from a sunny corner of my room

it’s true, i’m moving my blog

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 09:09:49 -0800

As much as I actually still like iWeb (what could be easier), I am moving this blog over to Wordpress. The new address will be dhsorrell.wordpress.com. If anyone is actually subscribed to this blog, you will have to update your feed to over there. These entries will hang out over so if you feel nostalgic for a post about no-shave november or ginger kids, you can always slide on over and check out what I had to say on the subject. There will be a link back at the new location. The rest of the site will be here. You can still go to davidsorrell.com, just the blog is moving and if you never subscribed, you won’t notice much difference except the appearance. See you over there.

tops 2

Sat, 2 Jan 2010 13:51:44 -0800

As promised, here are my songs of the year in no particular order:

1. Oh No - Andrew Bird: Sounds like a summer afternoon and allows you to sing, “Arm and arm we are the harmless sociopaths,” in your car.
2. Bear - The Antler: Jimmy told me to listen to this album because he liked it so much. The album is a concept and I can’t take the whole thing at once, but I do really like this song, the back and forth, the original lyrics.
3. Don’t Haunt This Place - The Rural Alberta Advantage: Dood and chick vocal harmonies with a sweet break in the middle.
4. Hellhole Ratrace - Girls: Builds and builds and has a great refrain. Did I say I really like this band?
5. All is Love- Karen O.: Sounds like what must have been playing in the background when I was a kid and I’d play on the living room floor, Sunday afternoon, Dad reading and smoking in his chair, golf on TV, Legos and Micronauts exploded across the carpet, a galaxy spiraling in my head.
6. Say Please - Monsters of Folk: Catchy chorus, cool lyrics, sick guitar solo, surreal but pretty video and probably a surprise to many people as I didn’t like Conner Oberest until farther into his career. Has a nice mix of Bright Eyes and My Morning Jacket.
7. Comets - Fanfarlo: Sean thought I would like this band. He was right. And this song is sick! Trumpet, awesome (violent) lyrics sung beautifully, crazy synth solo and atmosphere. “If you look at the horizon there is always something ducking out of sight When you’re looking at the treetops and they’re scratching out their patterns in the sky.”
8. Lust for Life - Girls: Yeah, Girls gets two songs. This is just an awesome pop song to me and makes me want to be at a beach house with pizza...
9. Charlie Darwin - The Low Anthem: Again, this may be bashing Charles Darwin which I don’t endorse. The song though... I definitely endorse this song. I love it like crazy.

Come to think of it, if you reverse the numbers, to more like a countdown, 9 being 1, I would put the songs in this order. Comments? Hate my list? Have some to add? I wanna hear what you think. You can bash me if you want. I like a good music argument.

Did you see yesterday’s list? May have another list tomorrow...

tops

Fri, 1 Jan 2010 14:49:46 -0800

Gotta make my lists. Today I offer up top albums of the decade (I know technically the decade isn’t over yet), top songs of the year, top movies of the year and any other list I can include here. So without further ado:

