Playlist: Bonnaroo Days And Nights 2013
Note from Laneia: In a couple of days we’ll be on the farm in Manchester, covered in sunscreen and wristbands and probably standing in line for beer/samosas. This will be my fourth trip to Bonnaroo for Autostraddle and if you’re going too, I’ll have meetup info for you in another post! Here’s Morgan with another perfect set of playlists to get you ready for Roo, or maybe just ready for daydreaming.
In Tennessee, you wake with the sun because you don’t really have a choice. The day starts at daybreak whether you like it or not, so drink a little coffee and a lot of water and take a hard look at your schedule. Don’t miss anything.
Dawn to Dusk
Welcome to the day!
When You Wake Up Feeling Old – Wilco
Nights Become Days – Frank Turner
Mousso – Fatoumata Diawara
Quiet Hours – Wild Nothing
Sun – Cat Power
High in the Morning – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
I Will be Back One Day – Lord Huron
Desert Song – Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Constant Conversations – Passion Pit
The Sun – Portugal. The Man
Go Outside – Cults
It’s Alright – Matt & Kim
I’m Writing a Novel – Father John Misty
The Forest Awakes – David Byrne & St Vincent
The Socialites – Dirty Projectors
Balloons – Foals
Country Roads – Pretty Lights
Accent – Conspirator
Sun In Your Eyes – Grizzly Bear
Sun Hands – Local Natives
Dusk to Dawn
The sun’s going down and it’s time to wipe off your dustache and prepare to be lost all night. You are never too tired. Take a breather on a hay bale and get your second, third, and maybe fourth wind. You can do this.
Welcome to the night!
Music to Walk Home By – Tame Impala
Walk At Night – Cults
Continuous Thunder – Japandroids
Block After Block – Matt & Kim
Cherry Wine – Nas (feat. Amy Winehouse)
Nuclear Seasons – Charli XCX
Paradise – Wild Nothing
Miracle – Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors
Cowboy Boots – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Mary Jane’s Last Dance – Tom Petty
The Violet Hour – Sea Wolf
We Went Wild – Lord Huron
Crystalline – Bjork
Cartographist – Purity Ring
Witch – Maps & Atlases
Sleep Forever – Portugal. The Man
Kids on the Run – The Tallest Man on Earth
No Te Vayas – Calexico
Talking with the Wolves – Glen Hansard
After Glow – Foals
Add your favorite tracks from this year’s Bonnaroo lineup in the comments!
Almost Famous: Kings
Welcome to Almost Famous, a weekly segment where we ask up-and-coming queer musicians some hard-hitting questions about music and life and maybe even convince them to show us photos of their pets. Get to know intimate details about your new favorite artist or band before they hit the Big Time and become too famous for us to interview for real.
Header by Rory Midhani
Kings
Brooklyn, NY
Emily Bielagus, Robert Maril and Steph Bishop founded Kings in September 2011. Kings carries queer narratives with polished strings and sweet twang. Their music is full of tight vocal harmonies, stomps, and jars of beans. Their hearts are full of feelings. They just released a new single, “I Got Stuck”, which is available on Bandcamp. Emily answered our questions!
How would you describe your music?
Our live shows are like the best whiskey-soaked campfire sing-along ever. BTW it’s a queer camp where all the campers are former Riot Grrls.
What instrument/s do you play?
I’ve been singing my whole life, and playing guitar for about ten years. I’m also trying to learn the banjo, and I frequently “play” a jar filled with dry beans at shows. Robert is a classically trained musician who came out of the womb playing piano and cello, and fun fact: he has a Masters in singing opera. Steph picked up the guitar in college, and even though she’s never had a lesson in her whole life, she really plays guitar just naturally better than anyone I’ve ever met – it’s like an extension of her fingers.
Which song would you most like Autostraddle readers to hear?
I think y’all would enjoy our song “I Got Stuck.” It’s a real hootenanny about a lesbian wedding gone awry – a bride leaves her bride at the altar.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/67259549″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
What has been the most memorable moment of your music career to date?
