Donde Esta Yuula?

she's doing the best she can

I Won't Make A List And Send It

I don't begrudge Mariah Carey a good Christmas jingle. I dig her Christmas tunes. I couldn't tell you a single non-holiday song she sings, but that's kind of the point. Some things are best left to this season, like fruitcake, figgy pudding, eggnog and over-sized indoor foliage. Plus, adding The Roots to even the worst things in the world somehow make them automatically aweseme. Even fruitcake.

All We Had Was Black Coats

song of the day

took me a few listens but this is a good album here

is not realizing you're listening to music a sign of good music?

History Of The AT-AT

Time For Tree Milk

I've Still Never Had One

Reason To Live In New Zealand (Besides The Shire)

The dogs drive!

I don't mind this one bit. I think if dogs could drive us around I'd be more likely to go out and get one. Altho, we should probably get one soon because a driving dog is gonna cost quite a bit more I bet than that adoption fee I saw. Plus I don't wanna hve to spring on doggie driving lessons. Wait a second... Dad... this could be your big break!

It Ain't Retro If You Don't Know It

Going retro today, but it's hard to get all nostalgic about a bunch of tunes you've never heard before. But mostly I chose this compilation because pretty much every track was brand new to me. From the old-fashioned pleasantries by The Hollyridge Strings to the Mexicana-tinged tunes by Esquivel, this collection was really giving me a handful of stuff that I've genuinely never heard before. A few tunes that are brandy new as well like 'Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?' by John Barry and 'Holiday On Skis' by Al Caiola & Riz Ortolani. Also, the original 'The Bell That Couldn't Jingle' by Burt Bacharach makes a glorious appearance, and here I thought that was a Herb Alpert tune all along.

I guess the only downfall here is the re-occurrence of most of the popular traditional tunes; 'Sleigh Ride' twice, 'Winter Wonderland' twice, Rudolph times 2, double Frosties, and count them three 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town's. The versions differ enough to not make me throw my computer speakers out the bedroom window, but still, pushing this comp to 25 tracks while the second half practically repeats the early ongoing seemed kind of redundant.

At the end of the day they are all good versions that will all make it into the playlist so who's to worry about it really. There's eggnog to drink. And now, starting next year, I can be truly nostalgic about these tunes and enjoy their retro-ability.

B++++++

Yay Christmas!

Add "Bouncing The Seine"

We were thinking about upgrading Yuula's trampoline for Christmas and in our search, came across this doozy. A giant inflatable trampoline bridge spans the Seine in Paris and creates a useful, and mostly fun, way to cross from Port Debilly to Port de Suffren. Follow the link for more photos.

In lieu of wrapping this up and placing it beneath the tree for our girl, we will simply add it to our ever-growing bucket list.

Spitting Rudolph

Not great, but not as horrible as I thought it was gonna be waiting for the video to load. Ain't gonna make my playlist anytime soon, but as least he has the decency to break it down half way thru and then bring it home.

And, he did get all the reindeer names. That is something not many people can do.

A Pantomime Not A Play

song of the day

Dave Brubeck died today...

Ah that quintessential dinner party pop-up and most welcome sax melody, master of the 5/4 time, and creator of some damn good Christmas tunes while we're on the subject. We started off tonight's tree decorating session with his version of 'Away In The Manger'. I think the tree turned out well because we got off to that good start.

The Christmas Crackhead

So tonight we decorated the tree. I didn't think we would get it all done because we started so late and had a long day but once Yuula got the hang of things there was no stopping her. She was having a jolly ol' time hanging ornaments and dancing and all sorts of holiday merriment. Laura said that I've created a monster. I think I've created a miracle.

 We let her untangle the lights because that job sucks, but she doesn't know that yet

She was actually quite helpful and not just a little Christmas terror

She hung her first ornaments, all on top of each other, but they were on the tree so...

When we finished we asked her to pose with the tree. This is what we got...

I asked for a different pose and immediately regretted it

I asked for one more and she turned around smacked herself in the butt

And that's our Christmas card folks...

Once the madness subsided we managed to enjoy the tree in the right light

Not bad. I'll take it.

