Technics Turntable

73 out of 100? That's not that great.

Summer

Even though Summer is my least favourite, I can still find a slew of wonderful things that this season holds, such as...

No school!
Block parties in the old neighbourhood
Farmer's Markets
Going down the shore
Summer Blockbusters - Jaws still holds my #1 spot
Fire hydrants in the city to run through
Air Conditioning on crazy hot days
Sitting by the edge of the pool and dipping my toes in
Hot days with cool nights
Fun flip flops
Swingsets
Lena's Water Ice
Time to break out those old cut offs and show a lil' leg
Summer concerts and festivals
Nicole and Jaeden's Bdays
Drive-In movies!
Bike rides
Fireflies
BBQs and cookouts
Driving with the windows down and a brand new summertime mix playing
Popsicles - homemade ones are the bestest!
Sitting out on the porch talking with friends
Bright coloured toenails
Sleepovers with friends and family
The sound of sprinklers watering the lawn
Looking up at the stars on the beach at night
The ice cream truck
Oh, and is it wrong that I miss seeing people's yards lined with those Japanese Beetle bags?

Who Took the Bomp?

I finally got a chance to see this documentary and man, those ladies are without a doubt just fuckin' phenomenal. I thought I loved them before, but I have even more respect and adoration of them now. Who knew that was even possible??

(photo kidnapped from kerthyfix)

Emerson

The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.

Bishop's Latest Tat

Check out my bestie's new artwork. Can you tell he's a Queens of the Stone Age fan?

Andre de Dienes

Budapest 1934

Andrew Bird

Being the loser dork that I am, a few years back I bought The Indie Rock Coloring Book and proceeded to sit at my desk at work in between calls and colour. This is one of my favourites.

Draw the Breaks

One of the first mix cds that Rick ever gave me was Draw the Breaks back on June 3rd of 2005. It's still one of best and is as eclectic as ever. It wouldn't be a true Cerpts mix without being completely maudlin and the front cover let me know what I was in store for:

This cd is dedicated to the fact that whoever you are, 
Whatever you do, however hard you try and however 
Much you love...sometimes you're just not wanted.

Track listing:

Show Must Go On - Three Dog Night
007 (Shanty Town) - Desmond Dekker
Can't Stop Now - Keane
Landed - Ben Folds
Silent Telephone - The 101'ers
Love's Gone Bad - Chris Clark
Under My Wheels - Alice Cooper
Diner - Ani DiFranco
What Can I Do? - Antony & Rufus Wainwright
El Mañana - Gorillaz
Modern Way - Kaiser Chiefs
It Ain't No Use - Stevie Wonder
Don't Cry - Seal
Life's a Gas - T. Rex
Lady Stardust - David Bowie
Wrong Number - The Cure
First of the Gang to Die - Morrissey
Stratford on Guy - Liz Phair
Torn and Frayed - Rolling Stones
Rock 'n' Roll Suicide - David Bowie

Things...

...that I love right now.

-These chocolate chip and coconut macadamia nut cookies that I'm stuffing in to my gob. Juicing begins in less than a week, another month of no food, so I'm gettin' it while the gettin's good. It'll be worth it, though, as my fat ass needs to shed about 45 lbs.
-Seeing Kayla and Jaeden this weekend! It's a guarantee for laughs and pizza and lots of hugs. I've got so many stupendous kids in my life and these two are at the top of the charts.
-Honest men. Even when they tell you what you don't want to hear, it's refreshing when someone can show you enough respect to just tell you the damn truth.
-After more than six months without a single word from my cousin Emily in north Jersey, I finally heard this morning that's she is alive and well. I'm not one to worry much, but the last month or so she has been heavy on my mind and I'm completely relieved that she's okay.
-Summer is coming to a close. Baby does not enjoy the heat. Not one bit.
-Nicole should be getting a cell phone in the next week or so and it's seriously about god damn time! This girl hasn't had a cell since January for chrissake. I have to text her sister, her mother, her friends, have my brother FaceBook message her and I've even had to call her grandmother just to set up a day to get together. It's bullshit and she needs this phone so that we can hang out more. Don't think I didn't give her hell about this on Tuesday night. I read her the riot act and yelled at her that she needs to take into consideration that I need to talk to her and she needs to make herself more available. She swore that as soon as she gets paid she will get a cell phone and immediately text me the new number. It can't happen soon enough - I miss her!!
-Having really great communication with my boss. He's super fantastic and hooks me up with overtime cause he knows I've got to pay off some credit card debt and save for Dublin/London/Antwerpen 2014, Spain 2015, and Positano 2016. Hey, I don't have kids or a husband, so I mid-as-well go see the world.
-I see Ash next weekend and she doesn't know it, but late Friday night into Saturday morning we are driving down to walk the beach for a couple of hours. The only time I like the shore is late at night when it's peaceful and deserted.
-Netflix Instant. I know so many people are disappointed with the new eps of Arrested Development, but I'm just so thrilled to see Tony Hale as Buster Bluth once again. Sooooo cute!!!
-Lemon perfume from Positano that I'd forgotten I even had. It's the perfect fragrance for summer.

Best Advice

Always seeming to be the one with the shattered heart, I lean on Bishop at these times and always turn to him for good, solid advice. A lot like his mother, he tells it like it is and never holds back. On one such occasion he listened to me moan and rant and finally said to me, "Honey, the best revenge is living well." It's not terribly original but it is exactly what I needed to hear in that moment. Don't cry and complain that life is unfair and that I got dealt a shitty hand in so many ways, but suck it up and get out there and just live the best damn life you possibly can. I try to remember this whenever those proverbial chips of mine are down and usually, I can keep on going. Man, that fella is my rock and I absolutely adore him.

