I'm not happy 'till you're not happy.

Shipping Logic

2009-03-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder who packs the stuff you order via the internet?

Best Albums of 2007

2008-01-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

1. Sunset Rubdown
Random Spirit Lover

2. Josh Ritter
The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter

3. Andrew Bird
Armchair Apocrypha

4. Okkervil River
The Stage Names

5. Elliott Smith
New Moon

6. Jens Leckman
Nightfall Over Kortedala

7. Beirut
The Flying Club Cup

8. Iron and Wine
The Shepherd's Dog

9. The Frames
The Cost

10. The Good, The Bad, The Queen
The Good, The Bad, The Queen

Honorable Mentions

Fountains of Wayne
Traffic and Weather

Bright Eyes
Cassadaga

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Some Loud Thunder

The Arcade Fire
Neon Bible

2007 Still Need to Listen to

Radiohead
In Raindbows

Paul McCartney
Memory Almost Full

Rilo Kiley
Under the Blacklight

The New Pornographers
Challengers

Rufus Wainwright
Release the Stars

Spoon
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Wilco
Sky Blue Sky

Modest Mouse
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

Love is in the Air

2007-02-15T16:18:00.000-08:00

Best Albums of 2006

2006-11-18T23:57:00.000-08:00

The year of two thousand and six is nearing an end and alas I have constructed a list my favorite albums of this years. Before actually listing I would like to clarify that these are My choices from the music that I have heard. I do not claim to have heard everything released this year. I also do not claim that this is a definite list of what is good and what sucks. This is simply my opinion from what I have exposed my self, and been exposed to.

1. Sunset Rubdown
Shut Up I Am Dreaming

There really isn’t much I can say about this album. There is just something amazing about it. Its so….weird, in an amazing way. Coming to the realization I can’t really find words for it, I leave it up to you to listen to it and formulate your own opinion.

2. Islands
Return To The Sea

Return of the Unicorns (mostly) It sounds like the Unicorns, it’s produced by 2/3 of them, and yet it seems to have matured since “”Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone”. Islands brings the same craziness the Unicorns had, and added an interesting and fun summer/tropical sound, yet at the same time this album seems to have an added polish and maturation. Great album.

3. The Decemberists
The Crane Wife

Oh Colin Meloy, what have you done to The Decemberists? Where have the pirate songs gone? Where are the chimney sweeps, the clipper ship fleets, the man eating whales, and prostituted mothers standing in shipyards? And by the way I did not hear a single pirate jig. Not only that, I didn’t hear any jigs! And yet, this album holds strong standing against anything these Portlanders have put out.

4. Pony Up!
Make Love To The Judges Wth Your Eyes

This album is the reason I have a description for any of these albums on this list. Pony Up! is a Canadian band comprised of 4 females. I first stumbled up them after the release of their first EP. It was rough, it was edgy, and some times it was ugly, yet I could see some serious potential from it. I very eagerly awaited this album, which really was a form of make or break for them and they pulled it off magnificently. They seem to cover a lot of ground, experimenting with several styles; some of them work, some of them don’t. For instance I feel the opening track really tries to pull off a style of singing she really isn’t the best at. But at the same time it’s the trying everything new that makes this such a magnificent release. In contrast from their EP there is huge maturity. It seems very introspective and personal. I was so shocked I actually read through the album cover to see if they actually wrote their own music. It’s still sexy, its still fun, but it’s on a new level. Amazing stuff, especially from a band still under even the indie radar.

5. Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
The Swell Season

The Swell Season really would be up higher than even 5 on my list if it wasn’t for my sincere respect for the albums I placed above it. This album is so much; it’s emotional, thoughtful, and overall amazing. Created by The Frames front man Glen Hansard along with his female vocalist The Swell Season cannot be described in words. An amazingly polished work of musical art, though not designed with interconnecting tacks it truly seems to have been designed as a single larger though than mere tracks.