I Need A Table To Park My Car Under

We Need To Direct The Santa Population

Gotta be careful when you're in a hurry...

___________________________________

reminds me of this for some reason...

yay Christmas!

We Can Be Careful, See

Yuula stacked these blocks two days ago. They've stood for two days. I noticed and took this picture last night. The amazing part is that she stacked them right at the door between the living room and the dining room, a heavy traffic area for sure, but they somehow managed to stay standing for two days. That means two adults and one toddler, either consciously or subconsciously, walked over and around a stack of blocks about 2 feet off the ground, for two days. Were we trying to prove something? What was so special about this particular block stack? Is this Yuula's finest work to date?

None of that matters now. I knocked it over when i went downstairs for tea in the pitch black around 5:15am.

Grab Your Winter Scarves And Mittens

Christmas song of the day

here's one of those Rosie Thomas Christmas tracks... her holiday covers are fantastic, especially Joni Mitchell's River and the like, but I thought I'd give you an original... because the world will never have enough Christmas songs.... seriously

Run, Skip And Flee

song of the day

this is trying so hard to be so very wicked lame, but instead just becomes that much more amazing each passing second

Borko

Light Source Halved

Good thing I checked tonight. Good thing Laura reminded me. A Christmas tree without ample twinkle lights just won't do. So I guess we're running out in the morning to pick up some more since three of our six strands from last year don't work. And that just cannot be. I may use this opportunity to boost the light count, but don't tell her that...

I Hear Something Barking In The Stair

There is pretty stark difference between playing a straight forward cover of a holiday song and then trying to put your own personal stamp on a popular Christmas tune. Arcade Fire do neither in their now much-lauded, moderately-loathed attempt at a "Christmas" album. As the legend goes, members of Arcade Fire took a drunken winter's eve oh so many years ago (before their Funeral heydays) and grabbed whatever instruments lay around the Montreal apartment and decided to recreate song Christmas cheer, to varying results. There's definitely a ramshackle and un-micced drum kit, a trombone, a out of tune piano, and I swear I hear a slide whistle pop up every once in a while. The tunes are cringe-worthy at best, 'Chestnuts Roasting' mildly mimicking chord progressions and taking best-guesses at lyrically melodic accompaniment, and 'Jingle Bell Rock' must have been recorded during that tiny interval of time at any good party right as everyone hits their highs and then it's all downhill from there. 'O Holy Night' takes itself way too seriously in the beginning and then kind of vomits on itself before the final refrain. Surprisingly the finest song of the bunch is the original take of the aptly titled 'A Very Arcade Xmas', which starts off seeming as a bit of jerking around, making up goofy lyrics, bandmates probably switching instruments, but settles down halfway thru to be a pretty damn decent little lo-fi holiday number.

The rest of the "Xmas" album are extraordinarily un-Xmas-y and act as rough takes on demos and future album tracks, most notably a decent take of 'In The Backseat'. So it's only really those four songs padded with some other material the Fire was testing the waters on. They packaged this and handed it out as gifts that Christmas. I help but think they may have lost some friends that year. But they made up for it shortly after.

This all ties into yesterdays listen, Ira Ironstrings Plays Santa interestingly. You see, Ira Ironstrings was a.k.a. Alvino Rey, and Avino Rey is Win Butler's grandfather, and Win Butler is the lead singer of Arcade Fire. So that's kind of fun huh?

This thing gets a C-, because while it was probably a blast to make and we get a kick out of it the first time around, I don't see this having any chance of becoming classic, and really, isn't that what Christmas music is about. I'd hope that if this album had any intention of doing any good in the world that it would further motivate the band to redeem themselves someday and release a proper holiday album, because you know that would be pretty damn good.

An Early Xmas Gift For Laura

After spending the weekend licking honey out of my beard and not being able to recall the last time I ate anything with honey on it (was it that baklava at Thanksgiving?) I decided a trim was in order.

And now I can do this with it...

They'll probably stay in there better if I use a little bit o' honey...

Everything Is In A State Of Going To Compost

This here is SunRay Kelley. He's my new favorite human. He is a "Natural Builder". I call him The Architect of Awesome. He lives on a 9 acre spread in the foothills of the Cascade Range, north of Seattle, where he's constructed all these organic structures including yurts, huts, 7 houses, and a yoga studio. I want to live there. I would take the smallest hut he has. And maybe a yurt.

