging Sky:

There we are. Let me know which you prefer - make your voice heard!

ETA: The playlist doesn't show when I view the page, so that's helpful. However, it seems to work once I click on "Pop out player". I think I can tell what direction these votes will go in now...Playlist bastards!

Bliss

You know you are getting older (less than a month to 30 as of yesterday) when your ideal evening is spent laying on the couch with a tub of Ben & Jerry's, watching one of the last episodes ever of The Wire. Throw a bit of blog-reading in there and I may simply expire from the sheer enjoyment factor.

This can only be surpassed by tomorrow night's plans - pizza and soda, and the final two episodes of The Wire. The hedonistic (yes, this is what passes for hedonism in Chez Pru) qualities of the evening will however be compromised when the finality of my viewing hits me. It will be like a close relative has died. Sigh.

This pseudo post is more of a PSA than anything else. If you haven't watched The Wire, you shouldn't own a television. That is all. Inane rant and random post complete.

Window into my world

This expression is forever immortalised in the relationship between my brother and me. My Aunt, card-carrying, flag-waving member of the Brain Trust, always begs him for a "window into his world" when she speaks to him on the phone. I suppose she feels like there needs to be some conversational equity as she opens windows, nay, large french doors into her world all the time - telling my brother about the spontaneous sex she had with her socially inept, oddball boyfriend (or as she put it, "I can tell you, he was most appreciative"), musing at length on her favourite brand of enema, and most harmlessly, the latest bargains scored at Salvation Army.

My window is not so scandalous nor repellent. It may, perhaps, be just as uninvited, but this is a cross you will have to bear.

I had a moment of epiphany the other night in which I was preparing lunch for the next day, chicken hummus wraps. I was spreading sea salt and black pepper hummus on some garlic and coriander wraps, tearing up some fresh spinach, and listening to Folk Alley. I was blissfully in touch with my earth mother side, a facet of me that is always trying to peek out, but is often beaten down by the highly strung, consumerist working mother which dominates.

Now, this is a bit like invasion of the blog snatchers, but I'm going to tell you how to make these delicious wraps. I feel the need to share the wealth because these fuckers are culinary heaven. It's not a recipe as such, since you just adjust the quantities based on the number of people you're preparing them for. Sometimes I make four (2 for me, 2 for The Dude), but the past few times I've had to make 6-8 as various colleagues were salivating over the mere sight of them.

All you need is some cooked chicken, tortillas, fresh spinach (or other greens), dash of pepper, the hummus of your choice, and some chili oil. Spread the hummus on the wraps, add the spinach and chicken, and sprinkle on the pepper. The chili oil is best applied right before eating, and a little goes a long way. It makes a very good, healthy, and low-GI lunch. TRY IT.

Ahem. Leaving my Nigellaness aside, this window must include a glimpse of my insane child. As mentioned previously, P has an awareness of bodily functions and I encourage this. It is obvious that I would like her to deal with these situations in a polite way, hence the encouragement of "pardon". I dread her being one of those obnoxious kids who burp and fart and think it's absolutely hilarious. I have The Dude under strict instructions to not laugh when she farts, even if she says (and no doubt she does), "I fot". Now we have connected farting and the bum, so occasionally we are treated to "I fot fum bum", in case we were not aware of the origin of a fart. She often grabs her bum at the same time, to further illustrate this very scientific occurrence. The other day we were sitting on the sofa together and she farted. The little minx looked at me and said, "Mum did a fot." I can assure you, I did no such thing. Full of wind and deceptive, this toddler of mine.

She knows where she can find the bum of her Mama (regardless of its flatness), and the bum of her Dad. We were in the supermarket the other day and as I was pushing the trolley along she pulled up my shirt and shouted, "MUM'S BUM! MUM'S BUM!" I tried desperately to simultaneously pull down my top, push the trolley, and shush her, but she carried on for half an aisle, "MUM'S BUM! MUM'S BUM!" I despair that as I have taught her the word "vulva" (or, in P speak, "bulba"), this could lead to many an embarrassing social situation.

Poo and wee are of course an interest as well, with the highlight of a recent park visit the sight of a dog pooping. For the next day there was much babbling of "Doggie. Park. Pooping." My mum asked her what she saw in the park, and I think you know what she said. The memories of 45 solid minutes of playground equipment time, running down pigeons and offering them a toy car, or playing football with her Dad evaporated. It's all about poop.

Lest there be a body fluid or gross physical occurrence which hasn't received attention, P has recently discovered boogies, or as they refer to them here "bogies". I have no idea where she picked up (HA!) this word, but she now has verbal accompaniment to her near constant nose-picking. I couldn't get her out of her car seat today because her finger was so far up her nose that I couldn't get the strap from around her arm. She looked at me, furrowed her brow, and said thoughtfully, "Hmmm...bogies".

So there is my window, no doubt smeared with snot and saliva. Charming.

Music Monday: Possibly/Hopefully New to You

Is it weird I think of you when I'm listening to my iPod? Songs come up which make me want to preach of their brilliance, and as my husband isn't interested in any music which isn't a lite rock ballad from the 80s (Phil Collins) or a contemporary girl band (Sugababes) you are the victims I'm afraid. Actually, you're not really victims, as you can choose not to hit play on any of these, as no doubt some of you do. Be advised though, you don't know what you're missing.

