Turn It Up

I recently had the opportunity to speak in front of about 130 people about "any subject related to writing", which as you can imagine was extremely exciting but also extremely intimidating.

For those moments when life seems a little bit too close and real, like when I saw hyenas in a zoo in Singapore. It's a modern zoo, so you can't see they're in a cage.
The song: The National, "Slow Show"; 2007

One cool thing about having had this blog for over a year: I can now start to see patterns in the way I listen to and enjoy music, which is really interesting because usually when I am in a Phase I pretty much feel like that Phase is the alpha and omega, the way things have always been and the way they always will be.

It makes me respect somebody to learn they love the music of what we call "girl groups".

Hi everybody.

I've been thinking a lot recently about country music.

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I keep thinking I'll write one post where I just break it all down, country music and why I love it and what's unique and special about it, and these ideas always seem within my grasp when they're inside my head but completely ineffective when I try to put them outside.

One of the greatest things about the time I spend at WCBN is how often I get to read liner notes.

I think these are generally an underappreciated art form.

Back in the summer I read the liner notes to Paul Simon's latest album, which were written by Elvis Costello, and I've not forgotten this line:

I started my blog with a post about the Mature Break-Up Song.

In the almost-year since then I've wrestled a lot with the question of what my blog is about and for.

I've told you before that I spend time thinking about what songs I would put into a Wes Anderson movie if my life were a Wes Anderson movie,

One thing I am completely willing to admit about myself is that, where it comes to matters of media and culture, I am so stubbornly conservative as to be, like, one of those mountain trolls post-turning-into-stone.