Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Lana.Del.Rey

Lana, Lana, Lana Del Rey.
Or is it 
Lana Del Fake?
Bloggers & music lovers across the interweb 
have been up in arms about the infamous
Lizzie-Del-Rey, 
I mean, 
Lana Grant...
...I mean...

Who exactly is she?
If you haven't heard by now, Lizzie Grant became Lana Del Rey 
following a good hair dye, lip injections &
a ton of money thrown at her by Interscope Records (who else?).
Some say she is a total fake, 
an illusion created to fool the indie-verse....

Sort of like whats been going on in the Pop music scene  
forever...
 It works like this:
Take a decent looking person, give them a makeover &
mold them into a style that the public will eat up.
What do you get? 
Brtiney Spears,
Avril Lavigne.
Lana.Del.Rey.

So,
if this has been going on forever,
then whats the problem?
Well
because....
Um, this just doesn't happen in the indie-music world!
Indie music is real, unfiltered, new, & all our own!
Hipsters & indie music lovers simply
do not subscribe  
to the mainstream way of doing things....

Or do they?
Has indie/hipster/whatever
become the new mainstream?
One word answer:  
Coachella.

I digress.

Now back to Lizzie Del Rey.
I did a little investigating, 
& here is my take:
LDR did come out with some fairly shoddy music a few years back,
but you can see that the inspiration for 
her current work 
was born in the crappiness that was Lizzie Grant.

The "Lana" image/sound was inspired by the artist herself--
The old-vintagey film clips, the flowers in her hair...
the general idea has was there.
& she has the voice. No question about that.

However, post-Lizzie Grant
the look, the sound, the feel of
Lana Del Rey well,
its just,
[waaaayy] more refined.
[not to mention easier on the eyes]

Without this Interscope-funded metamorphosis
Lana's music would not exist the way it is today.
Video Games & Blue Jeans would not have played
on my stereo all last Fall.

So do I hate Lana Del Rey for being a "sell out?"
Do I hate our society for loving her for her luscious lips 
& thick, shiny, [efffing!!] perfect hair?

To tell the truth, I don't know.
What I do know is that I find her music intoxicating
& her lyrics beautiful....
but her live interviews are terrible. (!!)
& she comes off like a total tool.

So should you like LDR?
If you ask Jake Fogelnest, he'd say: 
"The only reason people don't like Lana Del Rey's album
is because they are not attractive.
& they have never had sex in a limo. 
Because those that have know that
this album is perfect for attractive people 
that have sex in limos." 
(loose quote)

Alright then...
Here's my verdict:
I shall listen to Lana (strictly for free)
but probably never attend a live show.

Now I am going to listen to the whole album...
Let's hope that  the rest of the album lives up to
Blue Jeans, Video Games & Born to Die.
The End. 
Enjoy.



PS-
....if you are sick of all things LDR
& actually wanted some new music.
Here's my album for the week:
[yes, the entire Hospitality album, not just this song]

Hospitality: The Birthday

You're Welcome!
xox


Thursday, January 26, 2012

Happenings...

 Last weekend my roomies had some college friends
come into town for a snowboarding trip.
This included most of Shawn's groomsmen:

...Splitty...
aka Rocksmasher:

& I almost forgot Clement!!
[not pictured] the new, French addition to the group. 
His accent & basically his overall Frenchness was very entertaining.

I had an awesome time hanging out with all of them, 
but could only partake in snowboarding on Saturday.
Friday it was raining on the mountain (thanks, Portland!)...

& then there.was.Saturday.
Lets talk about the worst snowboarding day of my life!
I was a very poor representation of myself.
After losing speed & being forced to crawl up a few hills, my shaky legs contributed to 
a crash that was one of my worst in YEARS.
Caught one edge, recovered, quickly caught the other, 
& ended up flat on my back, seeing stars.

The after-effects of this led me to revert to my
snowboarding-self of 10 years ago.
That in addition to the 50+ mile per hour winds made me
a sad, sad snowboarder.
I apologize for all my friends who had to suffer through that nonsense!
& thank you for hanging out with me anyway :)
My whiplash is finally gone, so perhaps next weekend I shall redeem myself?
We shallsee.


On a lighter note, I have my song of the week!
Grimes, Vanessa.
Why? Because I just bought tickets to her show in February :)
Grimes has an eerie-etherial sound that has 
largely been refined on her new album, Darkbloom.
To me, her older work was more reminiscent of 
Cocorosie, with a sinister-yet-playful tone
but I am liking the new music more.
Its a new direction & its a good one.
Enjoy!



Oh! I also got tickets to Neon Indian & M83.
Easing my Coachella-Blues, a few bands at a time.
xoxo

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Drawn Ship

The best ones go:

The music of the week goes out to my friends & 
their families who are suffering through 
something more difficult than I can imagine.

I pray for peace for you & all who know you Aimee.


Sunday, January 15, 2012

!!Snow!!

Today's the big day.
Bug and I woke up to our first Oregon snow :)
Yes, that's right,
there is currently snow blanketing the ground outside my window:

Bug has never even seen snow before!
I think he liked it...
[But he was anxious to get back inside, haha]

The snow drought is over! 
[Thank God]
Snowboarding shall commence.
Mt Hood Meadows got 13" in the last 24 hours.

Yay! Just in time for all the boys to come into town on Thursday.
xoxo

Monday, January 9, 2012

Song of the Week

New year, new trend here on the blog.
I've been meaning blog about music more often, 
so I shall start with a recurring song of the week,
beginning now!

