The Paper Kites - Featherstone

Once

If you don't like this movie, we probably can't be friends.

[If you've never seen it, look up music from "Once (Music from the Motion Picture)"...and then you'll probably want to watch the movie]

Sarah DeGroat - Old Moscow

Jay mixed this project, and it is so good.  So so good.

Sarah is a student at A&M.  She did this project with Jay's good friends Matthew and Lizi Bailey, and when they sent it over to mix, he kind of freaked out.

You can listen to all 5 songs on her website.

Old Moscow:


Heartbeat:


[She reminds me quite a bit of Rosie Thomas]

January is for Decluttering...again

We got a dog.  A really big dog.

Do you know how large of a crate you have to get for a great dane?  And do you know how hard it is to find a place in your house to put that kind of crate?

I say that, because I once again feel like we have too much stuff.  So I have 3 declutter goals for January:

1. Sell unwanted Ikea cabinets (done! $80 on Craigslist...seriously people - jump on the Craigslist train!)
2. Sell a couch (can't decide which one...but we have at least 1 too many...)
3. Empty 12 things out of my office room (which is where the crate now lives) until it is "acceptable"

#3 is the hardest.  That room is where I stash all the stuff I don't want to get rid of but don't really have a use for.  So I told myself yesterday if I can't come up with an immediate purpose/place for it (ex: hang on wall, put in jar with other pens...), it has to go.  I told myself that our house is not a museum and has to have space for the things we have yet to do.

“If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” - William Morris

Balmorhea

Jay just finished up audio for another SerialBox session. If you like instrumental music (Album Leaf, Explosions in the Sky...), you'll like Balmorhea.

I love bands that jump around and play a bunch of instruments - makes them very interesting to watch:

The Sing Off

There are very few TV shows that Jay and I actually agree on and watch together. This is not one of them.

I don't watch "American Idol" or "X Factor" or "The Voice," but I do like "The Sing Off." I feel like part of it might be that I like who judges, particularly Ben Folds. But it has some really talented performers, too. Jay would let me show him my 1 or 2 favorite performances from each episode, and it was usually this group - they were my fave and ended up winning. This totally appeals to my pop-loving self (I listen to top 40 on the way to work every morning...).

This first song is my least favorite song off Florence & The Machine's last album, but this version is amazing:
 

And this one is just impressively clever how they mix the 2 songs:

They also did a Katy Perry song, and we all know how much we love Katy Perry at this house...but it wasn't one of their best.

And apparently the beatboxer is multi-talented (and studied music at Yale):

I mean - don't you kind of feel like you should learn how to beatbox now?!  I told Jay he would probably be good at it being a drummer and all, but he declined.

SerialBox: Andrew Belle

This guy is really really good (engineered and mixed by Jay):

  The video is cool, too: