Velvet Goldmine

I love this beautiful mess of a movie. It's one of my favorites, and it's also one of the best soundtracks ever. David Bowie wouldn't let them use any of his songs, most likely because the film shows a fictionalized Bowie having an affair with a fictionalized Iggy Pop. This made the soundtrack 100 times more creative than it would have been: Interwoven with classic gems by Roxy Music and T. Rex are original songs by Pulp, Grant Lee Buffalo, and Shudder to Think that sound like they could have come from that era too.

The flashiest thing about the album are the covers recorded under the name of the two bands in the film, Wylde Ratttz (faux Stooges performing "T.V. Eye" with Ewan McGregor not doing terribly on lead vocals) and The Venus in Furs (the British glam band that alternates Thom Yorke and an also-not-terrible Jonathan Rhys Meyers on vocals).

The Venus in Furs - 2HB

Shudder to Think - The Ballad of Maxwell Demon

Forever and ever amen

A few weeks ago I was having dinner at my brother's house, my five year old niece Lina sitting to my left. The two of us were laughing over a joke I'd made when her eyes fell on the inside of my right wrist and stayed on it as I lifted my pizza to take a bite. For a moment she looked like was considering something and then said "Aunt Samantha...your tattoo is still there."

"That's because she hasn't taken a bath yet," my brother said. When I'd first gotten that tattoo I'd tried to explain to Lina that it was like a drawing that's permanent, but she wasn't even four at the time and I'm not sure when kids begin to grasp the concept of forever. From what I can recall of being that age I knew that I'd keep advancing to the next grade in school and the excitement of birthdays would come every year, but it was my understanding that absolutely everything else was going to stay the same. I was my only time marker for those years before things around me did start to change.

Earlier in the evening Lina had given me her review of Madagascar 2: It was good, but she had to hide in the next room during some scary parts involving a dam and a volcano where characters either died or might die.
"When did she learn about death?" I asked my brother after dinner, when my niece and nephew were off to bed.
"I'm not sure when exactly but it was around the time she started going to Sunday school. One day she came home with a drawing she'd made of Jesus on the cross. She explained his situation and there was a big frown on his face."

AA Bondy - Rapture (Sweet Rapture)

Glasser - Glad (Delorean remix)

Meet my new spirit animal

The complete disinterest of the kid in the foreground in the face of such blistering awesomeness can only mean Grandpa does this ALL THE TIME. You, sir, are an inspiration.