ON REPEAT THIS WEEK

2012-01-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

This is also on repeat this week. (It reminds me of this view. Can you guess where it is?)

Gold by Delay Trees

(Image from here)

2012-01-28T06:44:00.001-07:00

Oh, boy. This is great. East Harlem is so achey and lovely.

2012-01-28T06:28:00.001-07:00

Oh, I still love it. (This song was in my dream last night.) Enjoy.

2012-01-27T12:07:00.001-07:00

I'm reading Great Expectations at the moment for the first time. For me, it takes a certain amount of discipline to commit to a book, so right now that means chasing the tube in the morning and evening. Ten pages and it's a draw. Eleven pages and I'm doing good. Twelve plus pages and I'm probably stuck on the Picadilly line in the tunnel between Kings Cross and Russell Square. The other day, somewhere around Arsenal, Dickens grabbed me by both pulmonary arteries with this and I was won over:

If a dread of not being understood be hidden in the breasts of other young people to anything like the extent to which it used to be hidden in mine - which I consider probable, as I have no particular reason to suspect myself of having been a monstrosity - it is the key reason to many reservations. I felt convinced that if I described Miss Haversham's as my eyes had seen it, I should not be understood. Not only that, but I felt convinced that Miss Haversham too would not be understood; and although she was perfectly incomprehensible to me, I entertained an impression that there would be something coarse and treacherous in my dragging her as she really was (to say nothing of Miss Estella) before the contemplation of Mrs. Joe. Consequently, I said as little as I could, and had my face shoved against the kitchen wall.

Face in wall.

Sam Taylor Wood (I love her), Escape Artist
(image from here)

2012-01-17T05:43:00.001-07:00

Prague. Was. Lovely. No lowlights, only highlights. Original cubist building/Oriental Cafe (Yes! Yes!). Finding our own local public house (a favourite we share with Vaclav Havel, thank you) with the. most. delicious smoked sausage. Wenceslas Square at night, with its beautiful tribute to Havel. Our hotel room and the most fantastic view of the Castle. Christmas markets at night, perfect and lit up. The Spanish Synagogue. Potatoes! Meat! Strolling on the north side of town in the middle of the night, with alleys and staircases that go nowhere ("Someone must have been spreading lies about Josef K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one morning."). A long, slow breakfast at Grand Cafe Slavia (changed the way I eat my morning meal...). Sneaking around the Castle in the dark, like a fairy tale. The gorgeous, vibrant stained glass in St. Vitus Cathedral. (Everything was wonderful, I feel very lucky.)

2012-01-17T03:51:00.001-07:00

We are very into this right now. Perfect.

If I had an orchard, I'd work til I'm raw

If I had an orchard, I'd work til I'm sore

And you would wait tables and soon run the store

Gold hair in the sunlight, my light in the dawn

2012-01-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

We left Malmo and caught the train over to Copenhagen for New Year's. Have you ever been in a situation with someone where you just keep telling each other how wonderful everything is! and how much fun you are having! and then one of you cracks and admits that the fun started and stopped when you passed the wind turbines on the train into town? Yeah. Copenhagen. Everything felt very grey and a bit dirty, far less charmingly Nordic than we had expected. In Alain de Botton's the Art of Travel, there is a section that explores the ways in which travel guides remove the traveller's opportunity for a unique, unadulterated experience with a destination. In some ways, I feel like we fell victim to that (thanks for nothing, Lonely Planet). It also probably didn't help that a) it was the dead of winter, b) it was around New Year's which meant that much of interest in town was closed, and c) I spent at least half of every day with my head in an old tissue that I kept stuffed up the sleeve of my cardigan the entire trip.

But. Having said that. There were actually several pretty awesome highlights that made the unending greyness of the city and sky totally worth it. 1) The national art museum was a big pull for us, given their lovely collection of Hammershoi paintings and Green Line. 2) Our hotel room had a super amazing view of the city and harbour, which came in very useful on New Year's Eve when... 3) the Danes went absolutely nuts with the fireworks. (Organised spectacles be damned! Suck it health and safety regulations! Just before midnight, we went down to the main square and, taking the back streets, found the Danish version of Walter Mattau and Jack Lemon doing their best to imitate the Sydney Harbour Bridge waterfall effect, warning us to stay at least an arm's length away from the blast. At this point, I began to imagine the conversation I would have with my mother, explaining away the irreparable damage to my face and eyes. At the square it was an absolute free-for-all as revellers appeared to show no qualms directing fireworks horizontally instead of vertically. All the while I tried to act natural while using IC as my human shield.) 4) We took a trip to Roskilde to see the Cathedral, which was absolutely stunning. 5) The Danishes! Oh! The Danishes! 6) We went up to Kronborg Castle, the setting of Hamlet, which was as foggy, bleak, and remote and one would imagine and hope.

