• I'm seeing Of Montreal in a couple of weeks. I might pee my pants if they do a Prince cover. They seemed to do a lot of those while touring in 2007!
• I'm seeing Bob Dylan play at University of Minnesota on election night! I still can't believe he'll be here at such a perfect time. Maybe this is proof that miracles do happen...
• I renewed my emusic subscription lately. I'm still rather disappointed at ...

• Pavement. That was/is a fast-moving obsession. One day, one of the few tracks of theirs I owned came up on shuffle, and I immediately was moved to go out and buy their two greatest albums, CRCR and S&E. A couple months later, I jumped on the chance to see SM & Jicks at First Ave., Minneapolis. Still the best $15 I've spent in 2008!
• Guided By Voices. Thank you, John Sellers, for writing an obsessive...

• 1. Yatzee Dice:

I can hardly begin to describe, but this sparks so many memories of being a child, especially being a child who lives with and is often perplexed by grandparents until one realizes that they really are quite wise and understand more of you than you think. I mean, the answer is in the lyrics: - "you seem so content, buttering your saltine" - "and grandma you're smiling though you've ...

• Steve: "Where'd you come from? You look pregnant.

Jane: "I AM pregnant. I'm not even going to ask what you men are doing out here in your matching pajamas, by the way."

• "Steve, we think you got crazy eye."
• "Well, we call them pirates out here, Ned."
• "I like her hairdo."
• "Son of a bitch, I'm sick of these dolphins."
• "You left your dog, idiots!"
• "Don't point that gun at him, he's an unpaid intern."

• Dinosaur Jr.
• Love. Arthur Lee is genius, and I can't get enough of the song "Alone Again Or"
• Pulp. Again, why hadn't I discovered these guys sooner?! Also Jarvis Cocker's solo album
• Grateful Dead, or at least the American Beauty album...even more specifically, "Box of Rain"
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I saw a them in concert back in October and wasn't a huge fan at the time, but seeing them live turned ...

What I love to listen to during this time of year:

folk. lots and lots of folk, especially the good old stuff.

• Karen Dalton
• Nick Drake
• Neil Young, especially his live acoustic performances.
• Vashti Bunyan
• Bert Jansch (also Pentangle)
• Fairport Convention
• Joseph Arthur
• Judee Sill
• Joni Mitchell
• Devendra Banhart, in the right mood. Maybe a little Nino Rojo or Rejoicing in the Hands.
• James Taylor. I don't care how ...

• Christmas already seems to be sneaking into the retail world. It's awful. I'm already ordering a huge stock of holiday giftcards and shopping bags at Barnes and Noble. Ugh...I think I feel a huge stomachache of anxiety coming on.
• James Blunt
• A Fine Frenzy. She's too sweet, saccharine almost, and I hear her entire album once a day. Every time I hear her wail about sirens I want to pull my hair out. A...

honestly, do you ever wonder why?

• why anyone in their right mind named Richard would ever want to go by the name 'Dick'...
• fake nails...attractive?
• when people drive 10 mph under the limit in the left lane
• people making such a big deal about diamonds
• braking your car on a freeway entrance ramp. I don't care if you can't hear me, I will shout things at you anyway

I'm sure I'll be adding more to this list...

• Zelary
• The Knack, and How to Get It
• Harold and Maude
• Rushmore
• Leon/ The Professional
• Grand Hotel
• Benny and Joon
• Howl's Moving Castle
• Dummy
• My Sassy Girl (I can't for the life of me remember the Korean name)
• Love and Death
• I Heart Huckabees
• The Tenant
• The Graduate
• Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

My goal to limit music spending to one compact disc per week? Yeahhhhh, not so much. Oops. But, c'mon, when you can find 4 CDs for $20 at Cheapo, who can resist?

Cheapo Finds:

• Bjork, Debut: I can't believe I didn't have this one. "Human Behavior", "Venus As A Boy", and "Anchor Song" are some of my absolute favorites of hers.
• Nirvana, In Utero: hah. isn't everyone in the mood for this every now and th...

• Garden Spells, Sarah Addison Allen - not really my genre, but it's the B&N recommendation of the season. I've had several people ask about it, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

It was much more of a romance than I was expecting, but I'd still recommend it. Definitely appealing to the middle-aged, working woman crowd.

