Joanna Newsom & The Ys Street Band E.P.

I love Joanna Newsom madly. She and her music are quirky, oldworld, gorgeous. The Milk-Eyed Mender is easily my favourite 2004 album, and this new EP exceeds every promise made. (You know how apprehensive you get when your favourite artist does something new, especially with a new band in tow.) I feel so lucky to be one of the folk who 'got' Newsom's voice, or I'd have missed out on the first song of this album, 'Colleen'...


And these lyrics from the last, 'Cosmia':

...though I tried so hard my little darling
I couldn't keep the night from coming in

If you couldn't get over Newsom's toenail curling voice from her other stuff, I still think you'd like this EP. It's mellower, yet still distinctive, unusual, and beautiful.

I've also been listening to Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother. Azparently this is the album Pink Floyd hate. I like it. Summer '68 is fast becoming my fave PF song, enough to make up for any other weirdness on 'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast' and the title track. I know, I'm a pretty slack PF fan. Weirdness, that's what they do, right? But I like Summer '68 for its catchy piano and brass sections; I like 'Run Like Hell' (from The Wall) for its blatantly disco beats; I like 'Comfortably Numb' for its... well... I just like it, but it isn't weird.



Is it okay that I don't read books anymore? I'd much rather sit and listen to some good music than read a book (good or otherwise). Oh, well. I guess it'd only make me pseudo-intellectual if I started now.

new blog post!

My best bud Julia's got a new blog over at lainujam.blogspot.com, so I figured I'd update this one a little more regularly... well, I'll update it at least one, i.e. now... then we can comment on each other's blogs, which would be quite the novel event. Of course this could thwart all conversation we have in RL, but I'll take that chance.

So, what's bin going down in AmyLand?

I am potentially at war with the UWA student guild. They want me to pay for a membership I never activated. I don't. When I clicked the box in my enrollment form at the start of the semester that said I would join the Guild, my understanding was that I wasn't actually a member until I filled in the form and paid the money. So when I changed my mind and decided not to join the Guild, I figured that was the end of the matter: I'm not a member, I don't pay the membership fee. Not so! Apparently, clicking that box has obligated me to Do Stuff. Okay, so I should have read the fine print. But be fair, folks. I'm just asking to retrospectively cancel my unactivated membership so I don't end up paying sixty bucks for, well, nothing. Hrrf. Stay tuned.

On to brighter, better days, I saw the Tales from Earthsea anime movie last night. I didn't know I liked anime! Wow! Great movie. Lots of malarkey about Life and Death. Lovely scenery. Beautiful music. Awesome.

Oooh! Hair shaving photos! Dijana gave me a cd with all the photos she took from my Fully Wicked Sick Hair Do. Ah, the memories. I've uploaded a few to my Flickr account. This is one of my favourites:



My mum was so brave.

And now for my non-regular report from YouTube. Latest, greatest find... Famous Five! Super! I love the FF books and I am surprisingly enheartened with the 1978 children's television series. I guess because it's just so cheesy. The tv version suits the books, the way the first tv version of HitchHiker's fitted the books.