Master list of books read 2009:

The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
The Sign of Four, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle*
A Study in Scarlet, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow, Fuyumi Ono
The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Wind, Fuyumi Ono
The House of Many Ways, Diana Wynne Jones
The Twelve Kingdoms: Vast Spread of the Seas, Fuyumi Ono
Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Douglas Adams
Dance Dance Dance, Haruki Murakami
Hardboiled & Hard Luck, Banana Yoshimoto
Kitchen, Banana Yoshimoto
Cosmicomics, Italo Calvino
(16)

Tales of Outer Suburbia, Shaun Tan
The Arrival, Shaun Tan
The Dangerous Alphabet, Neil Gaiman
Flight, volume 3, assorted authors
Flight, volume 4, assorted authors
Flight, volume 5, assorted authors
Runaways, volumes 2-3, Brian K. Vaughan
Runaways, volume 4, Joss Whedon
Dororo, volume 1, Osamu Tezuka
Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
Runaways, volume 5: Dead Wrong, Terry Moore
In the Night Kitchen, Maurice Sendak
(26, including comics and childrens books)

Currently Reading: Candide, Voltaire


List: Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Caroll
House of Leaves
100 Years of Solitude

//last updated November 21

*I wasn't sure whether or not to list all the Sherlock Holmes as one book, or as the one anthology I read. So I decided to split it according to all the books within the anthology I had, since that was how they were originally published, and also because I never finished reading the entire anthology, but just the two novels and short stories.

Earlier in the month, my friends and I had one last hang out dinner. It happened on the same day as a birthday so I made a giant totoro cookie in her honor. :)

( totoro is very popular with the ladies )

In case you were wondering we decapitated his head first and ate it with vanilla ice cream. :P

I suppose it was time for my once a year icon making impulse.

Ponyo icons (19)

and while I'm at it:

Hotel Dusk (3)

 

(  22  )


:)

My friends are back in town for the month, and last Sunday we had a picnic. C:

After last time's pig shaped cookie escapades, I had this great idea to make owl shaped ones, but I never really had the occasion for them until now. It was also a great time to test out the food coloring gels I got from last November. They are sugar cookies, and the eyes are chocolate chips.

(  +5  )

OH YEAH I also made lemon bars, which were such a great hit with my family that I ended up making them three times. But the pictures for that are less exciting. :P

JEFF HANSEN ● Daylight
BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE ● Lover's Spit (B-side)
CANASTA ● Shadowcat
FEIST ● One Evening
CARLA BRUNI ● Tout Le Monde
THE ACORN ● Crooked Legs
JUANES ● Hoy Me Voy
THE LITTLE ONES ● Morning Tide

LISTEN @ 8TRACKS

***

Summer nights are always the nicest, I think, because while everyone is sleeping there is the nicest calm about the air. The whole thing starts off very quiet and whispery, and as you listen to it gradually gets louder and more awake, I guess. I didn't really do it intentionally, but I think it has this good vibe going for it when you finish, like it's morning again.
Jeff Hansen's song is the nicest song, for occasions like this, I think. And of course the staple Carla Bruni song.

I have also gotten around to putting dem tracks up for any takers, though idk if this will keep going... it is kind of hasslesome.

Incidentally! In the time it took for me to write, upload individual songs and post this, I have finished at the exact same time as the mix title! COINCIDENCEE????

TRACKS:
1 PASSION PIT - Cuddle Fuddle
2 MAX TUNDRA - Which Song
3 BELANOVA - Sonar (127 Mix)
4 PRETTY LIGHTS - Change is Gonna Come
5 METRIC - Help I'm Alive (The Twelves Remix)
6 PASSION PIT - I've Got Your Number
7 COMPANY OF THIEVES - Oscar Wilde
8 THE VIRGINS - Rich Girls (Le Castle Vania's Spring Break No Parents Remix)
9 AMPLIVE - 15 Stepz (ft. Codany Holiday)

LISTEN?


***
Whenever I think of this time of year, I always seem to tie it up with a lot of stress and panicking due to AP testing, or school wrapping up in general, which is a mixed ball of panic and joy, if you ask me! So when making this mix I wanted it to be a good representation those kind of days.
I started this mix a few weeks ago when I was feeling really chipper, yet somehow it also works today though I am in a really sour mood. So... mission accomplished, maybe?
Also, I should probably note that most of this mix is revolved around Passion Pit's Chunk of Change EP. I bought it on a whim based on my love for the track Sleepyhead, and it pretty much climbed my charts at my last.fm ever since. Did you know the EP was originally made as a mix for the lead singers (now ex-)girlfriend for Valentines Day? You can totally tell because the music just feels so damn personal. It's so lovely.

I made these pig cookies dipped in chocolate (mud) for my friend's birthday. It took me about two hours to make it, mostly from cutting the shapes individually with a knife. C: I am really proud of these so here are a bunch of photos:

(  4  )

It is possibly one of the best things I have thought of during math class.

TRACKS:
1) The White Stripes - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself
2) Loch Lomond - Elephants & Little Girls
3) Tokyo Police Club - Tessellate
4) The New Pornographers - The Bleeding Heart Show
5) Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
6) Ted Leo + Pharmacists - Heart Problems
7) String Quartet Tribute to Nirvana - Come As You Are
8) School of Seven Bells - Half Asleep
9) Chemistry - Life Goes On ~side K~
10) Deerhoof - Matchbook Seeks Maniac
11) The Morning Benders - Grain of Salt
12) The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
13) Deerhoof - Spirit Ditties of No Tone

LISTEN?
***
Facts: I actually started this mix way back in November, but I am never sure about the tracks until much later when I am almost sick of these songs. I like to make the mixes based on the general mood I feel during the specific month (I'd like to think of it like a 365 but of music and only every other month). It's kind of nice to listen to it when you have time to yourself, in the midst of all the holiday hullabaloo and all of that--hence the title.

The first couple songs are really old, but my personal favorites are Fleet Foxes's White Winter Hymnal, and Deerhoof's Spirit Ditties of No Tone. Though I used to be really obsessed with Matchbook Seeks Maniac and Half Asleep by the School of Seven Bells, I just played it so much in my head it kind of hurts listening to it now. Everyone needs to listen to the String Quartet's Tribute to Nirvana. GLORIOUS.

TRACKS:
1.Passion Pit - Sleepyhead
2. Novillero - A Little Culture
3. Maximo Park - Now I'm All over the Shop
4. Bricolage - Untitled
5. New Pornographers - Go Places
6. Yelle - Je Ceu (Twelves Remix)
7. Minus the Bear - Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse
8. Stereolab - Fluorescences
9. Tokyo Jihen - Ramp

LISTEN?

***
Hahaha, I totally did this in the middle of writing my first college paper.

The first three tracks are really all that matters, they are my favorite songs right now. Will probably upload them individually once I figure out how to do it on el domain. :)

man I said I was going to do something productive today and then I ended up making this. :/