big. crush.

The chicken or the egg?

The music or the misery?

New York City or the selfishness?

It’s hard to decide which came first.
But at least we have an answer for the New York question: It is both.
New York City is both a haven for the agenda-driven and self-centered, but it also breeds these traits. American Apparel doesn’t sell calendars, but try to remember that being inconsiderate is neither cute nor excusable.

Unlimited metropass, unlimited happy hour, unlimited distraction.
Buck up and stay human, people. 
ESPECIALLY here.

My childhood music fascination began by playing my dad’s Police tapes every time we got in the car. Finally, second grade arrived and my parents bought me a Walkman.

My DJing was suddenly no longer limited to the car stereo. Instead of memorizing my dad’s in-car selection and taking over as DJ, I spent my time stealing my dad’s Police tapes and listening to them every single night when I went to bed. I would wake up in the morning with my Walkman neatly folded on my bedside table, my parents diligently untangling me from the headphones each evening.

On family vacations, camping trips, road trips - I had my Walkman and The Police in tow. I had track lengths memorized. I knew the words to every song, even background breaths and accidental studio sounds.

I was obsessed.

You could have your New Kids on the Block — ‘cause to this little 8 year old, The Police were the coolest, the dreamiest, the best.

And if this song and video don’t convince you too, then perhaps the sweet moves around 2:42 will.  

I’ve liked The Dodos for some time now, but since the new year I’ve been super excited about their new album, “Visiter,” released on Frenchkiss Records.

Plus I really like this video.
Sweaty boys playing uniquely constructed and pretty folk jams.
Perfect combo.

Go weekend!

I am admittedly too excited by the New York Times article published this week that reads as an ode to the semicolon. In fact, just last night before ever reading the article, I made an impromptu joke on gchat referencing New York Times’ punctuation style standards. Honestly, gchat is no place for punctuation and grammar - but there I was writing hyphen jokes.

Which brings me to another wonderful place for useless grammatical functions:

BAND NAMES!

Thank you Godspeed You! Black Emperor for taking yourselves far too seriously to the point of regularly changing the location of your already extraneous exclamation point.
Thank you Volcano, I’m Still Excited!! for involving not only two emphatic exclamation points (and creating a song about them), but a comma AND a contraction!? Brilliant.
Now, when will we find a band that can incorporate the semicolon? A gloriously unnecessary homage to related independent clauses.
Their t-shirts will rule, their music will be awful.

One of my favorite quotes by my all-time favorite author is as follows:

Yet at the same time, Vonnegut has been known to use the semicolon. 

This love-hate relationship is easily understandable because the semicolon the paradigm of conceptual punctuation. While a period or comma have distinct and practical functions in sentence structure, there is no real need for a semicolon. Its purpose is defined by whoever is creating this tenuous relationship between the phrases in question. Who is to say a comma can’t cut it?
Semicolons are noncommittal.
Semicolons will flake on you for a week then text you at 2am about your party. Semicolons misjudge subway time. Semicolons double-book. I hate you semicolon, but when we hang out, it can be so good.


We are two independent clauses; we are friends.

I had a super fun, super drunk birthday party last night so as a present to myself while cleaning, I have been youtubing comedy clips like mad.

This one? Kind of the best thing ever.