Clever Manka is dressed and undressed

Here's a standalone track from The Killers, released yesterday, January 14. Video filmed and produced by Spike Lee from footage he took in late 2018.


and a Rolling Stone article about it.

I haven't purchased a Killers album since Day & Age (2008), but this track + video is a super powerful punch. Lyrics below the cut.

( Read more... )

mckitterick sent me this mashup:


Thanks to daasgrrl, I'm adding London Spy to my watchlist for my convalescence.


Today's Tumblr collection is Tuesday, November 17: Raccoons. Fact: The word "raccoons" is difficult to type, much less to type 30+ times. I kept putting "raccooons" as the tag.

Yesterday's responses to my call for hysterectomy stories was overwhelming (in a good way) and incredibly helpful. I was touched by the care and compassion of friends and complete strangers, who shared intimate details about their experiences. I fucking love the internet.

This morning I was lying in bed, checking in with my body. I do it every morning. It's my pre-flight check to make sure nothing is so wrong that I might not make it through the workday. I...have never typed that out before, and now that I've done the equivalent of saying it aloud, I realize how bizarre it is. Who does shit like that? Me, I guess. Anyway. I was checking in and made myself aware of the near-constant slight abdominal pressure I've known about for a long time (at least a year, perhaps more). I always thought it was gas or something not sitting right or maybe I just needed to pee. It felt like menstrual cramps, but surely I wouldn't have menstrual cramps if I wasn't at that part of my cycle, right? Lying there this morning, I realized/admitted to myself, that's probably the giant fibroid. Gross.

I don't often have regrets, but I am very much regretting not wearing tights under my skirt today. I am freezing. I've got a lot going on this weekend, but hauling out the winter wardrobe on Saturday is a must. I don't have a record of when I switched out wardrobes last year, but I think this might be a record for lateness thereof. Hurray for boots, sweaters, and tights! I am not a fan of cold weather, but I least I enjoy cold weather fashion.

Here's a job I would've been really good at, y'all. But that would also mean living in a big city, so...no. Ah well! Last night at Henna Time I sold hdsqrl and radiantmephit on Hamilton, and that was great. I also started following Lin-Manuel Miranda on Twitter because he is fucking hilarious and I'm starting to develop such a crush on him.



This has been in my head all week so I'm sharing it with you, too. God damn I love this song so much.

I just posted this to my Tumblr, but thought I'd recreate it here, if people wanted to comment. I've adjusted for LJ formats, usernames, and applicability.

write_out and splix both tagged me ages ago for this, and I am a bit embarrassed it took me so long to respond but not too embarrassed to do it, obviously.

Music is hugely important to me, as you’ll probably infer from my long-winded explanations of my choices, under the cut. But favorites are so difficult for me since my tastes are mercurial and largely dependent on my mood (which is also changeable from moment to moment).  So let’s go with what I would claim today to be my favorite nine albums (tomorrow it could be different). Alphabetically, because after the emotional work of picking them at all, there’s no way I can additionally rank them.

( Click for my explanations and justifications )

Obviously the tags I put on there aren't applicable here, but I would love to see responses from people who either aren't on Tumblr, or who I didn't tag there. Hm. Now that I think of it, I should have limited my tagging to people who are only on Tumblr, and then tagged the LJ-also people, here.

DANG.

( Cut for large xkcd comic )

I used to be blonde ponytail girl. I'm glad to say I'm dark short haired girl, now. GROWTH.

Tom Hiddleston tweeted the first clip from I Saw the Light. Oh my god you guys this movie's gonna kill me. He sounds so much like him.



mckitterick doesn't like country music (to the point that he claims Johnny Cash isn't a country singer because he likes Johnny Cash but doesn't like country music, therefore Johnny Cash isn't a country singer to which I think most of us will call bullshit but it's okay whatever moving on) and sometimes that makes me a little sad because I really like country music. I even like some modern pop country. All genres of music have a lot of crap, but man, that swing and twang? SO GOOD. sigh

I'm glad I can count on redheadfae going to see this with me. If msmitti can make it to town for a visit when it's playing, that'd be wonderful. hint hint It opens the Friday of Thanksgiving weekend, ladies.