The Earth House

The Garden House

His kitchen, where he cooks a lot of apples

He's got more details about his work and his compound on his very own website.

SunRay Kelley

That Bumble Always Bounces

 Today was a nice little Christmas themed morning. Made some tasty oatmeal, which by the way is getting pretty well refined, and watched some Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. That Bumble always bounces huh? 

 She really enjoyed the scene where Rudolph and Clarice first meet. She watched intently then looked our way and gave an "awww happy". She's gonna be trouble. Then we went out to see what we could pick off the Christmas "to-buy" list. Did pretty well but time was limited. Came home and Yuula watched Rudolph again, intently, and I'm sure there'll be a third viewing once she gets up from her nap.

But I never noticed what a jerk Comet is in this show. He's really judgmental, as a supposed role model and coach for all those young impressionable bucks. I bet the North Pole has a real bullying problem. But the worst has to be Donner. Causing his son to be so ashamed of his own "abnormality" and then doing a 180 and embracing him when his schnozzola actually proves useful and saves Christmas. Donner is like the Michael Lohan of the reindeer world. My guy is Yukon Cornelius. Silver & gold people. Silver & gold. 

Pay attention to the Abominable Snowman's sound effects next time. That is some crazy stuff.

Those Are Really Some Christmas Songs

Sufjan Stevens has released five new volumes of his wondrously eccentric Christmas tunes and if my math is correct that brings him to precisely 100 original holiday tunes, or at the very least original takes on classic ones. It really is a collection worth having, but I'm not telling you how to live your life, okay.

Here is the delightful promo spot he made to promote volumes 6-10. I find this frigin hilarious, special attention to the scrolling song titles (all fake) not to mention a spot on performance of Rosie Thomas, whose very own Christmas album, A Very Rosie Christmas, has become a must-have staple right alongside Bing, Burl, Guaraldi and Emmet Otter.

He's released a handful of online videos around this album, one more random than the next, and I'm pretty sure I'll post them all...

Christmas, Yay!

Can I Stick A Toe In?

song of the day

I love feeling like I'm 16 in my parents basement air guitaring with headphones on... the new Dinosaur Jr. made that happen today

The Very Merry Mysterious

No one knew who Ira Ironstrings was. When suspicious recordings under the moniker started surfacing out of Warner Brothers in the early 60's it was a great mystery. Of course now, in the modern age, and eight years after his death, we've learned it was none other than swing pioneer Alvino Rey and his Orchestra trying to avoid lawsuit from Capitol Records whom he was signed with at the time. Oh nobler times.

Ira Ironstrings Plays Santa is recorded with some classic 50's dixieland jazz styles and it's probably my only holiday album that incorporates bass clarinet, banjo, and mallets on xylophone simultaneously. Barn burners like 'Jingle Bell Stomp', 'My Tow Front Teeth' and 'Over The River And Thru The Woods' are sure to get grandma and grandpa up and shaking a tail feather. They work nicely as single tracks intermingled within a diverse playlist as the one I'm attempting to create, but I can see how recurring and incessant listens to an album like this may cause someone to beat the holy hell out of some lawn Santas and burn the figgy pudding on purpose.

This nugget receives a B+ for it's initial enjoyability factor and it's capability to remain on the downlow.

I Can't Wait To See Her Face On Christmas Morning

What to get the toddler in your life for Christmas... too old for trifling toys, too young for heavy electronics, hell her favorite toys this past year were a broken stick, a half-deflated rubber ball and an antique straw dispenser. No mom blogs got that on their list. So I scoured the online lists and here's what I've come up with...

A Stuffed Animal

Yuula has proven her love for all things stuffed and fuzzy so this year we'll put her to the test and get her the ugliest stuffed "animal" we could find. I think this guy is modeled off that new monster they found down in Marianas Trench, some prehistoric subspecies that was discovered by deep sea divers and was thought to have been long dead, or should be long dead or, something like that. I think a good name would be Pukebone.

