the marvelous adventures of emily

Top 5 Favorite Old Guys.

2008-12-05T02:55:39Z

I have so many favorite old guys. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Richard Harris, Alan Rickman, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Neil Young, Bob Dylan... but the truth is I just have a soft spot for the goofiest of them all. The above pictured are my Top 5 Favorite Old Dudes, in no particular order.

For some reason I would rather make lists of my favorite old men instead of playing Apples to Apples. Sorryyyy.

PS. I just realized how much of a crush I have on John Stewart. Mmm.

Top 10 Favorite Albums & Runners Up

2008-11-20T16:07:06Z

I stole this idea from sorryteacups!

THE RUNNERS UP

20. Karen Dalton - In My Own Time

19. Sigur Rós - Takk...

18. France Gall - 1968

17. Do Make Say Think - Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn

16. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run (so mad about this... I hate Bruce, but I like this album)

15. Daniel Johnston - Fun

14. Texas Gladden - Ballad Legacy

13. Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

12. Joanna Newsom - The Milk-eyed Mender

11. Diane Cluck - Oh Vanille Ova Nil

TOP 10 ALL TIME FAVORITES (probably)

10. The Rolling Stones - Out of Our Heads

This album was my gateway to Rolling Stones fandom which I discovered via (and this may be lame so please forgive me) the soundtrack to Darjeeling Limited. The song "Play with Fire" really got me, and later I learned so did most of the other songs on this! (Both UK & US versions).

9. Radiohead - Kid A

Yet another gateway album. This was the first Radiohead album I ever heard and while I was determined not to like them for some reason, I immediately did after hearing this. It's a truly amazing album and I think most people would be hard pressed to argue its greatness. It reminds me of falling in love with Thom Yorke... ah, Thom. It also has sentimental value because it reminds me of meeting my group of friends when I got to college, so that too makes me a very happy person when I hear this album.

8. The Beatles - Please Please Me

I don't know what to say about this one except that I love it! I love old Beatles records, later Beatles records, Beatles solo records... I only allowed myself one Beatles (group) album to be on this list or else they'd take over nearly entirely, and this is the one that I always come back to as a standard favorite. It was a difficult decision but I think I made the right choice for myself. It's a good one.

7. David Bowie - Station to Station

I really, REALLY didn't like this album when I heard it the first few times. It seemed so far from my beloved Hunky Dory... but anyway, the more I listened the more I realized that it was great. I almost picked Lodger or Heroes to go on this list, but I just don't like them as much as a whole.

6. Neil Young - After the Gold Rush

This is my go-to Neil Young album when I'm feelin' the need for some Neil. I love so many of his albums it was also hard to make this decision, but it's one of the first ones that I had by him (besides Everybody Knows and the Decade compilation) and it just HAS so be on this list somewhere.

5. George Harrison - All Things Must Pass

This album will always remain on my top 10 list, I'm pretty certain. It's a large and beautiful thing and definitely is a comfort album. I think it shows best how incredible George was without being pretentious.

4. Patti Smith - Horses

Patti, we've only been recently introduced but boy do I sure love you. I think of her kindof as a female Bob Dylan in terms of vocals. Aside from that, I just love this album. It's very rock'n'roll, in that non-cheesy sort of sense (if there can be a non-cheesy aspect when you actually utter the phrase rock'n'roll).

3. Paul McCartney - Ram

One word for this one: HAPPY. It's a feel-good record that reminds me of summer, but can still be listened to any time. I've heard it so many times and it's still so much fun.

2. Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline

I'm a real sucker for this one. It's homey. And just good, what else can I say?

1. Joanna Newsom - Ys

Joanna has my heart more than anyone I think. She's quirky, she's wonderful, she's a brilliant songwriter and lyricist-- not to mention one of the songs IS MY NAME!!!11!1! I've seen her perform this album and I think that is one of many aspects that makes it so especially special to me. Milk-eyed Mender made me fall in love with her, but this one is just such a well-done entirety that transcends the normal expectations of a favorite album. It's lovely, and it is my number one favorite.

I think next up I might do a top 10 or more favorite album ART list. That would be fun too. Hooray for killing time at work!

Obama for AMERICA!

2008-11-05T13:04:45Z

Woah, I'm doin' somethin'.

2008-09-27T21:38:46Z

So I've decided that I'm going to attempt to make a journal comic (even though it's not really a "comic" in the sense that it will always make you laugh) and publish it through LJz. It may be boring or bad, but I'm going to try to do it as a creative outlet for my weekends. As though I don't have enough projects for school! So far, I have one whole comic. Hooray!

Anyway, if you want to see it I named the journal

everydaywhales.

Sally Mann... I am obsessed. Also, Emmet Gowin.

2008-09-09T15:49:43Z

[image by Sally Mann]

Things I have been doing lately...