The day we were all in the studio together for the first time, we were there for about thirteen hours straight, and we literally didn’t want to leave, ever. We could have stayed there for at least thirteen more hours. We all felt like we were experiencing a dream coming true in real time, and we felt incredibly lucky to have confirmation that yes, we actually really love making music together as much as we thought we would, whether we’re doing it live, or in rehearsal, or in the studio. Hearing the rough mixes together after that day at like 1 a.m., with our producer and engineer in the room, was an incredible way to finish the day – we all cried and felt relieved and felt inspired and felt exhausted and it all just felt right.
What was the last song you wrote about?
It’s called “Wolf at the Door.” Steph and I have both been with our girlfriends for a long time, and this song came out of a conversation we were having about navigating the future of a long-term relationship: can you stay monogamous for “x” amount of years? Do you lose a part of yourself being part of a couple for so long? Can you ever get over past betrayals? But it’s also a love song to our partners and it’s hopeful – it’s a reiteration of commitment and a prayer that we’ll be able to find the answers to these questions together.
Would you ever date someone whose favorite artist/band was your least favorite?
I hate to say it, but – no! I don’t think I could. What would you listen to on long road trips, or while cooking dinner? How could you make mixes for each other? I really try to explore and learn from all different genres, but I just don’t think I could stand to listen to, say, scary screamy hateful death metal all day long, even if my partner loved it. I also think your music taste says a lot about who you are and what’s important to you.
CDs, MP3s or vinyl?
Tapes! I really wish everyone still made mixtapes for each other. I used to make the BEST mixtape covers – I would even paint the case with glitter nail polish! It was a serious middle school hobby of mine.
What is the best and worst thing about touring?
The best thing about touring is that the three of us are most at home and happy when we’re singing together onstage. The worst part about touring is that we haven’t been able to do it yet! A little tour is on the horizon, once we finish this EP, and we can’t wait.
Do you have any pre-show rituals?
If you count Steph tuning her mandolin while Robert and I apply bronzer as a “ritual”, then yes?
Do you have any pets?
My cats, Macaroni and Stevie Nicks, are like our unofficial rehearsal mascots.
Everything else you’d like to know about Kings you can find here:
Kingskingskings.tumblr.com
twitter.com/KingsSinging
www.facebook.com/KingsKingsKings
www.youtube.com/user/KINGSsinging
soundcloud.com/kingskingskings/
www.sonicbids.com/Kings4
Kingskingskings.bandcamp.com
If you are, or know of, a queer artist or band that should be featured in Almost Famous, send the details to crystal [at] autostraddle [dot] com. Please write ‘Almost Famous’ in the subject line!
Almost Famous: Tiny Tusks
Welcome to Almost Famous, a weekly segment where we ask up-and-coming queer musicians some hard-hitting questions about music and life and maybe even convince them to show us photos of their pets. Get to know intimate details about your new favorite artist or band before they hit the Big Time and become too famous for us to interview for real.
Header by Rory Midhani
Tiny Tusks
Brooklyn, NY
Lauren, Sabrina and Natalie are the pop post punk trio, Tiny Tusks. All three are big fans of Autostraddle! Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, the band made its way to local venues this past August and has been keeping good company ever since, sharing bills with forgetters, Radical Dads, Mal Blum, GLTR PNCH, and Clinical Trials. Tiny Tusks are poised to take their residence in the studio in early 2013 and hope to release a record shortly thereafter.
How would you describe your music?
Natalie: Our friend Cristy Road put it best: “Like the emo you loved in high school, except gay.”
What instrument/s do you play?
Natalie: Guitar, been playing for a long, long time.
Lauren: I’ve only been playing drums in a band since February of this year, although the snare drum was my first instrument in seventh grade. Between then and now it’s been guitar, but I’m much more at home on the throne.
Sabrina: I play the bass guitar and I’ve been playing it for two years and four months (of course I remember our anniversary!).
Which song would you most like Autostraddle readers to hear?
Sabrina: I would love for Autostraddle readers to hear “Sunchasers”.
What inspires you to write?
