i started to make a list of all the things that i want to do in my life, in hopes of figuring out where i'm going and what i'm doing. i still have no idea, but it was pretty inspirational. i may be a bit overambitious in places ("skateboard on the moon") but i won't have an excuse for being bored ever again.

besides, skateboarding on the moon would be the coolest thing ever.

i'm really stoked on amazon mp3's daily deal thing, it's shown me a ton of stuff i would otherwise have missed entirely. one of those things is the avett brothers; one of their albums was $3 and i liked the sound of the first track, so i figured "why not" and then i ended up loving it and buying like 3 more. they've got a good sound and some really diverse songwriting – you can really hear a lot of different influences from song-to-song, but they all blend together really well.

their studio stuff is sweet, but i'm gonna just go ahead and post this tour bus video because it's super fun. i like it when the people i want to listen to seem like people i'd like to hang out with.



also, i think this video is my new favorite thing in the world.

it was almost invisible

the place we ate at tonight had "caribbean pizza". apparently, a caribbean pizza has bacon (uh-huh), pineapple (mm-hmm), and... banana? whaaaa?! it was weird! i don't think i would ever order it again but i'm glad i tried it. i really like trying weird pizzas, actually. i kind of want to travel the world and eat strange pizzas.

sometimes i think i prefer things that are weird and dumb to things that i know will be good.

cricket is a bizarre sport that i can't even begin to figure out. it's like baseball if it was played by wizards who were trying to keep secrets. i feel like that's part of the appeal! i hope nobody ever explains how it actually works or all the beauty will get sucked right out of it.

i think if you want to be a good photographer, you need to have a good eye and a loose idea of how the equipment works, and then you just have to focus really hard and think a lot about what you're doing and just keep focusing and thinking. i don't think i have the sharpness for it. i really respect those that do.

the world is really pretty and really sad and really hopeful and really good and really bad. as best i can tell. i don't really feel qualified to talk about it beyond that.



i can listen to "doolittle" like three times in a row.

a radio play just for two

there's this thing called Under the Influence where the record label Vinyl Collective gets a bunch of bands they like to do a cover of a song that was really influential to them. it's a pretty sweet idea, and they make a really neat package out of it. nice cover art and a short essay from each band about why they like the original song, and usually on transparent vinyl (i like transparent vinyl!). in all of the ones i've heard so far i kind of prefer the original, but it still feels really cool to know that the bands i like like the other bands i like. and the original "two-headed boy" is one of my favorite songs ever, so i don't think it would be 100% fair for me to expect a cover to replace it.

ran me off the road

i always thought i didn't like the strokes because the only thing i ever heard was "last nite". turns out that that's, like, the only song i'm not into.



and i'm pretty sure i have a little bit of a crush on julian casablancas in this video. but hey! that's okay, right? right? right.

you're not to blame

"walk away renée" has one of my favorite hooks ever. i don't think i've ever heard a good straight cover of it (tough to capture the teenage ache and harpsichord combo!), but i really, really like billy bragg's version of it. both the spoken word piece and the guitar piece (i think it's played by johnny marr) are pretty brilliant on their own, but together it's amazing.

if you shake your heart enough

i think it would be pretty cool to make mixtapes for my friends featuring only songs that reminded me of them. or a mixtape of music that reminded me of a year. that would probably be a neat way to encapsulate the college experience.

"encapsulate" is a silly word.

this song wouldn't be on anybody's mixtape, but it's about as good an example of wistful summery pop as you could find. it's interesting how the video wasn't ever intended to be with the song, because they complement each other so well. or maybe i just like the gonz!