6. Belle & Sebastian
The Life Persuit

7. Ben Kweller
Ben Kweller

8. Josh Ritter
The Animal Years

9. Sufjan Stevens
The Avalanche

10. Destroyer
Destroyer's Rubies

Honorable Mentions

Midlake
The Trials of Van Occupanther

Flaming Lips
At War With The Mystics

The Mountain Goats
Get Lonely

Paul Simon
Suprise

My Brightest Diamond
Bring Me The Workhorse

Band of Horses
Everything All The Time

The Fiery Furnaces
Bitter Tea

Reincarnation

2006-09-29T23:05:00.000-07:00

(As seen on my door)

Foreword

What is the wall of news? On Saturday February the 11th, of 2006 Vice president Dick Cheney wounded a hunting companion while perusing the elusive quail. There was much media coverage of the accident however; I found that very few people had actually heard of the incident. The next day I found it my civic duty to inform the people of the on-goings of the outside world. Thus on Sunday February 12th, the year 2006 the wall of news was founded on the wall beside my humble door at Western Oregon University. I missed my wall greatly over the summer. Many artcles worthy of the wall appeared on various news sites such as ‘Alternative Interogation Not Torture, Bush Says’ by CNN. My first week here in Bloss I have been disheartened by a lack of wall worthy articles. That was until on the night of September 29th I found an article on the New York Times entitled ‘In Many Public Schools, the Paddle Is No Relic’ which featured a large African American male clutching a paddle. The article enlightened me upon a practice I believed long banned with our homeland, walloping the backside and love handles of young fire-brands with a large wooden paddle, something I had lived my life believing remained doomed to a life of fraternity initiations and more interesting mating rituals. But I digress. The “Wall of News” has returned this time resting upon the door of room 312 Bloss Hall of Oregon State University. The purpose of this humble scrapboard of news articles is to inform you, the citizen, of the more obscure and interesting highlights of the worlds ongoings from reputable news oragnizations. If you have read this entire script I thank you, yet stand in amazement that anyone really has.

-Nathan *******

Article Link

Summer End (Here Comes the Rain)

2006-09-22T23:18:00.000-07:00

Summer is over and it's time once again for me to get my blog that I'm sure no one reads up and running again. So a summer in re-cap. Went along well enough. Spent it in the 'ol Roseburg. From there I began the arduous task of finding employment. I found a suitor in the local call branch of Dell computers, taking in-bound calls for home sales. So full time work there throughout most of the summer. Other than that my dog died, I had a bit of a nasty patch with my girlfriend(ex-now), I nearly died when floating with my friends (not really......but seriously I almost did). I bought a crap load of CD's mostly from amazon.com, of them the tops are "Shut Up I'm Dreaming" by Sunset Rubdown, all of the Yann Tiersen albums, and "Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs." But the largest single expenditure of my paychecks was for my Gary Fisher Wahoo. That got me into mountain biking on the North Umpqua trail. I'm planning to eventually ride peavy arboretum. The North Umpqua trail is quite amazing though. Other than that I think that pretty well covers my summer. I did go to a Cake concert also featuring The Decemberists. That was pretty good except the place was packed. Now I have two tickets to two concerts. Sufjan Stevens in mid-October, and Ben Kweller in early October. I did a lot of running to train for the Prefontaine last week and now I've got the Fall Festival 5K Sunday. Still deciding on that 15k trail run, sounds intense. Now I am sitting in my dorm room at Oregon State. More posts to come as exciting things happen, which knowing me don't happen very often. You can now check out my pictures at my Flickr account Here.

2006-07-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

Soccer and the World Cup

2006-06-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

Lately I have become, if multiple sources can be relied on, obsessed with soccer. I really should
be studying for my biology final right now but instead here I am posting about football. If you haven't so far you really should watch the world cup. It's on ESPN2 and ABC usually at 6:00 9:00 and 12:00 o'clock in the A.M. If you are not aware the US team got destroyed by the Czech Republic. (once a commie ALWAYS a commie!) Well I'll leave off with a bunch of nothing.

Games to watch:
England V. Trinidad/Torbego 9:00 6/15
Italy V. US 12:00 6/17
Brazil V. Australia 9:00 6/18
*Portugal V. Mexico 9:00 9/21 (Gonna be a GOOD match)

I looked so long for this Simpsons clip on soccer.
My neighbor Tim Juggles the ball on his head an ungodly amount of times
Me Juggling..........I could have learned so much in the time I've spent practicing this

2006-04-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

I've been taking alot of random pictures lately, here are a few.