Natalie: I’m inspired by all kinds of things, landscapes are big themes for me. However, it’s mostly the people in my everyday life that tend to be the greatest influences for anything I write.
Sabrina: I find Motown really inspirational. I love a good bass groove.
What has been the most memorable moment of your music career to date?
Natalie: Closing a Sleater-Kinney show and opening for Gossip both in Tempe, AZ. Craig Finn (Hold Steady) borrowing my amp was kinda fun too.
What were the first and last records you bought?
Lauren: The first record I bought was probably No Doubt‘s Tragic Kingdom or Alanis Morissette‘s Jagged Little Pill. Definitely something around 1995. The last record I bought is Angel Olsen‘s Half Way Home. This album is so effin’ beautiful and I would highly recommend listening to “Acrobat” right now.
If you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Lauren: A mix CD of my favorite songs. Maybe that’s cheating. How about Songs: Ohia’s The Lioness? It sounds like a desert landscape and is the perfect soundtrack for a cool summer night with a lady. Especially if that lady is into sad-sounding music.
What is your ‘guilty pleasure’ music?
Natalie: Lately it’s been Taylor Swift – that “We Are Never Getting Back Together” song is wicked catchy.
Lauren: Top 40 and Goddess-y/pagan music.
Sabrina: I’m really into the music from Legend of Zelda video games, specifically Ocarina of Time. They bring me to tears.
What do you do outside of making music?
Sabrina: I’m a social worker.
Lauren: I’ve been working at Babeland for almost five years. I’m also studying herbal medicine and women’s spirituality. I do a lot of other things too, but those occupy most of my time aside from music.
Do you have any pets?
Natalie: I do, a 9-yr old Lhasa named Violet.
Sabrina: I have a fierce little lady puppy named Patti Smith.
Tiny Tusks have two tracks available for free download on Bandcamp. You can also check out their tunes on Facebook.
If you are, or know of, a queer artist or band that should be featured in Almost Famous, drop me the details via crystal [at] autostraddle [dot] com. Please write ‘Almost Famous’ in the subject line!
Playlist: Bonnaroo Days And Nights
Since 2010, Autostraddle has been making the annual trek to Manchester, TN, for the four-day dirty hippie song and dance festival known as Bonnaroo. Executive Editor Laneia is on her way again, this time with Bonnaroo virgin and activity partner, Megan, and they are totally and absurdly amped beyond all measure. Look for more info on Autostraddle’s plans for Bonnaroo (and you!) a little later in the week, but for now let’s get you all geared up for your weekend on the farm with a couple of playlists! Even if you’re not going to Roo this year, these songs will do their best to make you feel like you’re there.
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Dawn to Dusk
Welcome to the day!
It’s around 8 a.m. in Tennessee, and it’s too hot for you to be in your tent, so peel off your sticky pajamas and put on some sunblock. Pack as much water as you can, grab your schedule and set off. The day is yours.
Towers – Bon Iver
Just One – Blind Pilot
Simple Song – The Shins
Wouldn’t It Be Nice – Beach Boys
11:11 – Rodrigo y Gabriela
Ode to Sunshine – Delta Spirit
Ten Thousand Words – The Avett Brothers
Salinas – Laura Marling
Stranger – Trampled by Turtles
Let Me In – Phish
Cruel – St. Vincent
Breatherz (Young as Clouds) – Rubblebucket
Summer Beat – Orgone
No Widows – The Antlers
Left Home – Sarah Jarosz
Save the Rich – Garfunkel and Oates
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Dusk to Dawn
Welcome to the night!
It’s still hot, but it’s getting dark and everyone is a weird combo of excited and exhausted. Prepare to lose hope of ever knowing where you are or how to get somewhere else. You’ll probably feel a little chilly, but you definitely won’t be lonely. Be fun, be safe!
Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out – The Antlers
Little by Little – Radiohead
Gotta Go – Oberhofer
The Undertaker – Puscifer
This Is The Life – Two Door Cinema Club
Arming of Infants – Trampled by Turtles
Down in the Yards – Rubblebucket
Yer Spring – Hey Rosetta!
