MUSTAEEING

I got my brother's car today.  It's a 1992 limited edition Mustang convertible.  There were only 3,333 made.  It's actually in fairly good condition too.  The seats are kinda torn up, but I'll probably fix that.

Lightning

The weather has been very hot recently.  On Tuesday it was 108 degrees.  For Santa Barbara, this is not normal.  Today it seemed to cool off a bit.  It was still a warm and sweaty day, but not unbearably so.  While coming back from class tonight, I saw flashes in the sky.  At first I was sure they had to be man-made lights, but as I approached home I realized this was not so.  I went outside, and saw that there was definitely lightning out over the ocean.  The lightning is frequent, at least a few flashes each minute.  It's a clear night, so this is seems a bit weird.  And we haven't had rain in a long time.  But I suppose a storm is moving in. 

That picture is what tonight probably looks like from Shoreline Park.

I Fail At Cooking Shrimp

Tonight for dinner I started up some rice, in the rice cooker.  The rice cooker is quite possibly man's greatest invention; it cooks rice perfectly with no human input once it's started.  It even turns itself off for you (or goes to a Keep Warm setting).

Then I decided to sautee up some shrimp.  No big deal, right?  I put the heat on medium low, because I HATE overcooked shrimp.  I think it's my biggest fear.  I put the shrimp on.  They weren't really "sizzling", but I thought I cooked them enough before flipping.  So I flipped.  And later I scooped them out, and put them on the rice.  I even put cheese on top of all of it.

I ate the shrimp.  AAH! What is that Oceanic taste?  These shrimp have not been cooked enough! I said to myself.  But I'm barely hungry at all anyways!

So then, instead of going and re-heating them, I wrote a blog post about it.  Because I'm not very hungry and I'm so dissatisfied with my cooking ability that I'd rather not attempt perfection a second time.

Here's a picture of Chazwick Bundick from Toro y Moi.  How was your night?

My day

I made a RIDICULOUS amount of cookies today.  And also a batch of brownies.  It took about two hours all in all.

What did you bake today?

Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz REVIEW

We're not in Chicago anymore...
 Sufjan Stevens' new album, The Age of Adz sure is a big one.  Electronics, synthesizers, brass, strings, drum machines, autotune, choirs, vocoders...  Sufjan is not fucking around (oh, profanity is included as well!).  Don't go into this expecting Illinois 2, but don't go into this expecting Enjoy Your Rabbit 2 either.

This release takes the composition and musical exploration of All Delighted People, and adds in both new and old elements.  The second track, Too Much, starts out with an abrasive electronic intro, then goes into a pop-song heavy on the synths and drum machines.  Layers and layers of drum machines.  But then the strings show up, and later the guitars.  This album really shows Sufjan's talent at composition; many of the songs change direction midway, but never do so in a way that feels forced.  The last track, Impossible Soul is twenty-five minutes long.  That's a new record for Sufjan, even including his soundtrack work on The BQE.  And the chanting, autotune'ing, and pop this song brings are unprecedented in Sufjan's career.

But this album is not without flaws; that vacuous and artificial delay present on The Owl And The Tanager shows up in at least two of these tracks, and while it certainly fits in better here, I can't help but wish that he chose a more naturally colored delay.  Other things from All Delighted People EP show up here as well; his vocal style (contrasted with his older works), those neat little vibrating string swells.

This probably isn't the best album Sufjan has ever released, but it's not one that will be remembered as a failed attempt.  There are solid hooks, solid compositions, and solid musicianship on this album.  The Age of Adz is a good one.

THE AGE OF ADZ

This is not a test.  Reactions?

Has anyone ever heard this album?