What's playing?

10 Songs

Saturday, Sept. 5: Put your iTunes/music player on shuffle and share the first 10 songs that play.

   1.   Stay in my corner- The Arcs

I really like this song because it feels super bluesy and soul filled and just kinda dreamy. It's part of an album by Dan Auerbach  who is half of the band The Black Keys and the album just came out so I'll be listening to the rest of it soon.

   2.   Can't bring me down - Awreeoh

This band is from the movie Dope, which I highly recommend. It's probably one of the best movies about high school nowadays other than 21 jump street. The band, Awreeoh is a punk band in the movie and the music has a punchy dramatic feel which matches what happens in the movie with the song playing at the time.

   3.   Brother Sport - Animal Collective

When I was in New York with my family this summer, we went to a oddities show over in coney island. One of the performers had this song as one of their sets and it was just super happy and everyone was having fun and even though he messed up a few times, we didn't really mind.

   4.   You're the Inspiration - Chicago

Don't we always like the same music that our parents listen to? I remember playing Elite Beat Agents on my Nintendo DS and most of their songs immediately became favorites of mine. Songs like this one and I was Born to Love You by Queen and September by Earth Wind and Fire always make it into my playlist.

   5.   Stubborn Love - The Lumineers

Oh Lumineers, when are you guys gonna make a new album? The second time I went to New York with my entire family for my Dad's birthday, this song and the entire album was basically the only thing I listened to during our trip, so I connect New York with this album.  Also if you haven't seen their concert performance at Red Rocks, Youtube it because it's one of most active an audience has been short of Queen at Live Aid

   6.   Homecoming - Kanye West

~Chi City!~ Homecoming is probably my favorite Kanye West album because it was the first big introductions to rap that I had. 

   7.   The Guilt Engine - Gatsby's American Dream

Gatsby's American Dream is one of the bands I remember listening to with my brother and my sister and we still sing along to some of the songs now and then. The singer has this really interesting voice that varies between whining and sounding like an Incubus sent to ensnare women with his gritty growling voice. 

   8.   Home is where the Hatred Is - Gil Scott-Heron

Another song off of the movie Dope, Gil Scott-Heron is hailed as the father of rap and a self defined "bluesoligist." It's a really powerful song dealing with addiction and relationships and I find it fascinating.

   9.   Prom Night - Anamanaguchi

I'm ok with anamanaguchi, most of their songs I can appreciate but I need lyrics for my songs which is why Prom Night is my favorite song of theirs. It ahs such a dancy rave feel to it that it always puts me in a good mood, and so is in my morning routine mix.

   10. I'm ready, I Am - The Format

The Format was probably the first band that I really got into, and so when they dissolved I was crushed. I just really love all the songs that Nate Ruess and Sam Means created during their time as a band together. I wish I still remembered the name of my AIM friend who shared my love of The Format.

Passions

(I missed yesterday because ain't nobody got time for that)

What are you passionate about?

Freedom
I want people to be able to be themselves without having to live in fear otherwise. I'm an advocate for feminism, LGBTQ rights, and black and other POC rights. 

Animals
I'm passionate about animals and I love them with all my heart. I'd remember taking in egg's that had fallen out of nests, taking care of stray cats, and putting all of my effort into finding a lost dog's owner, I bleed for these animals because my siblings and I weren't allowed to have real pets other than fish or the turtles that we have had before. When I was being confirmed as a catholic, I chose to have saint Francis of Assisi as my confirmation name because of his love of animals and his good nature. 

Waynes World
I know it's kind of weird to be passionate about a movie like this, but basically this movie was my childhood. I'm sure this movie is why I and my siblings love references so much, because they remind us of our childhoods. I watch this movie when I'm sad, when I'm happy, when I'm bored and when I'm cleaning. I vividly remember a time when my siblings and I were waiting in the car for our dad at Blockbuster and we starting re-enacting the entire movie from memory.  

Friends

I wouldn't be anywhere if I didn't have friends. Most of my time in high school was spent messing around with my friends rather than doing my schoolwork. I always had a huge web of friends that spanned the different social groups and nowadays I always try to make friends wherever I go, and seem to be moderately successful  at it.

Traveling

Almost every summer is a cross country trip to places like Orlando, Boston, Los Angeles, or North Carolina, Nowadays we fly to some of the farther destinations but I grew up with 20+ hour car rides. Being in transit is the most relaxing thing to me while I'm on a vacation and even when I'm not, because the only thing you do is take in your environment around you the way you want to. There's something meditative about watching the highway lights and the way their hazy orange lights illuminate the road in front of us, and there's something about pulling into a gas station in the dead of night. The stillness of it and the realization of you in it.  