I look at a lot of refashioned/recycled clothes designs. A lot of them. And 99% of the time, I firmly believe there is nothing you can do with old ties that doesn't look like a bunch of old ties thrown together. Horrible. But check these out. A jacket (what makes this succeed IMO is the interrupted lines--it's not just horizontal lines that screams I AM MADE OF TIES), an ottoman, and (my least favorite, but still kind of pretty) a rug.

Does anybody who follows me here read Arthur/Eames? I just wrapped up this amazing story and although I will never re-read it, it's one of the best-written fics I've experienced. The characterization is fantastic, the plot is intricate and heavily detailed, the action scenes are nothing short of brilliant, and the sex is hot. It doesn't romanticize or glamorize at all what it would be like to be a professional criminal. It's long, and worth it. The author of that fic left in the comments to it her rec list for that pairing. A lot of the links are dead or locked, but I hope to find some available gems.

Check out these amazing coloring books. Just for the record, if anyone's ever interested in buying me something, I'd be interested in Art Nouveau Patterns, or any of the three Mehandi design books.

Yesterday was a wonderfully relaxing day. I really-for-real practiced some yoga, and I got a two hour nap in the afternoon (!) and felt fine for the 11pm Latenight Callers show at Replay. Oh my goodness so many people were there! I'm so happy my LNC friends are pulling such great crowds.

Lots to get done today, though. Laundry never sleeps.

ETA: I'm sending the ephemera packages today to the people who asked for them. If you like what I sent and would like more, let me know and we can work something out. I'm not worried about getting reimbursed for the $3 postage on these 6oz mailings, but if you want more (which I'd be thrilled to provide), a few bucks via PayPal would be appreciated.

Me and three other people (two of whom I know in real life, Sarah F and Matt J, not on LJ) were part of a special forces unit that was tough but technologically-inclined. Sort of like the Expendables, but nerdy. We'd been falsely accused of something (OF COURSE) and decided to retaliate by stealing some technology that would expose the organization.



Early in the dream, we were flying a tiny airplane out of the country (Sarah and the dude I don't know in real life were piloting) and my mom kept calling me. Now, I have this thing in real life where my phone doesn't reliably stay off. I'll turn it off and then it will spontaneously power up which is a bit of a stressor on actual plane flights, let me tell you. So anyway, I could not get the fucking thing to stop vibrating (I'd at least turned off the ringer) and finally I answered with a "Mom I'm really busy this is a bad time do you have an emergency" and she was all "No I just have this funny story." I told her to please just wait and I'd call back when I could.

Scene change to the inside of a tiny, foreign airport (must have been some tropical location because there were palm trees and ferns all over, even in the building). Matt J and I were carrying this piece of technology (it fit in a backpack) through the airport, trying to avoid security. We saw two of them talking like they'd just heard information and start looking around at people. So we hurried to find a place to hide, which was on top of this 10- or 12-foot partition. Matt J climbed up (he's a good climber in real life) and I threw the backpack up, then he helped me get up. There was just enough room for us to lie lined up flat on the top of the wall, with his head near my feet, the backpack between us. And my phone started vibrating again in my back pocket.

Now, Matt J is super cool and gets happy-excited about stuff, not often visibly upset or angry, but I could feel his annoyance radiating at me and I dream-remembered his irritation sitting in the other passenger seat of the tiny plane when my phone kept buzzing. There wasn't a thing I could do because the partition we were lying on was so narrow if I moved to get at my back pocket, my arm movement would have been visible past the edge of the partition. So I just lay there, hoping the noise of the airport would drown out the buzzing as these police passed us. STOP CALLING ME, MOM. JESUS.

It sounds stressful, but I was so amused by it I woke myself up smiling.

I picked up Muse's new album that dropped yesterday. I can say after six listens that it's...not as horrible as I'd feared? I'm a big, big Muse fan, but the single I'd heard a while back bothered me. The song itself is good, but the drill sergeant screaming put me off. Heard in the context of the whole album, it's not as awful, but it still sets me on edge. Which I know is the point, but I get less pleasure from listening to it. I also feel like the message of this album is surprisingly ham-fisted at this point in their careers. Lyrically, this feels like a first or second album, not a seventh. One of the things I love about Muse (apart from the fact that I think they're amazingly talented in all sorts of ways) is that they're still an album-oriented band and I love listening to albums that are a cohesive whole, where the sum is more than the parts. I know it's a dying art/technique and I'm not gonna lie that I'm disappointed in this latest effort from them. Sound-wise, it's great--gorgeously complex and bombastic, as always. Just a little too in-your-face. When I compare it to The Second Law, it just does not hold up. Maybe I'll feel better after I've listened to it more over the course of the next couple weeks. Is anyone else a Muse fan? D'you have thoughts about Drones yet?