2012-01-15T06:56:00.001-07:00

I'm addicted to the West Wing right now. Addicted. It's too shameful to admit how much I have watched recently, but I don't feel so bad about laying low as it's been a pretty intense couple of months. Christmas was nice, but I'm glad it's over. I feel like I haven't had any spare time since November. We went down south to IC's parents' where I got to hang out with both his 93 year old grandpa and three month old nephew, which made for a whole lot of coo-ing and aaah-ing. Then I developed the flu; came back to London; took the GRE next day to "keep my options open" (whose idea was that??); then flew out to Sweden the following morning. Sweden was a nice way to unwind after the holidays. IC found a £50 note on the street outside his work which went towards our flash hotel in Malmo. Flash hotel = best complimentary breakfast/dinner/upgrade combo known to man (all meatballs/cheese/bread/potatos/ham/yoghurt/fresh everything/delicious/so delicious). We only spent one night in the city, but there was a pretty, lit-up, old town centre that made for a nice stroll before dinner, then a night full of Haribo and Footloose in Swedish before I passed out in the marshmallow-soft bed, mounds of used tissues strewn about...

Also, this is my on-repeat this week:

2011-11-26T01:55:00.001-07:00

Oh boy, I love this. (Maybe Sringsteen covers will be my new thing...)

From the record, Olof Sings by Icalandic signer Olof Arnlads. See also Tiny Desk Concert below.

2011-11-20T09:08:00.001-07:00

Krakow was fan.tastic. Poland was fan.tastic. A fan.tastic time was had by all (me). Highlights: Galicja Museum (poignant, lovely, Traces of Memory exhibit), wandering and finding stencilling in the old Jewish quarter (Fight Fascism*Eat Nazis*Hate Nazi Love Stencils), Milk Bars and peirogi (every night). Lowlights: Oskar Schindler's Factory museum (Disneyland for genocide, very odd. I very nearly ran out).

2011-11-15T00:55:00.001-07:00

After listening to this interview on NPR, I fell in love with this song. Enjoy!

2011-11-10T12:00:00.001-07:00

I know a lot of people who read this blog have probably already seen the below video, but I thought I'd put it on here because I think it's really lovely. The church house in this video is my very own church house here in London, which was essentially my second home when I lived in here my first time and where a million very important/sad/joyful/difficult/necessary things have happened in my life. Of far more importance, our ward is (speed-ish) reading the Book of Mormon together before the end of the year and hello! I love it! In the words of one leader of the church: "When I read the Book of Mormon, something inevitably happens to me. My burdens feel lighter. Faith and hope replace my worries, concerns, and doubts. Life appears brighter" (from here). All true.

2011-11-08T11:58:00.001-07:00

(Sending this out to the universe.) When I visit new places, I like to read as much literature about/set in/written in the places I go. A recent trip to Edinburgh encouraged a short-lived Robert Louis Stevenson obsession; Down and Out in Paris and London served as my guidebook to Paris earlier this year; our summer jaunt through Yorkshire provided the perfect excuse to revisit my Bronte favourites.

The point is, next week I'm off to Krakow and am open to literary suggestions. I'm a bit of a blank slate when it comes to all things Poland, so am pretty much up for anything.

(image from here)

All this book chatting has got me thinking about my favourite bookshops around the world in cities both large and small. First and foremost, Sam Weller's in Salt Lake (bottom floor, second hand LDS books, Maxwell, Neal A). The Strand, New York (obvious choice, forgive me). Whitechapel Gallery bookshop (hipster-y, great selection). Daunt in Marylebone, London (most recently, the Baltic states). Pioneer Books, Provo (divine). Berkelouw, Berrima, NSW (lovely, rare books). City Lights, San Francisco (feeling beat-y). The Oxfam bookshop, Crouch End, London (every Saturday, please).

If you have favourites, do share.

2011-11-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

So...revamped blog, revamped me, lose the old, embrace the now etc etc. Let it be stated that this is not a craft blog (I'll leave that to the uber talented Kara), but I am trying to learn to knit via youtube. It's slow progress so far. The ladies in my new-ish ward are doing a blanket knitting service-y thing and I kind of want in and it gives me an excuse to try something new that I may or may not give up before the end of the month (see also: GRE prep, Hemmingway's collected works, expensive watercolour set (I'll revive it post knitting), Vasari's Lives of the Artists, two week soup making stint...). Update forthcoming.

Anyway, see below for today's on repeat.