A Dolly

Every little girl loves their dolly and every parent loves a kid that uses the toilet. I'm just combining those two things and hoping Yuula finds a muse in her new farting poop doll from Korea.

Puzzles

Oh kids love puzzles, plus she's at that age where ya gotta try and make her think on her own or she'll end up taking Geometry all thru high school and never get into law school and live in our basement, so we're getting her puzzles. Because we don't have a basement.

Music

 Kids love music. Lullabies, sing-a-longs, dance-a-rounds, all kinds of music. Music is also something I take very seriously in my life so I am not going to take this one litely. I am gonna start Yuula off right by giving her this new boxset that spans the catalog of Roxy Music, 70's glam art rockers and still highly influential outift that spawned solo careers for Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno. Plus, if there was never a Roxy Music there would have been no Depeche Mode, and Depeche Mode influenced Coldplay, and if Coldplay never wrote that song 'Warning Sign' that I put on a mixtape I made for Laura way back when that sent her an (at that time) unspoken message that probably directly led us into our current relationship which led to Yuula being born, well..., no Roxy Music, no Yuula.

Tools

All the lists have little toolsets and tool benches on their ranks so I guess that's something to look at. But why beat around the bush with plastic hammers you know ain't doing shit to build me a pergola next summer. I'm getting Yuula this bad mamajama and getting her started with heavy machinery. If I had started using these kinds of things before I turned 30 years old maybe I'd be able to operate gas-powered engines like a normal man.

Books

Here's another area where enough is enough. She's been reading about bunnies and counting babies long enough already. She needs to learn something and what better than this little classic easy reader. She needs to be equipped with some knowledge and understand why Mommy & Daddy get arrested every Columbus Day. Plus it would be nice for Yuula to add a little more to the dinner conversation which frankly has really sucked lately. Yes Yuula, I know Minnie Mouse is cute, yes and she has shoes on, isn't that hilarious. 

A Pet

 Laura's been hinting about this one a lot, saying Yuula needs a playmate during the day and that she thinks we're ready for the responsibility and all. So I think I found the perfect pet. They multiply freely so when they surely die of starvation or general neglect there's always a backup foraging somewhere around the house. I guess we should just keep them away from the cats, or maybe they can double as cat food. Multi-use Christmas gifts are always the best.

Blocks

Building and stacking is also another important developmental skill she should be developing right about now. But so is physical strength and hand calluses, so I'm opting to bypass the duplo/lego phase and head right into concrete. Besides, daddy needs someone to build a mausoleum for all these molerat carcasses.

Now I just need some wrapping paper...

You Changed Thumbs Forever

It was 20 years ago today that the first text message was sent. 

It was Dec. 3, 1992, and Neil Papworth, an engineer working in the UK, sent the world's first short message service or SMS. 

It read "Merry Christmas." 

Enjoy the next year of your texting ability because when texting hits 21, it will be so drunk that none of your messages will be legible.

It Really Picks Up When The Harmonica Comes In

Yay Christmas!

Pyramids Point To Planets

Oooh. Pretty. That's Mercury, Venus & Saturn, in perfect alignment with the pyramids of Giza, today, December 3rd 2012. And no this is not part of some 12/21/12 doomsday collaboration. I don't condone that. Why? Neil deGrasse Tyson. That's why.

Sooo, who's in Egypt?

I Can Keep Things Calm

song of the day

Kopecky Family Band. I thought I'd get two tracks in and be able to delete from the hard drive. Bland name, face and sun cover, how good could it be? It was good. Nothing to crack the top 10, 20, 50 probably even, but good enough not to delete. And oh those clarinet trills.

Turkey/Horse : Soup/Puppet

Ever since she's turned two she's kind of become a picky eater. But something about Mommy's homemade turkey soup has got this girl asking for seconds. Even favorite like "roni & cheese" and "yo-gut" usually leave a little on the plate, but she cleans up every carrot, every giblet, every grain of mushy rice. At this rate the rations that lasted us a month are gonna be gone by end of the week. Looks like Laura's just gonna have to make some more.

She also found this finger puppet somewhere today and refused to take it off. I'm pretty sure it's in bed with her right now. But I don't think she gets the actual puppet part of it. It seems like she's just trying to freak me out. There definitely was not a playful approach to whatever it is she was working on. Hmm

She did cuddle it at the end tho.