The Plight of a Soccer Ball

2006-04-23T21:02:00.000-07:00

No ideas for a post for nearly a month and then a rash of events pronounce themselves within a narrow time span. That’s how it seems these things happen. Today’s post relates to my newfound time consumer. Juggling. Not with three balls however, but one soccer ball. More specifically this relates to the loss of FOUR soccer balls. However I have not set the scene in which this event occurred. Heritage hall was built in the late 80’s and houses roughly half of Western Oregon University’s freshman students. The building is really quite intelligently built and aesthetically symmetrical. In front of this four-story building are two patches of grass split by the front entrance. The right side patch is where I have asserted my area for juggling with my neighbors Rob, Tim, and occasionally Matt. Here begins my account of the lost soccer balls. On Friday the 14th Matt’s ball was thrust unto the roof in a bet between Tim and I over whether he could throw the ball onto the roof. Honestly, its four stories! Needless to say the ball will never be seen again. On Tuesday the 18th after my warning Tim punted a ball of my own, which I had retrieved from my house, needlessly and misdirected off his foot. This placed my ball within the clutches of the cruel miser. On Friday the 21st a similar event occurred in which Tim punted the ball AGAIN this time onto another portion of the pitiless magpie. Today is Sunday the 23rd. A cruel twist of fate has left me bereft of my latest purchased soccer ball. My neighbor Rob pulled a feat I believe only possible by Tim. He punted the ball, but not high enough to reach roof level however. Instead once the ball reached a level of elevation equal to that of the fourth story it deflected off a wall and into a window that was open a mere 45 degrees. My soccer balls have been abused in varying manners; they have been punted onto concrete, they have been cast into perilous bushes and removed of thorns, once a ball was run over by a car. None of these however, match the obscurity of the sight I have seen today. Rob now has 24 hours to retrieve the ball from its stronghold or suffer $10 in penalty. Here ends the report on the loss of 4 spheres, which have brought my hours of entertainment. Good night America.

Music Spree

2006-04-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since I’ve posted (2 days short of a month) so I figured it is time. I’m in my bi-monthly music buy/download frenzy. Last weekend I visited our friendly "House of Records" in Eugene (amazing shop) and picked up 3 CD’s and downloaded one album at home. Where to begin… I’ve been in a bit of a folk mood for the past two weeks. Simon and Garfunkel, Kings of Convenience, Iron & Wine, ect…. Two of these CD’s continue this trend, being Calexico and Iron and Wine's joint venture of In the Reins and Josh Ritter’s new release The Animal Years.

Josh Ritter | The Animal Years

In a way similar to Ben Folds maturation in Songs for Silverman the Animal Years really shows how Ritter has ripened. His lyrics have grown from simple story telling to rants ranging from religion to politics. The best example of this, and my personal favorite off the CD is Thin Blue Flame which I had the honor of seeing live when he opened for The Frames last fall. The song is a phenomenal piece lasting 9:38 long with eccentric variation in volume and speed. Overall the CD is impressive and in my opinion competes successfully for the title of his best work to date over The Golden Age of Radio.

Calexico / Iron & Wine | In The Reins

What is there to say about Iron & Wine? Anything they put out is worthy of praise and a listen. In The Reins is no exception. Calexico adds an impressive blend of country and Hispania. Who would think I would like a CD with a steel guitar in EVERY SINGLE SONG! Well I confess it, this album has hooked me to several listens a day, albeit it is an EP with only 7 songs. There’s really not much I can add, if you are familiar with Iron & Wine you know what to expect and Calexico really adds a relieving variation.

Band of Horses | Everything All The Time

To be honest I don’t know how to describe, review, or account this album because quite frankly I don’t know how I feel about it. It definitely has a fresh sound while ironically sounding a bit like Led Zeppelin at the same time. Funeral, the flagship song is truly a beautiful song. Nothing I can say can make you understand this fact, only listening can. I leave this review short; you can decide your opinion.