These songs will possibly be new, but not necessarily,
mostly each will be a song that I am enjoying at the moment.
It is really just a way for all of you to enjoy my superb taste in music...
consider it charity?
[Could I write this off on my taxes? Hah.]

 All kidding aside,
this week I chose a song that I just can't get enough of,
which comes from Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend.

I am not the hugest fan of Vampire Weekend, 
but Rostam's new solo has me by the heartstrings.
For about the first 30 seconds I wasn't sure about this song,
but once you give it a chance, 
it.is.lovely.

I think I have listened to it about 10 times since I first heard it a few days ago.
So, without further adieu:
Rosatm Batmanglij's  
Don't let it get to you:

Enjoy!
xoxo





Saturday, January 7, 2012

Adieu, 2011

2011 has passed, & I would like to say:
So long & farewell
 to one of the most tumultuous years of my life!
Although the bad this year often overshadowed the good,
looking back, there were definite highs to match the lows. 

Here are the highlights from the 12 months of 2011...

___________January___________
I kicked off the new year with a soiree my sister's house:




& as per the usual, 
we celebrated my sisters birthday at Benihana:

I had high hopes for 2011... 
I was working at UCLA, 
waiting to hear about grad school interviews 
& living with my wonderful grandma in the valley of LA ;)
But January 3, 2011,
changed the person I am
& altered the course of my life forever.
Rest In Peace Matthew Wesselink,
you were the love of my life & I miss you every single day.

If I had to find one good thing that came out of January 2011,
it would be reconnecting with the
second family that I had lost & missed dearly.
So I am thankful for that.

__________February__________
I found out that I had interviews at 6 of the 12 schools I applied to!
Oregon Health and Science University,
University of Texas at Austin,
University of California Santa Barbara,
Arizona State University,
University of Nevada Las Vegas
&
Washington State University.

After interviews at OHSU, UT Austin, WSU and UCSB
I decided to cancel my interviews at ASU and UNLV.

I got the amazing opportunity to visit my dear friend James in Austin
& had an amazing time.
If you ever visit, I recommend stopping for a beer at
 Spider House Cafe
& S'mores at Halcyon :)

I also attempted imagining my life as a graduate
student living in the desolate eastern washington landscape in Pullman,
or the beautiful college infused beach-town of Santa Barbara.

But when it came down to it, I chose Portland.
I am not sure what made up my mind, but something told me
OHSU was the right choice for me at that time in my life.
Everything that had happened up until that point somehow made the decision for me.

__________March__________
Mammoth!
For mine and Jesse's birthdays we took a trip to mammoth.
We got a killer deal at the Mammoth Mountain Inn
which included 2 days worth of lift tickets for all of us
& amounted to the best snowboarding of my life.

At the beginning of 2010,
Mammoth had the most snow in the entire world!
And the weekend we were there, we got dumped on!
More than 7 feet of fresh powder!









Needless to say, we had an amazing time!

__________April__________
One word: COACHELLA
Coachella 2011 was quite an experience.
Just me, Brittany and 100,000 other hipsters.















__________May__________
.:Santa Monica 10k:.
My first race ever.
I had never ran more than a couple miles in my entire life!
With training & encouragement,
me, Anna and Jesse finished in 60 minutes!

It was a beautiful day on the beach:

Before....

After...

& You could never forget that I got the mini!!!

__________June__________
Tattoos...
Jesse and I got memorial tattoos for Matt.
Enough said :]





__________July__________
Havasupai Falls
My first backpackin trip ever.
10 miles in 100 degree heat
to reach paradise in the middle of the Grand Canyon:



 









__________August__________
First and foremost, I finally defended my thesis!
You can officially refer to me as Monique Smith, M.A.
Woo! Hoo!
...The very same day, Jess & I began the worst roadtrip of our life!
Read more about it, here.




 & Robyn & Shawns wedding :)







 

 I feel very lucky to have been a part of such a beautiful day :)

__________September__________ 
First and foremost...
I started my PhD program in Behavioral Neuroscience at OHSU :)

Jess & Jesse came to visit :)
We toured breweries, visited the falls, &
overall hit up everything that is very Portland:






__________October__________
I went home to say goodbye to my Grandpa Fred.
I miss him dearly.
It has been difficult to accept that the two of the most influential people in my life
left us to be in heaven in the same year.
Rest In Peace, Grandpa, I love you.

On a lighter note, some good things did happen in October...
Portishead (!!) in Seattle with Gaby:



All Hallows Eve:
Robyn and I proudly dressed up as the crazy, nasty ass Honeybadger :



__________November__________
I remember a lot of studying in November...haha.
But I also I spent a lovely Thanksgiving with my roomies and their families.
I also said goodbye to my first real Autumn:

& hello to winter.
yes, thats ICE. Brrrr.

__________December__________
I put my first quarter of grad school behind me,
with all A's thank you very much!
I ran the Portland Holiday 5k
with my friends Rachel & Tara, in 30 degree weather!
Brrrr.

& came to soak up the sun in California for the holidays :)
I got to spend time with loved ones & enjoy the beautiful sunshine:

Self Realization Fellowship Gardens in Cardiff, CA:



Carlsbad State Beach

Bug who stares at goats...


Merry Christmas:

& a Happy New Year :)


All in all, this year has been a trying one.
It was quite the whirlwind, & I am glad it is over.
I hope 2012 will give us less despair.
I hope to finally say goodbye to the past I have been holding onto for so long,
& welcome my future with open arms.


xoxo