Rant And Rave And Loudly Blare

Today's holiday album was a compilation, which is always risky. Some Christmas comps rely solely on their one or two hits and are heavily padded with "like" artists or fellow labelmates. It's almost never a good, cohesive listen. The internet has created literally thousands of self-made mixtape creators (myself included) that really take pride in their work and put thought into their playlists so they are out there to find, unfortunately they don't have big business bucks to advertise. I reached back to some early compilations, maybe when money wasn't so much the motivation as much as putting together some quality tunes and came across Jingle Bell Jazz.

The cover alone kind of sells it for me. Classic, stark, and a direct representation of those old city streets outside the clubs that this very music was probably heating up the joint on their own. Very cool tracks from Dave Brucbeck and Duke Ellington, a lovely "Christmas Song" by Carmen McRae and the wildest arrangement of "Rudolph" I've ever heard by Pony Poindexter. Loved Paul Horn's interpretation of "We Three Kings" enough to go seek his whole holiday album and Herbie Hancock's "Deck The Halls" may be my new favorite rendering.

The only sidesteps seem to be the unfortunate intro/outro of the Lambert, Hendricks & Ross track that probably cracked people up in the 60's but for this superb compilation, it just kind of throws a wrench in the gears. And then the second to last track before the Mile Davis closer is a Marlowe Morris rendition of Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree that awkwardly walks the line between jazz and polka. Decent tune in an all-encompassing holiday playlist but again, it throws this particular collection of fine, fine tunes into brouhaha. But then, like I said, Miles salvages the wreckage.

A++ for being a (the?) true jazz Christmas compilation.

Time Has Come To Part Ways Old Flame

For Sale

Quadra-Fire 1200 Pellet Stove
(http://www.quadrafire.com/Products/Classic-Bay-1200-Pellet-Stove.aspx)
$1500 O.B.O.
Dimension: 29"w X 31"h X 26"d
Heats extremely well
Received annual professional maintenance
Fair condition, normal wear and tear

...already had one inquiry...

....we'll see....

And Why Our Cats Live In The Woods

Gonna Have To Travel Everwhere By Overhead Cable

song of the day

I felt like I was listening to an instant classic with this new one from Jim Noir. Never really got into him before but, I never liked pickled herring before either...

The Ever-Growing Holiday Playlist

So I'm gonna try and listen to a new holiday album everyday to try and beef up my Christmas playlist. Christmas tunes are tricky. They live in their own little world in the realm of music. You're either covering a song that's been covered to death or you're trying to create new magical moments immortalized by people like Bing Crosby, Nat 'King' Cole and Alvin & the Chipmunks. So it's a sliding scale graded on a curve. But it's Christmas so...

Today's listen was brandy new from the Polyphonic Spree, Holidaydream. Already quite found of their past covers I thought that it would be interesting but I did not expect such wild interpretations of Christmas classics. Throwing familiar melody to the wind and relying strongly on lyrical recognition, the Spree really took some liberties with arena rock versions of Carol of the Drum and Little Drummer Boy, a spaced out Silver Bells and a very dark and lovely dirge version of The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year. They're version of Happy Xmas (War Is Over) has been floating around on compilations for a few years now, but maybe my biggest surprise was their rendition of Silent Night, adding a slightly sinister touch with twinkling harp and plinking acoustic guitar, sans vocals and possibly one of my favorite versions of this one particular song that usually fails to rise to the occasion. So, I liked it. A for the courage to push some of these songs further than at least I'd ever heard before.

Nun Ping Chuck Pong

This. Is. Awesome.

that's it... Yuula is taking karate

or ping pong

The Festivity Has Begun

Today Yuula learned the rules of the advent calendar. She does not feel that she needs to follow them so that will be a battle we fight for the next 24 days.

The tree is upright. That's all we had time for today. Just standing it up and making it straight. Or close enough for us. We told it just to look to the trees outside for an example. 

Then we gave Yuula a little snow time in the yard while we did a little winter cleanup. Hopefully this snow melts next week so I can try and finish raking the leaves. Chances are, it will, and I still won't.