I want a print of the fourth piece of art in this Toast essay.

Maggie Stiefvater posted a really great techno/electronica playlist on Tumblr.

My left hip is still bugging me and I think it's two things. One, I might have been overstretching and...sprained it a little? Oops. I've been babying it during my PT exercises (which omg you guys so exhausting) and it's feeling a little better already. Two, though. Ugh. Two, I think it's the extra weight I've put on in the past couple months. I had a hard time returning to structured eating after 221B Con, which I mentioned at the time, but I still am snacking way too much (like, at all) and so much dried fruit and nuts. I know my joints hurt more and regularly when I creep over 165lbs. I haven't weighed myself in ages, but I bet I'm up around there, if not over. mckitterick's also unhappy with the bit of belly he's acquired recently, so the two of us made a pact for a full calendar year--until Memorial Day 2016--to be the most physically-conscious versions of ourselves and see how fit and healthy we can possibly get in 365 days.

As always, if doing stuff like this with other people helps inspire you or keep you on track, feel free to join us!

For you music-lovers (who, like me, carry a lot of different stuff on the iPod or whatever device), do you have those times where you scroll through your collection and go "Ugh I need to get some new music" because everything you see is just old and over-listened but you don't have the money (or motivation) to actually get some new music so you finally decide "Well okay, I haven't listened to this in ages, fine, whatever, I'll listen to this" and then after two songs you're all "Why the fuck haven't I listened to this lately? This is great!" That's what I'm feeling about Janis Martin today.



It's still rough for me to listen to this style of music too much because I really really really miss having an in-house partner-dance companion at my disposal, but it's damn fine music.

I was talking to someone yesterday about this--how I feel like we're headed toward a sort of minor dark ages. Not as bleak a distopia as that depicted in a lot of current literature and media, but I think we're on a downward slide that isn't going to improve anytime soon. It came up in the context of downloading our awareness to computers and how I used to be opposed to the idea of it for myself but now I'm not so sure. It might be nice to not be subject to the whims of this body all the time.

Hurray for new shoes! I needed new summer shoes because I am very, very tired of my Dansko Mary Jane clogs, which have been my main summer shoes (those and my Chucks) for (god) ten years. They arrived last night and I'm wearing them today. They're comfortable and cute and I like them.

Last night I got some cooking done finally.

More mobility suggestions for getting into the splits. This is mostly for me to check out later. I haven't watched the videos yet, and I admit some concern about the spelling errors, but it might have some good ideas. Speaking of hip mobility, I did some rolling out last night and wow could I tell it'd been a while. Ugh, they were so tender and stiff. They still feel tender and stiff. In fact, it feels like they're full of something. Cotton wadding? Wet sand? Something. My entire outside hip area, top to bottom from gluteus medias to front pelvic bone feels stuck and sludgy. It's gross.

But it's Friday and it's Stop Day, which at KU means offices are open but there's no classes, no exams, no nothing. It's super quiet. Nice. And I'm taking Monday off.

Not a lot about the Oscars on my Tumblr dash today. Just a bunch of dress reviews from omgthatdress, gifsets of Eddie Redmayne's and Patricia Arquette's acceptance speeches, and this amazing Sound of Music tribute from Lady Gaga.



I'm relieved to see she didn't fall down too deep a well of hot-mess-dom after Artpop. I heard reports of her Haus of Gaga support network abandoning her left and right and then...radio silence. So good to see she's doing well, her pipes are still in fine form, and I hope she puts out another album equal to Born This Way in the next few years. NGL, I would love to see her do at least one Broadway show so I could buy the soundtrack for it. madlori's take on it was particularly on point.

There was more interest than I expected about the postures I use in my home yoga practice. I'll start journaling those in more detail with my Intentional Movement Report on March 1.

Holy crap, next week is March! This Whole30 has gone surprisingly easily. Thanks a bunch, respiratory influenza!