Top Albums of the Decade (or 2000-2009) - chronological order.
1. Hour of the Bewilderbeast - Badly Drawn Boy: This album was on repeat for me when it came out.
2. Parachutes - Coldplay: I know they are huge stars now, but when this album first got to the US, they only ordered 5 copies at Tower Records and I was there that Tuesday to get it. The other four remained there for weeks. I still love this guy’s voice, but on this album the songs were weird lyriced and beautiful melodied and I liked it a lot.
3. Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia - The Dandy Warhols: Still love the single that came off that album
4. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco: Again, back when they were still relatively small.
5. Yoko - Beaulah: The last album of one of my favorite bands. Went to their second to last show at the Fillmore and had what Jeff would call that happy/sad feeling when it was all over.
6. Dios - Dios: They’ve changed their name since this album, but I saw them open for Beulah and loved them right away.
7. It Still Moves - My Morning Jacket: Just good stuff and that voice.
8. Chutes too Narrow - The Shins: This is one of those perfect albums and normally that would be how I would choose my favorite albums, only perfect ones. Most of these are, or are close. This one is.
9. Good News for People Who Like Bad News - Modest Mouse: I saw these guys at Coachella a million years ago, really liked them live, kind of liked Dramamine, but this is where they turned on the pop and that’s how they got me.
10. In Rainbows - Radiohead: I really am not sure if I’ve listened to an album more than this one, ever. Well, maybe OK Computer.
11. Asleep at Heaven’s Gate - Rogue Wave: Again, the pop gets me on this one. Such great melodies.
12. For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver: Jimmy sent me a video of Bon Iver doing a Takeaway show. All he wrote was something like, “Listen to this, it’s beautiful.” He’s never been more right about something. They were acoustic and the harmonies were tremendous. This quickly became one of my favorite albums ever.
13. Album - Girls: Another one I owe to Jimmy. I love this album. And I’m glad I was able to see them (with Jimmy) at the tiny Swedish-American Hall in San Francisco just a few weeks ago, before they become huge.
14. Oh My God, Charlie Darwin - The Low Anthem: I still don’t know if this is “Christian” music (pretty sure it is) but in that old timey, good gospel way. Anyway, one of my favorite songs ever comes off this album.
15. Where the Wild Things Are Soundtrack - Karen O.: I normally can’t listen to a whole soundtrack and call it a great album, and maybe it’s because I love the movie so much, and maybe it’s because it adds so much to the movie, but I’m pretty sure this can stand on its own as well.

Top Movies of the Year - I think I’ll order these on which I liked best.

1. The Reader: Probably everyone has forgotten about this one because it came out in the beginning of the year, but I liked it. The main reason I liked it is because I had no idea that it would turn into what it did. I’ll leave it at that. Don’t wanna spoil it if you haven’t seen it. Update: Fact checker Jimmy has informed me that The Reader came out in 2008. Must have come out on DVD in 2009. I still like it.
2. Watchmen: I think this is one of those that goes into the visuals category for me. It’s just so cool to look at. Which brings me to...
3. Star Trek: Same thing. Awesome looking and funnier than I thought it would be. And speaking of movies that look good...
4. Avatar: Went to see this with some buds from work and as Sean will attest, I sat there saying, “Wow,” or “Oh man,” over and over again. You have to see this in 3-D and probably IMAX which I haven’t done yet.
5. Inglourious Basterds: Quentin Tarrentino would have to work really hard to disappoint me. Hans Landa, baby!
6. Fantastic Mr. Fox: Another writer/director who would have to work pretty hard to disappoint me. Wes Anderson is awesome. Not my favorite of his films, but definitely the funniest.
7. District 9: Appeals to me on all my levels. Science Fiction, political, takes turns I didn’t expect, sad at the end. Just a great movie.
8. Where the Wild Things Are: I can’t even begin to say how much I love this movie. Ask me, it would take too long to write here.

Okay, last night’s party is catching up to me. Top songs of the year I’ll do tomorrow.

stress

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:47:17 -0800

Stress feels like hunger in my stomach,
deep and gnawing, a small animal
burrowing in for the winter.
It turns and sometimes thrashes in its sleep,
its bristly fur growling against my deepest organs,
liver, kidneys...

no-shave november: three weeks

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:14:08 -0800

Three weeks and another one goes down. Jaimé has sucked it. And as big as my talk is, I’m probably shaving tomorrow. My face is breaking out, I’m an itchy miserable mess and it just doesn’t seem worth it anymore. We’ll see. If I do, I’ll be sure to document all the different facial hair styles I go through as I scrape this shit off me.

I have to say, everyone has got some serious face growth at this point. Du and Sean (who both had goatee headstarts) have developed some wicked chin straps. Evan and Erik could use their growth to build houses for the homeless, their shit is so dense. Justin wins on length and Rob I think is actually secretly pasting a woman’s pubic hair to his face... I’m just saying. Anyway, beard on... for now.

no-shave november: two weeks

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:47:51 -0800

Here’s a full two weeks of wild growth. Everyone pretty much looks like bums at this point and I had to talk down two potential shavers even though this shit is bugging me so much that i’m ready to pluck each hair out with tweezers.