Coyote – The Lonely Forest
Always – Blind Pilot
Away – Kathleen Edwards
Sleep – The Roots
Add your favorite Bonnaroo related tracks in the comments below!
Want to suggest a playlist theme? Hit Crystal up on Formspring and someone of the team will make it for you.
Rock n’ Roll Camp: Volunteering Is The Purest Form of Awesome
This is our second post about the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls. To read all our “On Camp” posts, click this image:
click for more 'on camp'
I went to college thinking I’d be an environmental scientist, but by the spring I’d switched majors to communications and was quietly revisiting old dreams of being artist and working with musicians. I’d been running off to New York on the weekends, going to shows and just walking around, taking pictures, when a tuition refund of $3,000 turned my life around. It was more money than I’d ever had or even thought I’d have, and the possibilities seemed endless! Suddenly, this city I’d been pining for — that life — could actually be mine. In the span of a few days I found a sublet in a collective in New York City and filled out a form online for my one planned responsibility for the summer: Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls. I’d kept WMRC in my heart since stumbling across it when I was 17, and now I was going, for real.
morgan in NYC
A couple months later, I was navigating New York like a pro — reading in the park, finding odd jobs on CL and going to bars that served free food. But I didn’t really have many friends, thanks to a shyness that I couldn’t seem to shake, despite the young confidence I had backpacks full of at the time. I didn’t know where all the people like me were, or how I would even talk to them if I saw one in the wild.
All of that changed during the training session for first-time Rock Camp volunteers. We stuffed into a small high school cafeteria and started learning what camp meant. It was more progressive, more in-tune and more supportive than I thought possible. Everyone, myself included, was so enthusiastic, and it felt so much easier to interact in that air. There was direction. I was quiet, but instead of ignoring me, the people around me made an effort to include me and ask me what I thought. These were my people — these women with books in their purses, smiling queers and confident ones who raised their hands to clarify the meaning of “people first language.” We talked about intentional safe space, and what it meant to build that with bare hands. It was a day that crackled and buzzed with revelations and language and feelings. It was a primer for the shock of rock camp.
My life was so changed by Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls that in memory, I exist “before camp” and “after camp.” I’d been in spaces labeled “safe” before, but nothing compared to WMRC. The environment of camp gave me the most effective model for forging affirming and supportive spaces within my own life.
One of the most mindblowing facts about the Rock Camps across the world is that their summer programs are staffed almost entirely by unpaid volunteers. (Just kidding, we’re actually paid in burritos, Luna bars and happiness.) We do almost every job at camp — from working the kitchen to wrangling kids — and even though the camps are music based, no music experience is required to volunteer. From the first year I was there, I realized that Rock Camp was like a secret world where suddenly everyone I interacted with had good taste in music and a cool bookshelf at home, also probably a pet with a funny name. Their ‘day jobs’ were just as awesome as they were: social workers, badass zinesters, incredible nannies, award-winning writers and journalists, groundbreaking artists and of course, musicians. I mean, these are the people who change the world.
Here’s a list of bands with members who volunteer at Willie Mae Rock Camp in NYC!
Rock Camp Volunteers, Totally Relevant To Your Interests
Slothrust is a NYC-based blues-influenced grunge band made up of WMRC volunteer Leah Wellbaum and bandmates Kyle Bann and Will Gorin. The three graduated from Sarah Lawrence with Jazz and Blues degrees. With their irresistible punchy momentum and undeniable technical precision, Slothrust updates grunge to a new territory without giving up any lo-fi ground. They’re currently booking a national tour so keep on the look out for a show in your area! For those in NYC, they play Glasslands on May 10.
