Stories & SNippets : 2013

…and observations, journals, & musings on music, film, books, art, and pretty things. and life in general.

January 2013

February 2013

February 23

Playlist:
Promise - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Start to Melt - Peter Bjorn & John
Santa Clara - The National
Who Do You Think? - Interpol
If You Could Read Your Mind - Clinic

February 25 Leanna creates Facebook Group “The Long Family.”

Leanna: Everything on here is private for JUST US!!!

Jamey: Ooooh, this is reeeeeally coo-el!

March 2013

March 24

Listening to Elf Power - An Old Familiar Scene

April 2013

May 2013

June 2013

June 06 upon a 7th day, may bloods and neighbors gather

I get into it with a fellow, at a gathering to discuss matters of spiritual import and relevance, about his remark that he wants to “…return to substance, not all the emotional fluff.” I am unable to let this statement, ostensibly wise in a barbus tenus sapientes manner, go unchallenged.

We later gather together at a Washington Port, with bloods and those of relation through marriage, to celebrate the upcoming birth of a baby boy. My brother-in-law and his SO welcoming, next month, a son.

We later together, on the other side of the Columbia River, for another shower, this time to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of my sister and her betrothed and beloved, a fine fellow of whom I am fond. I speak there with my old friend Matt, largely about Ed Snowden.

Speaking of him, he is still in Moscow, offered amnesty by Venezuela and Bolivia.

July 2013

August 2013

Watched Cloud Atlas

August 15

Listening to Grizzly Bear - On a Neck, On a Spit

September 2013

October 2013

November 2013

Jeremy back. His 21st at Jam on Hawthorne.
New heat pump: $6k.
Watching Elementary and Sherlock.
Our son’s into pirates and swords.
Our daughter is reading like crazy and doing acrobatics like a Soleiler.

November - playlist : listening

Hold On - Angus & Julia Stone
Holocene - Bon Iver
Elko in the Rain - Jason Lytle
Mouthful of Diamonds - Phantogram
Runaway - The National
Sunshine - DeVotchKa
Video Games - Lana Del Rey
Intro (ft. Zola Jesus) - M83
Love Interruption - First Aid Kit
The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face (f. Erykah Badu) - The Flaming Lips
Manhattan - Cat Power

November - playlist : watching

Sherlock and Elementary

November 26 - a Tuesday, a day of acronyms

alt-J, MGMT, Angus & Julia Stone. Boom.

My MIL’s bday #63. My BIL and his SO staying with us. Popcorn and homemade ice cream: vanilla and pumpkin! Watched The Heat for the second time. I love to hear my MIL laugh.

Met with my friend and colleague Liesl at Bipartisan to go over website design for the Portland high school that connects us sometimes professionally.

Finished Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief. We search and discover the things that may connect and keep us connected to our kids (specific) and to youth (universal).

Our daughter is doing great with Mathematics! Thank you, IXL, for helping make review both effective and enjoyable for a 6-year old.

December 2013

December 01 - a Sunday, let the Advent calendars begin!

Thank you, Trader Joe’s for the chocolate and the memories. The thing I like so much less about Advent calendars than the night after Halloween is that with one chocolate per opening, it’s so much more apparent when you’re trying to snag your child’s treats. In spite of them having calendars and me not, it is a mostly joyous occasion. A 3-year old wears a diaper - a clean one? - on his head for some reason, and for some reason it’s not that odd, as I seem to also remember his mom doing so recently, also for some unexplained reason. I’m not sure it has any bearing on Advent calendaring. Her hair streams blonde; his blond locks stay tucked behind a pull-up while he wields a handcrafted wood sword courtesy of me, and our lovely daughter dazzle-rocks the first day of December with poses worthy of a 10-scoring Olympic gymnast post-vault.

December 19

Our son waddles out to the kitchen long before dawn wearing a beret and Darth Vader mask. He’s holding a three foot stick and pink blanket. This kid chose the right family to be born into.

