artist of the day

today's artist: Skrillex

Dubstep. It's all the rage recently in the US.  But for those of you who didn't know, it actually was popular in the UK 4 years ago, right around the time the tv show 'Skins' aired its first season.  And like usual, the US is behind on the times, and unless you were like me watching UK television as a junior in high school, you wouldn't have heard about Dubstep music until this guy. Skrillex. He's probably one of the best, and he is the first Dubstep artist to become popular in the US. This is his most popular song, and it can be heard being played in all the Frat houses at Westminster. I'm not complaining. Because I'm quite a fan of Dubstep. :)


turn up the bass,
hill

The Desk Diaries... #2

A while a go I posted a picture and description of my desk at home. Lately, I have been observing other's work spaces and I find it fascinating how the desk reflects the owner.  Sometimes the correlation is very suspected, like I would classify my desk, cluttered with a certain order, very decorated and full of objects I have collected.  But, sometimes the desk is the exact opposite of the expected.  With that being said, I have decided to document desks. 


This is a snap shot of my sister, Justine's desk. 

1. Cold coffee (peppermint mocha creamer I am guessing; it's her favorite)
2. Cute, compact laptop (from Grove City, I think it is going to explode soon. Thats what you get for going to GCC....)
3. Knitting (one of Justine's pastimes, and let me tell you, she is darn good at it)
4. Papers, filed into sections, all neat and organized (very telling of her personality) also the neat cup of pencils and pens
5. Random objects (what she would consider as clutter)
6. New Vera Bradly wallet (Christmas gift from me!) holding all her important cards and such

Correlation: very accurately portraying Justine's personality.

Oh, and Justine doesn't know I took this picture... oops!

Keep on keeping on, 

Rach 

artist of the day

today's artist: Kid Cudi

Today's artist is Kid Cudi.  The weird thing about today's artist is I had no idea what happened this Christmas.  When I went to look up this video to put on the blog (because it might possibly be my fav Cudi song), i saw a bunch of comments about some Ben Breedlove person, and how his video led them to Cudi's. I was confused because I'd never heard of this kid, nor did I know why everyone was talking about him and adding "RIP" to almost all the comments. So of course I googled Ben Breedlove to find out that he was just an average, 18 year-old boy with a heart condition who died this Christmas day, but made these 2 videos just the week before, bringing up his favorite rapper Kid Cudi and his favorite song "Mr. Rager"

So I watched the videos, and of course, started crying. Sometimes I struggle with my faith, so when I watch videos like this, it kinda smacks me in the face.  His story is inspiring and really makes me believe that there has to be a God out there, right? I just can't look past stuff like this...

So, yes, it was just a coincidence that I wanted to pick Kid Cudi today since he is my favorite rapper and I bought one of his albums yesterday, but maybe it's not a coincidence that I was led to Ben's videos and newspaper articles about his death.  

Listen to Cudi. Yes, he sings about marijuana a lot, but who cares? his beats are great and the overall message is, too. Cudi is a musical inspiration. 

news article about Ben

artist of the day

today's artist: Bombay Bicycle Club

Bombay Bicycle Club is an English band based out of Crouch End, London.  The band won Channel 4's "Road to V" competition and ever since then, their fame has been rising and spreading across the US.  Their style is similar to Vampire Weekend and Foster the People, with a lot of unusual guitar sequences and vocal harmonies.  "Lights Out, Words Gone" is one of those songs that I literally play on repeat because I can't get it out of my head.  I'm probably gonna purchase their latest CD over break!

happy almost christmas!
Hill

'Tis the Season for... defecation?

Every family has certain holiday traditions, some cliche, some strange. However, I had yet to encounter such a hilarious and slightly revolting tradition until I stumbled upon (that phrase seems to have lost its poignancy)that of the Catalan custom of Caga Tio. Translation? Oh yes, The Pooping Log. I will share the finer points of this tradition. 

• Young Spanish children find a hollow log and stand it up on two legs, paint a face, stick on a nose and top with a barretina or a red sock hat. 
• Starting on December 8th, the log should be "fed" every night until Christmas Day when it is appropriately, thrown in the fireplace.
• While cute little Caga Tio is being burnt to a crisp, children should beat the log with a stick, demanding it to poop. 
• Well let me tell you, this poop happens to be candies, nuts, dry figs, and turrones (almond nougat) 
• When the log is done "producing" candy, it poops out a clove of garlic. 

This tradition sure is something. 

Enjoy that candy, 

Rach

artist of the day

Today's artist: Monsters of Folk

You could say this is a folk "supergroup," because it's made up of M. Ward (the Him of She&Him), Jim James from My Morning Jacket, and Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes.  They have the folk-y acoustic feeling of The Decemberists or the Avett Brothers, but the singing is akin to Bon Iver or the Fleet Foxes (yet an octave lower than them).  The lyrics are wonderful, and the songs get stuck in your head easily.  Their sound is different enough from other folk bands to make them stand out.  I suggest listening to "Dear God" and "Map of the World."

happy listening,
Hill

word of wISdom

The words you are about to read are not mine.  I would never claim them to be such.  However, I feel that they must be shared.  I happened into this blog when I was fourteen years old.  Sadly to say I lost the tab on the history of the house computer and could somehow never find it again.  Through many searchings, I tracked it down again, about four years later and successfully saved it into the tab bar on this here laptop.  The protagonist of this blog happens to be the cousin of the kid who sat at my table in 8th grade Art class.  He was a delightful kid, popular, but with a lot of depth to him.  He was terrible at art and erased his grid like there was no tomorrow, scrubbing holes into the watercolor paper and making it hard for his table partner to draw anything resembling a straight line.  Anyway. 

This man, hIrSch, as he likes to call himself, is an adventurer.  In the current 2006 blog post where I swiped this excerpt, he was biking from northern Canada to the very dregs of Patagonia, Argentina.  To see if he finished the trip, you must finish the blog.  hIrSch is in Colombia during this entry and the words and thoughts really hit home for me.  As a Spanish major, these topics seem to crop up and dominate the conversation when people find out that my dream location to study abroad is in fact Colombia.  Have a taste of this wISdom...

so colombia. yes, how is it? well, allow me to tell you. it is just fine. no, i will not be foolish and call this country perfectly safe or pretend there were and are not serious problems here. there have been more military checkpoints here than in any other country i have cycled through. and yes, at these checkpoints, there are machine gun wielding youths. but let me explain what these checkpoints involve. a slight tapping of the brakes, a smile and a wave and a pleasant phrase, and a continuation of my ride. one time, needing to acquire a colombian flag to add to my collection, i stopped, by choice, and much to the delight of the guarding soldiers, to ask them for one of their flags, which they warmly gave me. only once have i had to stop and show a passport and this was simply a matter of curiosity and boredom on the part of the soldiers. the people here, as they have been in every country i have ridden through thus far, though perhaps even more so here, have overwhelmingly been warm and welcoming and incredibly willing to help and to answer any questions i have. yes, there are dangerous places in colombia. just like yes, there are dangerous places in australia. and just like yes, there are dangerous places in the united states. so if you watch and read the fear-inducing (lock your door! pull the blinds! and by god, jimmy, load your gun!) monopolized media, you have choices. would you say that having your child attend school in the states is dangerous based on the shootings at columbine and other isolated, but highly covered and publicized, events? is that a fair assessment? and so, based on what is fed to us about colombia, you would probably never want to come here. however, if you maintain an educated and level-headed perspective, talk to and heed the advice of locals, and decide to see for yourself rather than through the eyes of cnn, you might just never want to leave.  

things like this happen in colombia. did katie couric tell you about it?

think about it, 

Rach