Your cover photo is With A K’s senior portrait. His parents didn’t enjoy the cheese ball mustache, but we, of course, do.

Ginger Kid: Blessing or Curse

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:10:06 -0800

As a child, definitely a curse...

But when I look back and see
that small, pale, red-head walk into the quiet,
carpeted world of the Orange County Trust Co.
trailing my mother, my tiny fist
white-knuckled and wrapped around the strap of her purse,
maybe it wasn’t so bad.
A man stood in the lobby making low,
small talk with the customers,
handed lollipops to the children.
I always got two pops and a pat
on my red head, a comment to my mother
about the color.

As a teenager, only a curse.
Who, as they explore the dark,
damp, tangled world of sex,
would want to do that
with orange pubic hair?
Stumbling through unbuttoned jeans,
fumbling with the tiny hooks
of barely used bras and then what?
Standing pale and scrawny
in front of my dark-haired, oilve-skinned,
first girlfriend... Wasn’t that enough?!
Her perfect golden body,
my sheet of blotchy paper skin,
isn’t that enough humiliation at 16?

I love her even now for not laughing
when I put that toy, that Bozo the Clown,
inside her and for her saying it felt good.

And now? Now that I’m not only used to,
but when I embrace my differences most,
life just becomes a fucker, doesn’t it?
As I get older the hair on my head fades
to a color that can only be described as dun.
My beard has started to turn
gray at my chin and every year the gray
creeps higher along my cheeks
as if someone is just slowly erasing the red,
slowly erasing that part of me
that let me know who I was.
Sure, sometimes I stuck up
my middle finger at the sky and yelled,
but during those lightning-streaked, adolescent nights
when I raged inside and believed
I wasn’t cool, wasn’t a dork,
I wasn’t in love, I wasn’t loved,
I wasn’t good or bad, I wasn’t here
in this crazy cacophony ringing
around in my head, I wasn’t a boy,
I wasn’t a man, I wasn’t anything...
At least I knew I was a red-head.
I was a red-head, red-head, red-head.
I was a freckle-faced freak, I was a sun-
burnt piece of cry-baby of the slapped back.
I was a red-head, a fire-crotched freak
pressed against the damp walls of locker rooms.
I was a red-head, I was red-headed.
I was a red-head for my whole life,
and now someone has decided it is enough,
because now the red fades
and because now, I’m something else.

Cooler Places

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:45:43 -0800

The world is about to turn again,
another day rolls along the smooth
rotation of the earth, time sliding
across the slick line of the equator.
I warm your cool left hand in my hand
and think about how heat transfers,
pulled from the warm body to the cold.
I should move away from here.
I should go to cooler climates,
places where I can put out my tongue
and stick to almost anything...

Our relationship has finished
its slow delicate tear, the tissue paper
of my lungs pulling apart
inside my chest, the fibers
finally separate, come away from one another
the way our fingers unlace.
My fingers have turned blue as the impossibly blue sky.
Will it be different someplace else
or will the blue atmosphere of time
cast a haze over the past and make is soft
and dreamy, forgetful? The world is about to turn again
and my eyes roll back into sleep,
my head rolls to the cooler
side of the pillow.

silence

Mon, 9 Nov 2009 20:54:33 -0800

They say they are going to allow us to talk
on our cell phones during airline flights soon.
I wasn’t happy when they allowed it
right after landing. There was something great
about the silence while taxiing to the gate,
something great about the solemn quiet
just after falling from the sky.

no-shave november: one week

Mon, 9 Nov 2009 20:36:52 -0800

Another casualty to vanity... And for some reason I don’t want to let him live this down. My disappointment is deep. Mark shaved. He’s not even trying to impress anyone. Anyway, there it is. Another sad statistic.

Evan is still in (i think), but could not be reached for updated beard photo for some reason. All others are still in and doing well. Quite a crop.