Slothrust
Sabrina Chap has the voice of a “whiskey angel”, an apt description of her soulful, playful powerhouse of a voice. She has volunteered at Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls for three years and performed at the Girls Rock! Chicago. Her newest album, We Are the Parade, is described as a “queertastic horn explosion” and that sounds really exciting. Sabrina is also the editor of the Lambda-nominated compilation Live Through This: On Creativity and Self Destruction, which features many people loved by Autostraddle, including Sara Quin, Eileen Miles and (rock camp volunteer!) Cristy Road. The book is going into its second edition and adding pieces by Margaret Cho and Amanda Palmer and other people you might care about.
k. is the music project of Karla Schickele. Karla is the Executive Director of Willie Mae Rock Camp and a former volunteer of the Portland’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Camp for Girls. Her band mates, Ruth Lockwood and Matt Sutton are rock camp veterans, too. The music of k. shines with calm and confident melodies ridden by the purity of Karla’s haunting alto. The sparse but insistent percussion creates the perfect backdrop to their album History Grows, bringing the multi-instrumental talents of the trio to the forefront. They’re releasing a new album in May! For those in the NYC area, k, is having a record release show at Zebulon May 12 and you should go.
We’ve featured Clinical Trials in the past and band members Somer Bingham and Caryn Havlik are familiar faces at WMRC. Both also have the stage energy of legends and really endearing smiles. Crystal described their latest album Bleed Me as “a panther; it’s a little dark and dangerous, it stalks and menaces and makes my heart thump that tiny bit faster” and there aren’t words better than that. You can catch Somer on the upcoming season of The Real L Word!
Starina is a Chicago native who has volunteered as a band coach and guitar teacher at WMRC for two summers, currently works as part of the year-round Music Lab after-school program, and previously volunteered at Girls Rock! Chicago. Her album The Snow Years comes out on July 1, 2012 and she plays a free show at Pete’s Candy Store on May 19th.
Naomi Less
The Shondes have gotten a lot of attention— from VH1’s Best Week Ever Blog to Pitchfork and Entertainment Weekly, who called them “giddy garage melodics with Sleater-Kinney twist”. The Shondes played a lunchtime showcase at WMRC this summer and their guitarist Fureigh has volunteered as a guitar teacher since 2006. They played a bunch of shows at SXSW this year, and they’re heading off to their first European tour this year. They’re currently on tour in the US to promote their album Searchlights, check their Facebook to see if they’re coming to your area, they’re not to be missed.
Naomi Less is a Jewish rock musician and writes for pre-teens, teens and adults. In addition to volunteering at WMRC every year, she has a unique project called Jewish Chicks Rock, doing music workshops with girls at camps and in schools. She wants to inspire more girls to pick up instruments and express themselves.
Keyke is a singer-songwriter and a vocal standout. Her urgent twang and simple inspired lyrics developed through an uncommon writing style. She improvises all her music and transcribes herself later. She has a lot of stories and a cat named Juniper.
Jane Lee Hooker’s name is a twist on John Lee Hooker, the blues legend who is one of their influences. Another is Big Mama Thornton, who Willie Mae Rock Camp is named after. Their drummer and rock camp drum teacher, Melissa, was picked for the band before finishing her audition. All five members are mad talented ladies with stage names like “T Bone” and “Hail Mary”. Between the five of them they’ve had about 100 years of experience touring in the US and abroad. They play rad rock covers of blues songs.
Glass Anchors
Glass Anchors is the band of WMRC volunteer Annie Sicherman (and currently features another rock camp volunteer on bass!). Her music is crafted to break your heart in a good way; Annie’s velvety voice coaxes the pieces back together. Glass Anchors is signed to Cakeshop’s in-house label Capeshok.
Volunteers Relevant To Your Intersts Playlist
We Are the Parade – Sabrina Chap
Are You Ready – The Shodes
Sparrow – Glass Anchors
Stevie – k.
Animal – Clinical Trials
Bobbie Joe Watkins – Keyke
Shouth ’em Out – Naomi Less
Before We Began – Starina
Shake Mix – Jane Lee Hooker
7:30am – Slothrust
Volunteering is such a great way to experience camp as an adult. Find your local Rock Camp and see what you can do! Share your own Rock Camp volunteering stories in the comments, and if you’ve been as a camper, tell us about your awesome volunteers!
click for more of our extended coverage of rock n' roll camp for girls!