Calexico | Garden Ruin

I had never heard of Calexico prior to their tour with Iron & Wine, which I sadly did not see. The day after I purchased In The Reins however, I felt compelled to hear their independent work. That was a good decision. Just as with In The Reins I am hooked, there is an interesting mix of familiarity and freshness in their sound. They have a soft folk likeness to Iron & Wine, a bit of country, and a flair of Hispanic flavor with occasional lyrics in Spanish. Overall they have a likeness of Iron & Wine intertwined with Santana, which surprisingly is not a bad sound.

Overall 4 great albums. My final CD of this spree, Canada's sisterly quartet Pony Up's self titled EP is in the mail and should arrive this week. Here are some links

Thin Blue Flame | Josh Ritter
Sixteen, Maybe Less | Calexico / Iron & Wine
Funeral | Band of Horses
Roka | Calexico

Belle & Sebastian

2006-03-24T10:31:00.000-08:00

Concerts are amazing aren’t they? All the angst and drama of finals week is swept away by a mere few hours of live music. I even feel it brought me out of my funk I’ve been in lately. It’s quite a site looking around and seeing a hundred beautiful faces making a hundred meaningful glances, granted they all were there with guys but its not something that makes one lonely. Concerning indie kids it was a sight seeing 1 out of every 5 people with black-rimmed glasses. Even much of the clothing was a throwback to the 50’s. I do alot of thinking at concerts, just random tangents of thought. I was trying to generalize indie, and applying to Belle & Sebastian at least I got the feeling that “indie kids” are romantics at heart. They sway in a crowd whilst Stuart Murdoch strums bubble gum pop. Not to detract from Murdoch’s lyrics. It’s not really bad and its works well to forget about life. I’ll post a pic or two when I steal them from Mike. In an effort to get people to actually comment if you’re reading this you should put the top 5 songs you want to hear live. Maybe you already did hear them live?

The best looking boys are taken
The best looking girls are staying inside
So Judy, where does that leave you?
Walking the street from morning to night
With a star upon your shoulder lighting up the path that you walk
With a parrot on your shoulder, saying everything when you talk

The One Hour Road Trip

2006-03-21T15:24:00.000-08:00

For the past week I have begun asserting that the Monmouth area has some of the best roads i have ever driven (then again i havnt driven that many roads). Today my excentric, though good friend Tim took the passanger seat and camera as we went cruising the terain of of 3 counties. Alto Bueno turned out to be a let down but the River Road bridge was pretty cool. Considering I managed to get my passanger car sick I feel it was a fairly succesful trip. If only my governor werent set to 110 mph.....

Finals and the great exodus

2006-03-20T18:55:00.000-08:00

Ahhh nothing like finals is there? I particularly enjoyed filling a scantron out while hearing profanities from the muted breath of my neighboring classmate. As to the exodus mentioned above my dear roommate of these many months has finally been harassed by me into talking to the area coordinator. I am now optimistic for a solo rooming situation owing to a meeting arranged with the area coordinator tomorrow. My apologizes to all those expecting humorous antics. I only post this as proof I have not abandoned my blog. Alright you get one, Chuck Norris doesn’t sleep, he waits. I don’t know why I find that one funny but yeah there ya go.

Random tidbits:
Currently reading: Angles and Demons | Dan Brown
Currently listening to: At the Bottom of Everything | Bright Eyes
Current Quote: “We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul”

Marilyn and George.......and Che

2006-02-15T21:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I received a package, a package containing the beauty of a middle aged man in his boxers and a woman who has been dead for 45 years. Ta Da!!

F&@$ Yes!!!

2006-02-09T19:26:00.000-08:00

W.T.F.

2006-02-07T19:17:00.000-08:00

There comes I time in every boys life when......... Well I'll start out from the beginning. At good old W.O.U. we recently had a STD awareness event entitled "Sex Toy Bingo". Intrigued by the title curiosity got the best of me and 3 of my closest chums decided to venture to the fourth floor ballroom. As the event title would suggest there was indeed bingo in which the winner was bequeathed a toy for sex. In the first round a friend of my friends who was sitting next to me won, out of a crowd of nearly 75, players a game including two dice with suggestive ideas and positions (this was later traded for a roll of toilet paper with suggestions for certain activities). After roughly 6 rounds and two near wins by me our table was running cold. Then the "Pecker Personal Care Kit" was displayed for all to see. Ah I remember it vividly as if it were yesterday, actually it was. Anyway to skip any more mellow dramatics I imagine you can guess who won the "Pecker Personal Care Kit". Of all the chance games I play this is the one I actually won at, not to mention 2/3 of the crowd was female. Well take a gander for my.......interesting neighbor is offering me $5 for it and it shall be sold. I can't say I didn't ask for it by going but, wtf seriously, this is jacked up shit.