Toyota Celica Supra

Dreams

All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind wake in the day to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.

- T.E. Lawrence from Seven Pillars of Wisdom

(photo kidnapped from tumblr)

Illness...

...rears its unappealing head. I am currently spending the day curled up in my chair in a t-shirt and undies surrounded by three mugs of green tea, four glasses of water, NyQuil, Advil, and Airborne. I am almost certain I caught this lil' bug from my niece Syd. She warned me not to hug her but how can I resist?! But I WILL drown out this bacterial bastard. Baby's got a lot to do this week and sickness is not to be a part of it.

Kind Regards

The Lost Art of Letter-Writing. Another fabulous book to add to my already stellar collection.

(photo kidnapped from modcloth)

Meet Gretchen

The kids stopped over today with my brother and Little Z walked in with his hands behind his back and a cheeky grin on his cute lil' puss. "I have something for you. I made it." He then hands me the creature you see below. We aren't quite sure what it's supposed to be, but I've decided that it is clearly an alien girl with pigtails. I have named her Gretchen and she is just plain awesome. Little Z, oh how you spoil me!

The River Bends to the Right

I made this lil' mix for Jack at the library, being that he is a fellow music fan. I have yet to hear his thoughts on it, so maybe this wasn't quite the mix he was hoping to receive. Regardless, I think it's pretty god damn fantastic, especially since it's in an Amber Brown original felt cd case. Man, that gal is out of this world spectacular. I commissioned her to create a mix tape themed cd case for Jack and BOOYAH! She knocked it out of the park. That fella better appreciate her craftsmanship!

Track listing:

Lyrics Born - Callin' Out
Dear & the Headlights - I'm Not Crying. You're Not Crying Are You?
Floating Action - Not What I Came For
Ra Ra Riot - Oh, La
Iggy & the Stooges - Gimme Danger
Rage Against the Machine - Maggie's Farm
Beastie Boys - Sure Shot
Raphael Saadiq feat. Q-Tip - Get Involved
Thelonious Monk - Well, You Needn't
Dolly Parton - Down from Dover
The Carpenters - Hurting Eachother 
The Smiths - I Know It's Over
Melody Gardot - Baby I'm a Fool
Tom Waits - Alice
Frank Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim - Corcovado
Declan O'Rourke - Galileo (Someone Like You)
Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach - In the Darkest Place 
Horace Silver Quintet - Song for My Father 
Justin Hayward and John Lodge - I Dreamed Last Night

Rachael Beresh

The Holstee Manifesto is my new mantra. It's perfection.

 

Movieline

From the back page of the September 1990 issue. Oh the frightening fashions of the late 80s still creeping in to the early 90s...

Pure Imagination

(photo kidnapped from bobobabushka)

Los Amantes Pasajeros

Saw this in Philly at The Ritz East with Ashlee last night and we were howling. It should come as no surprise that Pedro has made yet another incredible film. I mean, this man can do no wrong. What a treat it was to see so many familiar Almodóvar faces and honestly, it was just the laugh I needed after a week of nothing but disappointments. Oh! And it was Ash's first foreign film! A perfect evening with one of my all time favourite people.

(photo kidnapped from cinemarama)

Werner

One more reason to adore Werner Herzog, as if anyone needed one. From One Second to the Next was, like every Herzog documentary, the sort of film that stays with you forever. Absolutely life changing.

Philly Dialing Codes

I have no idea how I came to possess this or who thought to save it in the first place, but man, did it bring back memories of our old GA3 phone number. I miss having every phone number memorised. Now I only know about six by heart and three of them are our old phone numbers and my grandparents' number. Fat lot of good they do me now.

JG-L

Check out these gorgeous pics of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as photographed by Nathaniel Goldberg from GQ's December 2009 issue. This kid has so much style and class that it's kinda disturbing.

Phoenix

Cannot stop listening to Bankrupt! Each track just makes me so god damn happy.

(photo kidnapped from wolfpackradio)

Pacific Rim

Saw Pacific Rim with Bishop yesterday afternoon. Ya know, just when you think Charlie Day can't possibly be any more attractive they go and give him a set of full sleeves and sexy Elvis Costello glasses. Sadly, watching him and Ron Perlman were the only reason to pay to see this movie, and I'm okay with that.

(photo kidnapped from moviefone)

Marlboro Country

We Neither See, Nor Hear, Nor Speak

This old ass pic of me and Bryan was on the last day we worked together. Haven't seen this fella in eons, but I miss him dearly and am so overwhelmingly happy that he's doing so well. He deserves only the greatest and most joyful of lives and not a day goes by that I don't think of his lovely bearded face.

More From Nicole

Here are three more pretty damn fabulous photos that Nicole took when we were in Positano. I miss that place more than I miss certain deceased relatives.

Lollapalooza 1994

Six years before we met, at Lolla '94, Bishop was dancing onstage with Luscious Jackson on the second stage while I was chillin' on the lawn with high school pals, Rachel and Lori. Originally I was so stoked about Lollapalooza when word broke out that Nirvana was to headline, but alas, that was not to be. But as soon as I heard the Beastie Boys were gonna play, I was so there. They were absolutely incredible. I mean, how could they not be?