Pure Poetry #31: Mary Oliver
Pure Poetry Week(s):
#1 – 2/23/2011 – Intro & Def Poetry Jam, by Riese
#2 – 2/23/2011 – Eileen Myles, by Carmen
#3 – 2/23/2011 – Anis Mojgani, by Crystal
#4 – 2/24/2011 – Andrea Gibson, by Carmen & Katrina/KC Danger
#5 – 2/25/2011 – Leonard Cohen, by Crystal
#6 – 2/25/2011 – Staceyann Chin, by Carmen
#7 – 2/25/2011 – e.e. cummings, by Intern Emily
#8 – 2/27/2011 – Louise Glück, by Lindsay
#9 – 2/28/2011 – Shel Silverstein, by Intern Lily & Guest
#10 – 2/28/2011 – Michelle Tea, by Laneia
#11 – 2/28/2011 – Saul Williams, by Katrina Chicklett Danger
#12 – 3/2/2011 – Maya Angelou, by Laneia
#13 – 3/4/2011 – Jack Spicer, by Riese
#14 – 3/5/2011 – Diane DiPrima, by Sady Doyle
#15 – 3/6/2011 – Pablo Neruda, by Intern Laura
#16 – 3/7/2011 – Vanessa Hidary, by Lindsay
#17 – 3/7/2011 – Adrienne Rich, by Taylor
#18 – 3/8/2011 – Raymond Carver, by Riese
#19 – 3/9/2011 – Rock WILK, by Gabrielle
#20 – 3/9/2011 – Veronica Franco, by Queerie Bradshaw
#21 – 3/10/2011 – Poems I Like, by Tao Lin
#22 – 3/12/2011 – William Carlos Williams & Robert Creeley, by Becky
#23 – 3/13/2011 – NSFW Sunday is Pure Poetry Edition, by Riese
#24 – 3/14/2011 – Charles Bukowski, by Intern Emily
#25 – 3/16/2011 – Rainer Maria Rilke, by Riese
#26 – 3/17/2011 – Lee Harwood by Mari
#27 – 3/18/2011 – Jeffrey McDaniel by Julieanne
#28 – 3/20/2011 – Dorothy Porter by Julia
#29 – 3/21/2011 – Sylvia Plath, by Riese
#30 – 3/24/2011 – Poems About Being a Homogay, by Riese
#31 – 3/28/2011 – Mary Oliver by Morgan
Mary Oliver writes poetry about nature. She’s published an insane amount of poetry and prose and won a Pulitzer Prize. She takes long walks and lives in Provincetown, MA, which is on the same island where I grew up. She grew up in Ohio and skipped school to read Whitman and Thoreau in the woods.
Sometimes teaching yourself works out for the better.
Mary Oliver on poetry:
“…I learned from Whitman that the poem is a temple–or a green field—a place to enter, and in which to feel. Only in a secondary way is it an intellectual thing—an artifact, a moment of seemly and robust wordiness—wonderful as that part of it is. I learned that the poem was made not just to exist, but to speak—to be company. It was everything that was needed, when everything was needed.”
She’s a master of creating that “place to enter”. Mary Oliver turns words into breathing shining nature, in the physical and philosophical sense.
Nature makes sense. We’re nature! What we do, what we feel and who we love all comes down to following or rejecting nature, and nature is what drives nature to exist. Circles! Mary Oliver sees the points where nature (the will/feelings kind) parallels nature (the sticks/twigs kind), and puts those understandings into words. She stacks layers of subtlety in scenes of the natural world to create dreamy realities full of connections and epiphanies.
This poem is long, but I feel like it fits:
The Dogfish
Some kind of relaxed and beautiful thing
kept flickering in with the tide
and looking around.
Black as a fisherman’s boot,
with a white belly.
If you asked for a picture I would have to draw a smile
under the perfectly round eyes and above the chin,
which was rough
as a thousand sharpened nails.
And you know
what a smile means,
don’t you?
—
I wanted the past to go away, I wanted
to leave it, like another country; I wanted
my life to close, and open
like a hinge, like a wing, like the part of the song
where it falls
down over the rocks: an explosion, a discovery;
I wanted
to hurry into the work of my life; I wanted to know,
whoever I was, I was
alive
for a little while.