Brave Brave Sir Robin

2006-01-24T12:03:00.000-08:00

Behold the tyrant of 3rd Gunn, my neighbor Rob.

If you don't know where I got the title for this you really need to see Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Link

Crazy Deutchland Musik Fetish

2006-01-18T21:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was returned to German Music by finding the band "Wir Sind Helden" (for those of you who didnt take German 5 years only to have an equivalence of a second year in h.s. it mean We Are Heroes") The band reminds of a female German version of Franz Ferdinand. For a taste I'm posting the album titled song Von Hier An Blind. My interest in this album has brought me to revisit other artists such as Rammstein, Nina Hagen (99 Luftballoons), and the notorious (in a good way) Die Prinzen. Reading a translation of Alles Nur Geklaut (Die Prinzen) it amazes me how reminiscent of Pinkerton it is. The translation is under the link to a completely different song, because I felt with messing with you all.

Von Hier An Blind

I write a hit song,
the whole nation already knows it,
everyone is singing along,
real loud in the chorus; that sounds good.
No one can get enough of it,
everyone thinks I'm clever,
I hope no one notices the fraud.

Because it's all just stolen,
none of it's mine,
it's all just stolen,
but I'm the only one who knows,
it's all just stolen
and lifted,
just copied
and robbed.
Sorry, I took the liberty.

I'm filthy rich,
I drive a Benz that sparkles in the sun.
I have a large pond,
and in front of it a palace and a white steed;
I'm a big hero,
and I travel around the world,
I'm getting better looking through my money.

And it's all just stolen...

I want very much to seduce you,
but then I notice:
that won't be easy for me.
I go walking with you
and recite a poem to your face.
I say, I wrote it just for you,
and then you kiss me;
I'm lucky that you don't know:

It's all just stolen...

On your halo
I don't even shine any more,
because you still have, thank God,
something upstairs for sure.

And it's all just stolen,
none of it's yours,
it's all just stolen,
but you're the only one who knows,
it's all just stolen
and lifted,
just copied
and robbed.
Who allowed you the liberty?
Who allowed you the liberty?

Alles Nur Geklaut

Worried

2006-01-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

Here follows the reasons I fear for my roomates sexuality.

He watches the O.C.
He has a poster of Seth from O.C. (seen above)
He pees sitting down ("ONE TIME")
He listens to Mandy Moore
He listens tot he "A Walk to Remember" soundtrack
He says "A Walk to Remember" is "a good cry"
He made me watch "A Cinderella Story" with Hillary Duff
He has listened to that DAMN Anastasia song more time than I care to remember (listening to it right now)
He is singing to that damn song right now
He uses hand lotion........for his hands..
He made me stop changing channels and watch Lifetime
*new* Nate: "I'm semi-naked.
Brian: "My eyes are semi-closed"

First Post (against Jordan's will)

2006-01-11T23:51:00.000-08:00

First post where to begin....... Lesse, the French have a messed up sense of humor. I'm reading Candide in Lit class. Its a supposedly humorous tale of a man who travels the word enduring war while the woman of his dreams is raped, stabbed, and then sold into slavery. Very interesting however, I fail to find the humor within the satire. Though I will admit there is one good statement. Candides philosophy teacher claims it is worth syphilis introduction into Europe from America because the new world also brought chocolate. Enough of that. My roommate has now played some song from Anastasia that I have literally had it stuck in my head for two days straight (sucks when your trying to fall asleep). Bitch Bitch Bitch all I do is Bitch.....though I have been informed that's all people do on blogs. I leave off with one word ROSEBUD. (hint: Citizen Kane)