The End of August

Going swimming in Watauga Lake with Kathleen, Jane, Eric, Jordanna and Derek. There were a few pups of someone else's there and they were terribly cute! It was probably the best time swimming I've had in quite a while despite the water and surrounding air being a tad chilly. Oh, and I think we parked the car beside an old barf bag, but that was only a temporary bummer. It was nice spending time with Kathleen since she's gone, Jane since I hardly see her outside of class, and Jordanna since she doesn't live here. I would really like to go there more often. Too bad summer is fizzling out here in the mountains.
Becoming an AIGA officer of committees. This is the first responsibility I've taken on with any kind of school club since early high school. I'm excited about this though! I'll be spearheading committees for fund raisers, events, and that sort of thing. Sounds official, doesn't it?

The Beginning of September

Swimming in Watauga River (a different place) with Ilene, Torres, Kasey, Nasir and Derek. It was a tad more challenging to reach the water here, but far more gorgeous a location than the first. The water was moving, and pretty shallow in the safe parts so it didn't allow for much swimming. But we sat on the rocks, waded around and enjoyed the view for an hour or so and it was beautifully serene. After they left I hung out with Derek and then we had a doughnut and game night with Kevin, Kristen, Mika & some other folks I didn't know too well. My raspberry-filled doughnut tasted like Robitussin-filled, but playing Apples to Apples was fun!
Dressing up & going to the Nth Gallery to see Will's exhibit. I know Kevin said something about this being probably the best exhibit he'd seen there and I agree wholeheartedly-- Will's photos were beautiful and I definitely enjoyed it more than any other Nth Gallery experience I've had to date.
Success in vegetarianism. I think I began this quest August 20th (by LJ's records) and I've only had one accidental mishap that I know of... ate some vegetable soup and didn't realize until after that it was largely made of chicken broth. Whoops. I figure that is likely to happen especially at a restaurant since you can't be sure what they cook your food with, but I haven't begun to miss any meats-- so yay on 20 days of probably like 95% vegetarianism. I plan to continue.

Also, I've been thinking that I would like to live on my own for once. My roommate has been great, but it's been 3 years and since I'm graduating in the next year and a half-ish I think it would be good to get my own place. I'm comfortable in this town so I don't think it would be scary, and I think I'd really like having somewhere of my own to maintain especially if I want to have a cat, which my current roommate & landlord are both opposed to. I just hope this will work out so I can still live really close to campus and pay a reasonable rent...

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.

2008-08-14T01:05:37Z

Everything was in it's right place

2008-05-11T02:00:21Z

Thom Yorke and I were in the same place at the same time last night. WOW.

Chocolate, movies, books, candles, and some jasmine tea.

2008-01-27T22:05:25Z

I have learned the value in burning candles. They are such relaxing, lovely things! Funny how wax, and just a bit of fibers and flame can create such a desirable ambiance, non?

So I worked out all my school scheduling woes and thoroughly enjoy my new job position. My classes are already taking up a lot of time and effort (oh my) but I am actually enjoying them sometimes (imagine that!). I never thought I'd like long chapters on graphic design history, but on occasion I do! My nutrition class has me wanting to eat healthier and add exercise to my daily regimen, and my graphic design class is fast-paced and fun, and so is photography.

Though I've been eating healthier (or trying to) I still felt the need to make a chocolate cake. More about that can be found here. My roommate and I made three apple pies a couple weeks ago and they turned out very tasty as well. I only wish I had pictures of those too!

And speaking of other websites, I have my own now for school! It's still in the works and the links in my portfolio section aren't yet working, buuut I like it so far. You may visit it aqui.

Hmm so other things new... I watched "Breathless", tried some Jasmine tea, annnnd started reading Beyond Civilization. I just finished reading Siddhartha a while back and I really enjoyed it despite some long-ish parts. I do enjoy a book with a good transformation in the story. And oh, unrelated to that I found out that I actually CAN like the Rolling Stones as long as it's music from their earlier era. Yes yes.

Thank heavens for music.

2007-07-26T02:40:09Z

I saw the North Carolina Symphony tonight-- very exciting! There was a big sparkly harp, buuut I barely got a peek at it because we were so close to the stage we could only see like 3 rows of people. However, it was an amazing experience and just for the sake of remembering, I typed up a very mini version of the program.

Richard Strauss - Opening Fanfare from Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 (I have no idea what all these details mean... gah.. I'm prolly gonna clip out a lot)

Mozart - Symphony No. 41

Josef Strauss - Music of the Spheres

John Williams - Suite from Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Gustav Holst - "Jupiter" from The Planets

(intermission!)

John Williams - Imperial March from Star Wars

Gustav Holst - "Uranus" from The Planets

Jerry Goldsmith/John Mauceri - "The New Enterprise" from Star Trek, the Motion Picture

John Williams - Superman March

John Williams - Star Wars Suite, Princess Leia, Main Title

My favorite was the suite from Close Encounters... which I've had rented for days now and need to watch ASAP! Also, ima be researching a lot more John Williams stuff because that was pretty much great. Aaand that's all I have to say about that!