• Dead Souls, Gogol. surprisingly humorous. where else do you start with the Russians?...

three cheers for being positive? as much as i can complain, i really do enjoy my job. here are the best parts:

• the old man (who reminds me of a sleepy owl) with suspenders that buys a New York Times at exactly 11:15 every morning. He always wants to know what's happening, and if you give him a bland answer he will coax a genuine response out of you. never ever fails to make my day, no matter how ho...

• Smells Like Teen Spirit - Patti Smith (Nirvana)
• This Boy - Rufus Wainwright and Sean Lennon (The Beatles)
• (what list is complete without) All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix (Bob Dylan)
• Don't Think Twice, It's Alright - Nick Drake (Bob Dylan)
• Starman - Golden Smog (David Bowie)
• Ladytron - The Venus In Furs (Roxy Music)
• Wild Is the Wind - Cat Power (Johnny Mathis, originally, though everyone knows th...

• quit wearing so many frumpy cardigans! so unflattering, yet so comfortable that I can't seem to shake the habit
• get a haircut!
• stop leaving wet towels on the floor, they only attract spiders
• get over my dislike of the mall to go shopping for suitable work clothing
• get rid of things that I'm never ever going to wear again (the packrat in me wants to save everything...)

• Don't Let It Bring You Down - Annie Lennox (Neil Young)
• Mother Nature's Song - Sheryl Crow (The Beatles)
• The First Cut Is the Deepest - Sheryl Crow (Cat Stevens)
• Norwegian Wood - The Fiery Furnaces (The Beatles)
• American Pie - Madonna (Don McLean)
• Johnny B. Goode - Judas Priest (Chuck Berry)
• I Will Survive - Cake (Gloria Gaynor)
• American Woman - Lenny Kravitz (The Guess Who)
• Big Yellow Taxi - Counting Cro...

• Songs of Love and Hate, Leonard Cohen - 5/5. Thoroughly depressing, but the lyrics are stunning. Perfect for rainy days.
• Easter, Patti Smith - 4/5. My first experience with Patti Smith. She's terrific, and now I finally know where "Because the Night" comes from.
• Roxy Music, Roxy Music - 5/5. From Bryan Ferry's quivering voice to the bizarre songwriting on tracks like Ladytron, it's an all around won...

my favorite David Bowie tracks, in no particular order :)

• Blackout ("Heroes")
• Kooks (Hunky Dory)
• Life on Mars? (Hunky Dory)
• Oh! You Pretty Things (Hunky Dory)
• Queen Bitch (Hunky Dory)
• Breaking Glass (Low)
• What in the World (Low)
• Golden Years (Station to Station)
• Five Years (The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust)
• Moonage Daydream (The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust)

and for some reason, if there has to be a nu...

habits and preferences, but for no real reason

• I always shave my left leg first in the shower.
• I hate leaving the house with wet hair.
• I don't eat ketchup. I find it nauseating. I think it's all that sugar. Actually, I just don't eat condiments in general. I never put dressing on my salads, either, and I can only take syrup on my pancakes every once in a great while.
• I can't get ready in the morning w...

some of the most achingly beautiful pieces out there. a cheesy expression, sure, but it's the honest truth.

• The Lark Ascending - Vaughan Williams
• Moldau, or Vltava, from Ma Vlast - Smetana.
• Pavane - Faure
• "Una furtiva lagrima", aria from Donizetti's 'L'Elisir d'Amore' (Pavarotti's version will make you weep)
• "Che gelida manina", aria from Puccini's La Boheme. I don't think I'll ever get over this one, ...

don't get me wrong, I love this place. it's the best job i've ever had. however...

• the creepy dudes who buy their playboys and penthouses from me.
• the fact that management judges the quality of your work by how many memberships you can sell in a day. (that's retail, i guess. but it still sucks. and it turns customers, people, into numbers.)
• our in-store plays for each month (music). honestly, I would...

A nerdy confessional list of songs that, when coming up on shuffle, I always find to be disarmingly moving, often to the point where I turn into a puffy-faced, bleary-eyed, blubbering little girl. In other words, this is the list where I become all foolish and emotional.

• Burn - Ray LaMontagne
• Harvest Moon - Neil Young
• Corrina, Corrina - Bob Dylan
• Have a Little Faith In Me - John Hiatt
• Flying Shoes - To...