—
It was evening, and no longer summer.
Three small fish, I don’t know what they were,
huddled in the highest ripples
as it came swimming in again, effortless, the whole body
one gesture, one black sleeve
that could fit easily around
the bodies of three small fish.
—
Also I wanted
to be able to love. And we all know
how that one goes,
don’t we?
Slowly
—
the dogfish tore open the soft basins of water.
—
You don’t want to hear the story
of my life, and anyway
I don’t want to tell it, I want to listen
to the enormous waterfalls of the sun.
And anyway it’s the same old story – – –
a few people just trying,
one way or another,
to survive.
Mostly, I want to be kind.
And nobody, of course, is kind,
or mean,
for a simple reason.
And nobody gets out of it, having to
swim through the fires to stay in
this world.
—
And look! look! look! I think those little fish
better wake up and dash themselves away
from the hopeless future that is
bulging toward them.
—
And probably,
if they don’t waste time
looking for an easier world,
they can do it.
Mary Oliver’s poems feel like lessons. They’re a bit like fables set over landscapes. Her poetry feels both calm and important. It’s unjudging and observant. It makes me want to plan and do great things and see everything and think.
Pure poetry to live by:
“Be good natured and untidy in your exuberance.”
“there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted-”
“So quickly, without a moment’s notice does the miraculous swerve and point to us, demanding that we be its willing servant.”
“Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?”
Top 5 Robots to End the Human Race, iPhone 4 and E3: Whoa.
ROBOT FIX:
Here are five (technically seven) robots that are really, really awesome. Some of them will probably kill us in the not-too-distant future, but at least they’re neat to look at in the meantime. In case you aren’t schooled in the history of robot awesomeness, the first robot was a “mechanical pigeon, possibly powered by steam, capable of flying” crafted by one badass mathematician in 400BC.
Robots have grown a bit more sophisticated since then, but their level of awesomeness has remained consistent, at 100%. I think we can all agree Rosie the robot was kind of a babe, but these robots run the gamut from oh-my-god-what-the-fuck-terrifying to mesmerizingly beautiful. Still, we should probably build some kind of heavily fortified bomb-shelter, you know, to cover our bases.
1. BIGDOG:
BigDog is a quadruped robot developed by Boston Dynamics as a mechanical pack mule for terrain too rough for wheeled vehicles. It can climb 35 degree inclines, carry almost 350 pounds and has a top speed of 4 miles per hour. BigDog won’t lose its balance in snow or on ice, and doesn’t even fall when kicked. It has a smaller cousin, called LittleDog. It’s extremely terrifying, but kind of amazing. Doesn’t it look like two people wearing a horse costume? Except the costume doesn’t have a head and it moves on its own in a manner eerily similar to human legs wearing skinny jeans. (more…)
Top 10 Films of 2010 for Geeks, Sci-Fi Nerds & Weirdos
In 2010, geeky films are gonna rock your box office and we’re here to tell you about them. While we may lack any kind of formal explanation for what precisely makes a film geekgasmic, we just have a feeling that your sexy nerdy crush object won’t complain when you take her on a date to Kick-ass.
Some of these films, like Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland and Disney’s Oceans, will stuff you full of eye-candy. Some, like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows of course, will have to score some major Shaun White airtime to vault over the anticipatory expectations you’ve been building up since the last one.
We’ve covered a lot of ground with these films: adaptations & sequels, comic geeky, tech geeky, sci-fi geeky, lit geeky — it’s like Baskin-Robbins but with YouTube instead of tiny pink spoons. There’s a little something for everyone. Except maybe your annoying friend from work who already has her Robert Pattinson Remember Me screensaver in rotation with Sex and the City 2.
What are you most excited about this year?
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THE CRAZIES
Release Date: February 26th
If you’ve got a soft spot for movies about epidemics, you‘ll probably love this. A waterborne toxin infects a small town, and just like violence and sex on TV, it immediately makes everyone an insane murderer. If that wasn’t bad enough, the military is killing people on the spot. Although the plot is well-tread, The Crazies looks well shot and totally worth a try.
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