An Ideal Day

Day 2 - Describe an Ideal Day

An ideal day for me would be a weekend, with no homework
to do and no events that I'm being dragged to by my parents.
I would wake up feeling refreshed and relaxed.
Drive into town to meet my friends for brunch
and we'd talk and laugh and eat eggs benedict and chocolate chip pancakes.
After eating, we'd shop around and buy some art supplies and books.
Then we would go and spend the rest of the day hanging out and playing video games.

I'm not really a solitary person, I like to be with other people and bounce jokes off of them and it's kinda hard to do so by my lonesome.

Til tommorow!

Blog Every Day September

Hey all! For the month of September I'm doing the Blog-Tember Challenge and am going to try and blog every day in September with relatively small posts so I can get into the habit of logging my life.

September 1st - Tuesday 

-Introduce yourself however you like! Pics, vlog, collage, your choice :)

• My name is Anthony 
• 20
• Graphic Design 
• Simpsons 
• 80's
• Dogs

If there's anything more you need to know about me, don't hesitate to ask!

I'll see you guys Tommorow!

That one time I went to Martha's Vineyard

 Can I just say, that if I were a white person who lived up north, with tons of money and nothing to do, Martha's Vineyard would be my number one place in the U.S. to vacation in. Seriously this place was so cool to just walk around in, and even though we didn't get to see the entire island and it's towns, it just made me want to come back someday.

 After eating lunch, we hopped into a tour van to take a look around the island. We did some celebrity sightseeing looking at Tom Clancy and Spike Lee's house and saw the creator of Bosom Buddies and Laverne and Shirley walking right by us. The island was also celebrating the 40th anniversary of Jaws, which was shot in location on the island. It felt so surreal to be walking around in Amity and looking at the town hall and the bridge.

Once we got out of the van back in Oak Bluffs, we went to go see the Gingerbread Cottages which are these amazing houses on the right. Every one of them had so much character and style to each cottage that it piqued the first year Architecture student in me. I wanted to grab a bunch of my friends and pool our money together and just live in one of those cottages for a week or two and forget everything else that stresses me out in life.

Once we finished looking at the cottages, we got some ice cream and went to go see the Flying Horses Carousel, which is the oldest carousel in America. The horses had real hair which was kinda weird, but there was a brass ring game on the ride which has silver rings coming out of an arm that the riders grab during whenever they go around, and the rider who grabs the brass ring gets a free ride which makes riding the carousel more fun. Finally, we got back on the Ferry to go back to the mainland and drive back to Boston.

 


                                                    NEXT WEEK! NEW YORK!

Boston Bound

Last week I went to Boston. We spent the fourth of July at our Aunt's neighborhood in a nearby suburb which was the perfect little town to walk around in. There was a lakeside celebration going on a little bit down from the town square where they had a live band, fireworks, and tons of food like ice cream, fried oreos, pizza, and giant corndogs. It was so cliche and perfect that I felt like a character in gilmore girls.

The next day we went to watch the Astros play against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. 

The crowd was so huge and participative (is that a word?) that every time the Red Sox got a run, the entire stadium exploded in cheers, and when the Astros got two home runs in a row, the boos rang throughout the seats. It was pretty impressive to witness what a town looks like when it fully supports it's hometown. We couldn't even get any seats because they were all sold out, so we settled for standing room tickets instead. 

I'll be sure to post more of my trip to Boston soon!

Last week from monday until thursday I helped my sister paint her classroom 

the first day was fine, just moving around things and cleaning the classroom and buying paint and taping the baseboards and outlets, but the next day things started feeling a little bit sour.

We started prepping the first wall with primer and our mom called my sister to pick her up so she left me to finish the wall, which I didn't mind, I spent the time making the wall nice and even with the primer. So when my sister comes back and we start working on the second wall she keeps telling me "It doesn't have to be perfect, we're going to paint over it." but of course it's going to look splotchy and uneven. I decide not to fight it and finish the wall as fast as possible.

 So by the time we get to painting on the third day with one of her friends, we have to apply more coats of paint to the second wall in order to get it to look as good as the first wall I primed evenly. During the time we're painting, my sister keeps complaining about my playlist saying how it's not as good as the one from yesterday and keeps telling me to change it but the thing is that the playlist from yesterday is the same one I was playing today.

On thursday my sister pisses me off before we even get to painting, we go to raising canes to get some chicken and while we're waiting for our food she yells at me that I'm standing too close to her and that she needs space. I guess i exerted enough negative force of will that our car slipped its belt and needs to be towed away. Later our mom comes over to watch since she had nothing else to do today and we finish up the classroom as best as we can since I had to go to the dentist tomorrow.

It was a lot for my first week being off school, and I'm sure it's only going to get better from here.