This week's theme is music which I hope will serve as your first introduction to these bands/singers. It's hardly as if I've picked little-known acts, I'm not that much of a hipster. I subscribe to a lot of music blogs and I listen to independent radio stations, no underground knowledge here.

We'll start out with something a bit peppy, Mr Hudson and The Library, "Too Late, Too Late", a snazzy little contemporary ska number. Little fact - when promoting their album they played...libraries. A band that does a tour of libraries. Awesome. Anyone else fancy the singer too? Shut up, I like a man in a suit. Sexay.



She and Him: You Really Got a Hold On Me

"She" is the actress Zooey Deschanel (Elf, The Happening, etc) and "Him" is the singer M. Ward



Bat for Lashes: What's a Girl to Do



Ben Harper feat. Blind Boys of Alabama: I Shall Not Walk Alone

I'm sure quite a few of you will be familiar with Ben Harper, who is somehow married to the plainer-than-plain Laura Dern. I think you'll agree, he's far too hot for her. Also, what is this preoccupation of mind with hot singers? It's like I'm a friggin' groupie. Ugh.



Cat Power: Lived in Bars

Some of her songs in my iTunes are classified as "easy listening", which, I assure you, she is not. I shudder at the thought of having this classification of music on my mp3 player.



Joanna Newsom: Book of Right On

Wacky and delightful. That is all.



Kate Maki: Blue Morning

One of my new Canadian obsessions. Love, LOVE this woman. I always read comparisons to Lucinda Williams (also, love), but I feel like comparisons always diminish the individuality of the artist being discussed. Anyway, Kate Maki might sound like Lucinda Williams.



The Knife: Marble House

I included The Knife a couple of weeks ago, but as it was a different song I've given myself permission to include them again here.



The National: Fake Empire

Some uplifting music. Heh.



The Streets: Blinded by the Lights

Beware, it's the evil rap music, or as a colleague in her late 50s calls it, "the hippity hop". I suppose technically it's "garage", but whatever. Don't worry, I don't have the hots for this guy, though he did once talk about how much he worships Johnny Cash...



StellaStarr*: My Coco

I'll end this on a jolly note, just as this post began. I would have preferred an album version versus a live one, but all of those are unembeddable because StellaStarr* are the biggest band in the world or something. Either that, or they're a band who had a random fun little single four years ago and nothing since. I'm not sure which...

Meme and such

I have had no time lately for anything but work, child-rearing, husband-appeasing, and cooking. Oh, it's a jolly good lark. As such, I have forgotten what NCLM even is, and have fallen far behind in all my commenting. My apologies to all of you, and I shall catch up shortly. Tomorrow night is my night to stay up and blog/watch trashy TV as ordained by a spousal agreement which states that I can do that and sleep in on Saturday mornings, and The Dude gets his chance to sleep in on a Sunday morning.

I have about ten minutes, no more, until I will fall into a deep slumber, so pardon me for blogging another meme. It's dreadfully tiresome of me, I know - assuming people want to read me answer questions about myself. This is what those who question the reasons behind blogging use as evidence about bloggers' complete self-absorption. Oops, I've fallen right into that cliche trap.

Ten years after the fact, completed by every blogger worth his/her self-obsessed salt, as tagged by Brigindo:


1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

Ten years ago I was 19, very nearly 20. I was depressed, gaining PCOS weight, and rotting away at community college because my Dad spent my limited college funds on gambling and alcohol. I had a job I hated in a sporting goods store, tried a list of anti-depressants, and visited a therapist who pinned all my problems on alleged emotional neglect I experienced as a child. I had no such memory of this neglect, but she was convinced this was the answer because it would have had made her job easier. I had been with The Dude for about a year at this point, much of it spent a continent away from him.

2. Five things on my to do list for today.

Today is only with me for another 49 minutes, so for tomorrow - making a salad for lunch, finally wading through painful work emails, possibly apply for yet another job, visit MIL, and cosying up on the sofa for a night of blog reading and general debauchery. That's called living.

3. Snacks I enjoy.

I am currently obsessed with Sainsbury's Feta Hoummous as a dip for fresh carrots, celery and broccoli. I had to stop short yesterday of smearing it all over my boobs and writhing in ecstasy. It is some good shit, let me tell you.

4. Things I would do if I was a billionaire.

The Dude seriously worries about us winning a large sum of money because he fears I would give it all away. He's a realist, clearly. I'm a consumerist, I'll admit it, but I also realise you only need so much. I would ensure both sides of the family are comfortable - pay off my Mom's mortgage, finish putting my brother through college, and get him health insurance as well. My goal in life, realistically, is to try and make just a tiny bit of difference to a lot of people. If I was a billionaire, the extent to which I could do this is dizzying. Unfortunately, the university academic administration business doesn't yield such financial rewards.

5. Places I have lived.

Born and raised in South-Central Pennsylvania. Speaking of which, I seem to have picked up some new readers in that location and I'm simultaneously freaked out and curious. I digress, as per usual. I now live in the South of England, and have for the past (nearly) 6 years.

6. People I want to know more about.

There is no one on earth who has yet to do this meme I think, and I'm too much of a habitual fence-sitter to actually tag someone. If this meme has piqued your interest, go for it. You're all fascinating and engaging women.