Regina Spektor

              I love Regina. There's no other way to put it - no other word to describe my feelings for her music. It's almost an ineffable love. She is such a talented songwriter and singer, yet she remains indie - for the most part. I enjoy her songs that feature that lovely voice of hers; there's no need for auto-tune, no need for synthesized back-beats. Just Regina and her piano. Simple. Loveliness.
               My favorite song of the moment by her is Daniel Cowman:


Her unadulterated voice is just magnificent. Other songs that I adore are:
Aprés Moi - a darker sound with intense presence
Braille - a soft ballad
Us - a more upbeat song, the video is also amazing.

Well, I think this is enough of my fanboy crushing on Regina for one day. I hope you all enjoy her music as much as I do.

A Favorite Few

Lovelies, it has been far too long since our last visit. So, please get comfortable - grab a cushion for your chair and your beverage of choice - and join me once again. Today is an auspicious occasion, marking the beginning of the beginning. Actually, it was last Wednesday, but I have been camping for the weekend so let's pretend. Last Wednesday I took the GRE and scored in the 92nd percentile. I am ecstatic, to say the least. Why does any of this affect you, good reader? Because with less time devoted to studying, there will be more time to post here. And, clearly, more posts will lead to more enjoyment for you. The circle of life is completed.

Looking through my past posts I've noticed a few interesting things. Really, just one thing: they're all about me. Well, where's the fun in that for other people? Sure, I'm undeniable awesome and people should want to read about me and/or the things I write, but life is about moderation. And so today, I would like to share a few of my favorite poems.

First Fig
by Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892-1950

My candle burns at both ends;
     It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends --
     It gives a lovely light!


1922

A Special Theory of Relativity
 By Alan Bold 1969


According to Einstein
There's no still center of the universe:
Everything is moving
Relative to something else.
My love, I move myself towards you,
Measure my motion
In relation to yours.

According to Einstein
The mass of a moving body
Exceeds its mass
When standing still.
My love, in moving
Through you
I feel my mass increase.

According to Einstein
The length of a moving body
Diminishes
As speed increases.
My love, after accelerating
Inside you
I spectacularly shrink.

According to Einstein
Time slows down
As we approach
The speed of light.
My love, as we approach
The speed of light
Time is standing still.


Stephen Crane 1871-1900

Supposing that I should have the courage
To let a red sword of virtue
Plunge into my heart,
Letting to the weeds of the ground
My sinful blood.
What can you offer me?
A gardened castle?
A flowery kingdom?

What? A hope?
Then hence with your red sword of virtue.

1895

 Until next time my friends and foes,

The Haiku

The haiku is one of the few poetic forms I actually enjoy writing in. I often wonder why that is, and the only suitable reason I come to is that there are just three simple rules to constructing one (in English). For enjoying writing in the form, I'm surprised I only have two haikus saved.
This first one is the most recent, I believe. I was sitting in my car as the windows fogged up and I had no pen or paper. So, I improvised. I wrote this haiku on the window in its own fog.

Writing fades away
When written on fogged windows
I too, fade away

This second haiku was written in July of 2010 and, as the name suggests, it was written on a whim. And I did time myself.

Five Minute Haiku

Sitting here waiting
for nothing but everything
oh, restless evenings

Cold Open Form

I sit here wondering what month it is
May? June?
you wouldn't know it
from the feel of this room
My mother's going through meno-
pause.
she sees me with my sweater for this class
and begins to sweat
Apparently, we have a heat advisory today;
The news will be filled with
elderly heatstroke victims

Computer Woes

Sorry I've missed a few updates, my computer was in the shop. When I have time I shall do them all. Unfortunately, I've got work and homework going non-stop this weekend so we'll see. Anyway, to bide your time, a poem:

Why Computers Sometimes Crash! by Dr. Seuss
(Read this to yourself aloud - it's a must!)

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port, and the bus is interrupted at a very last resort, and the access of the memory makes your floppy disk abort, then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash, and the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash, and your data is corrupted cause the index doesn't hash, then your situation's hopeless and your system's gonna crash!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house, says the network is connected to the button on your mouse, but your packets want to tunnel to another protocol, that's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall......

And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of Gauss, so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse; then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang, 'cuz sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang.

When the copy on your floppy's getting sloppy in the disk, and the macro code instructions cause unwanted risk, then you'll have to flash the BIOS and you'll want to RAM your ROM, just quickly turn the darn thing off and run to tell your Mom!

The Big Machine

           The US debut of Emilie Simon's newest album, The Big Machine, was just a few weeks ago and since then, I have been unable to stop listening. It's an intoxicating mix of her older alternative style and this lively, bouncy, orchestralesque sound. Now, if you're a hardcore fan (then you have already listened to this album and judged it) it is not a lot like her old stuff, on the surface. However, if you analyze the lyrics you'll find that Emilie you've grown to love. The entire album is a work of poetic genius. Each song builds on the same themes and even reference each other. I've contemplated rearranging the lyrics to these songs into a poem adaptation of my own. Here are some youtubes of my favorite songs:


And this second one won't embed itself. Anyway, her entire album is on iTunes and available on Amazon and what not, so if you like what you hear so far, pick it up. It's more than worth the $9.99.

http://youtu.be/lsTwi38JIig

À bientôt,
Tobais

Rulers of the Internet: Kittens

           We've all been there: sitting at our computer, bored, trying to procrastinate whatever it is we're supposed to be doing and that's when it happens. This intense draw toward YouTube. Or worse, the video has gone viral and is on your Facebook wall eight times. And what are all of these videos of? That's right: kittens; the scourge of the internet. Look upon the beast as it licks the blood from its paws; the blood of our precious time, which it has so ruthlessly devoured.         

Going out

         Welcome to Saturday! As per the schedule (I figure I should adhere to it for at least a few days before ignoring it completely), today I'm going to be talking about men's fashion. And what better way to start talking about a subject than with a giant party? Here's how to dress for a night out that will impress everyone:

Spring

             Here we are on another Friday in May, sneezing as allergy season is upon us. But who can hate spring? The cold weather has finally left us, and all of the flowers!
             Flowers have been important throughout the history of literature in many different kinds of metaphors, but poetry has perhaps brought them to their pinnacle. After all, who knows better of flowery language than a poet? And as a neophyte in everything literary, here's my take on poetry and flowers; I also threw some love in there for good measure.

Love is a Bouquet