Essential Films of 2013

Favorites

About Time
Enemy
In a World…
Inside Llewyn Davis
Side Effects
Snowpiercer
The Wolf of Wall Street
World War Z

Honorable mention

Bad Words
Captain Phillips
Man of Steel
Under the Skin

All ages

The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Free Birds
Frozen
Monsters University

To see:
Planes

Guilty pleasures

The Purge

Holiday

coming soon

Still haven’t seen 😬

12 Years a Slave
The Act of Killing (Indonesian documentary recreating massacre, Hollywood-style)
American Hustle
Before Midnight
Begin Again (Mark Ruffalo)
Blue Jasmine
Blue is the Warmest Color
Dallas Buyer’s Club
Death of a Man in the Balkans
The Gatekeepers (Israeli secret service documentary)
The Grandmaster (Wong Kar Wai)
Gravity
Her
Kill Your Darlings
Nebraska
Passion (Brian De Palma)
Short Term 12
Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine)
Stories We Tell Sarah Polley documentary)
To the Wonder (Terrence Malick)
Upstream Color (Shane Carruth follow-up to Primer)

Not worth the time

coming soon

——

Back to Film Index by Year

Essential music of 2013

Albums

  1. Bastille - Bad Blood

  2. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

  3. Chvrches - The Bones Of What You Believe

  4. Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action

  5. Glasvegas - Later...When the Tv Turns to Static

  6. Kings of Leon - Mechanical Bull

  7. Manic Street Preachers - Rewind the Film

  8. Moby - Innocents

  9. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - English Electric

  10. Phosphorescent - Muchacho

  11. Run the Jewels - RTJ 1

  12. The Strokes - Comedown Machine

Honorable mention

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - The Century of Self
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
David Bowie - The Next Day
Jake Bugg - Jake Bugg
Cage the Elephant - Melophobia
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away
Elf Power - Sunlight on the Moon
Empire of the Sun - Ice on the Dune
Jimmy Eat World - Damage
Lissie - Back to Forever
Lorde - Pure Heroine
M83 - Oblivion (official soundtrack)
MGMT - MGMT
MS MR - Secondhand Rapture
The Naked and Famous - In Rolling Waves
Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks
Pink Martini - Get Happy
They Might Be Giants - Nanobots
Young Galaxy - Ultramarine

Haven’t listened to sufficiently yet

Atoms for Peace - Amok
John Fogerty - Wrote a Song for Everyone
HAIM - Days Are Gone
Paul McCartney - New
My Bloody Valentine - MBV
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
New Order - Lost Sirens
Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold
Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt
Phoenix - Bankrupt!
Queens of the Stone Age - …Like Clockwork
Tegan & Sara - Heartthrob
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

The 44 greatest songs of 2013

  1. Copy of A by Nine Inch Nails

  2. Down to Go by Phosphorescent

  3. The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?) - Ylvis

  4. Get Lucky - Daft Punk

  5. Mirrors - Justin Timberlake

  6. Pompeii - Bastille

  7. Recover - Chvrches

  8. Ride On/Right On by Phosphorescent

  9. Rockin’ Alone (In an Old Rockin’ Chair) by Billie Joe Armstrong & Norah Jones

  10. Sail - AWOLNATION

  11. Smile by Pink Martini

  12. Song for Zula by Phosphorescent

  13. To See More Light by Colin Stetson

  14. Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus

2013 Playlists by Month

January

  1. To See More Light - Colin Stetson

  2. Down to Go - Phosphorescent

  3. Recover - Chvrches

February

  1. Song for Zula - Phosphorescent

March

  1. Rockin’ Alone (In an Old Rockin’ Chair) by Billie Joe Armstrong & Norah Jones

April

  1. Smile - Pink Martini

  2. Ride On/Right On - Phosphorescent

May

  1. Pompeii - Bastille

  2. Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus

  3. I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift

  4. Just Give Me a Reason - Pink

  5. Diamonds - Rihanna

  6. Roar - Katy Perry

  7. Radioactive - Imagine Dragons

June

  1. Get Lucky - Daft Punk

  2. The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?) - Ylvis

July

  1. Royals - Lorde

  2. Applause - Lady Gaga

  3. Sail - AWOLNATION

August

  1. Copy of A - Nine Inch Nails

September

  1. sdfsdfds

October

  1. sdfsd

November

  1. sdf

December

  1. sdfsd

[ Return to Years ]

Metal

Deceiver of the Gods - Amon Amarth
As Loke Falls - Amon Amarth
Father of the Wolf - Amon Amarth
Shape Shifter - Amon Amarth
Coming of the Tide - Amon Amarth
Warriors of the North - Amon Amarth

2013 Happenings

May

10 - NSA analyst and whistleblower Edward Snowden takes a little time off work. That is to say, he skips the country for Hong Kong, and eventually Moscow. Hero or traitor for exposing the U.S. intelligence community’s electronic surveillance program PRISM? Jury’s still out. One thing is for certain: he will likely never be in a U.S. court for a jury trial.