Horoscopes and City and Colour

I consider myself to be of sound mind and a generally pretty reasonable person; when I'm doing planetarium shows at work, I always tell the kids that ASTROLOGY is not a science and ASTRONOMY is. But I always feel like a little bit of a fraud, because love reading my horoscope. Or anyone's horoscope for that matter. I don't really believe in all that business, but I think the idea that it might be true is fascinating. I guess I just don't want to rule out the possibility that there is some cosmic interaction at work.

The Orion Nebula is not where horoscopes are made.

I'm a Taurus (May 9th, for those of you keeping track at home) and I think the characteristics suit me pretty well. I know, I know, they are always generalized and could be anyone, but I don't care. According to the Huffington Post (no, really) "Taurus isn't necessarily like a Bull in a ring with a toreador. You could be more like peace-loving Ferdinand, seeking the gentle meadows filled with flowers, sunshine and natural beauty. It's only Taurus stubbornness that can make you angry enough to charge at someone who is disturbing your peace." I do love a good meadow. And it was on the internet, so it has to be true.

The best horoscopes I've ever read are in the Jackson Hole News and Guide. They were always oddly specific. I'm tempted to subscribe just so I can get my daily horoscope. Unfortunately they are not available online.My second favorite horoscopes are done my Susan Miller of astrologyzone.com. You want details? Susan will give you details. Lots of them.

This week's hot jam is The Girl by City and Colour. City and Colour is actually just one guy named Dallas Green (a city and a color, get it?) And he's from Canada. Hence the added U in Colour. This song speaks to my inner emo kid. I just just imagine converse-wearing high school girls pining away for some tattooed, guitar playing, sensitive soul to sing this to them. Okay, that would have been me in high school, I admit. I also really like that Dallas looks kind of like Kip from Napoleon Dynamite in the video. Swoon?

Last Great Race and Jerry Reed

Saturday marked the start of my favorite 9ish days of the year - The Last Great Race - the Iditarod. Currently Lance Mackey is in first place. He is quite the character and one of my favorite mushers. This year my friends and I trailgated (yes, trail, that's not a typo) the ceremonial start in Anchorage. For $10 we got a koozie and all the beer we could drink and all the hot dogs we could eat. Probably the best idea ever.

Anyway, back to Lance. When he came by our trailgate, someone tried to hand him a PBR but he missed it. Lance is not one to give up a beer, so he stopped his sled (generally not done) and grabbed the beer then continued on. He nearly caused an accident, but I suspect he thought it was worth it. I assume it was that PBR that put him in first place. You're welcome, Lance.

People riding in the sled during the ceremonial start are called 'iditariders'. It's one of my goals in life.

Martin Buser caused quite the stir this year, after speed-racing to the Rohn check point, he decided to take his mandatory 24 hour rest. Normally teams wait until much later in the race before they take their layover. According to the Anchorage Daily News he's been planning this strategy for 8 months. He was in 30something place while the other mushers raced ahead. Now he's in 8th and everyone ahead of him still needs to take their 24 hour layover. Seems like his strategy might be working. The Iditarod is serious business.

Click to see it larger. Mushers take the southern route at Ophir this year.

I'm rooting for Matt Failor. He was in second place until the Rohn check point, where, like Buser, he took his 24 hour layover. During the ceremonial start Matt also got off his sled at the trailgate. But instead of stopping for a dropped PBR, he stopped to shake hands and say hello to everyone. He could have been a senate candidate - if senate candidates travel with 12 dogs and a large parka.

In the spirit of long distance racing, the hot jam of the week is Eastbound and Down by Jerry Reed. Yes, the theme to Smokey and the Bandit. I heard this song on the radio twice this week. I took it as a sign. If I was an Iditarod musher this is all I would listen to. Screw getting diphtheria serum to Nome, the boys are thirsty in Atlanta. If that's not enough to inspire you, I don't know what is.

Hot Jam Week!

Last week I was asked to list my top three favorite songs. Of all time. After much thought, I tentatively decided on Red Rubber Ball, Band of Gold, and Black Water. It's a work in progress. I'm trying to think about it logically - narrowing it down by genre then ranking those songs in order of greatness.  I need a bracket system. In the mean time, here are some hot jams that might not be in the top three, but I didn't want them to feel left out.

1) No Diggity - Blackstreet

No Diggity is one of those songs I always forget about, and that is totally unfortunate, because it's an amazing hip hop anthem. I mean, Dr. Dre uses the word eargasms. Not everyone can pull that off. Not to mention there are an EXCESS of overalls in the video.

2) Jackson - Johnny Cash and June Carter

I wish this song was about Jackson, WY, one of my favorite places in the whole wide world. But I guess Jackson, MS makes more sense (Although it's never specified). But the location is unimportant, it could just as easily be called Dallas or Nashville. I love that it combines revenge with a "anything you can do, I can do better" attitude. Both halves of the couple are going to find someone new and they are going to do it better. Isn't that the best kind of revenge?

3) Tears Dry on their Own - Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse made straight-up terrible life decisions (Drugs and alcohol aside, all that teasing cannot be good for your hair). But the girl could sing. Amy had a lot of really good songs but I like Tears Dry on their Own for one line: "I'll be some next man's other woman soon." This is is a break-up song, she could have easily written something about finding someone better, but instead she wrote about finding someone better and becoming their other woman. Ballsy. You could throw a lot of psychology words at that, I'm sure. But I'd rather enjoy the bluesy-soulness of it.


Bonus: What's your Fantasy - Ludacris Because it dirty and gross and sometimes that's exactly what you are looking for in a hip hop song.

Stuff to love and Old 97's

Last year I wrote about how much I like Valentine's Day. It's still true this year and I still think it's dumb to hate it. YOU GUYS CAN CELEBRATE VALENTINE'S DAY HOWEVER YOU WANT. Hello, you can make it not lame.

This is me passing out my valentines

Here are some things I'm loving right now:

1) Making valentines. Duh. - I love making cards in general, but I think valentines are extra fun. This year's valentines feature robots.

2) Presidents' Day is coming up - Not a card-giving holiday (maybe I should start?), but it is a day off work and I'll be in Nashville for the weekend hanging out with my favorite valentine.

3) Spring training starts in NINE DAYS! - TribeTribeTribeTribe

4) Daylight - Valentine's Day marks the first 9 hour daylight day of the year. Finally.

Soon my world will look like this again. This was 10pm in June.

5) This picture of Snoopy the cat. I can't stop laughing.

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, the hot jam of the week is Question by Old 97's. It's 2 minutes of unadulterated love song, without being too cheesy. Scrubs fans might recognize it from when (spoiler alert?) Carla finally says yes to Turk's proposal.  But gentlemen, if you are making your lady a mixtape this Valentine's Day, Question is probably not the best song to include. She might get the wrong idea. Unless of course, it's the right idea, then go for it. But, remember,Valentine's Day is a cheesy day to propose.

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I'm suffering from some severe writers' block. And I'd rather write nothing than something terrible. (So you're welcome for that?)

Brunch and The White Stripes

This week might as well be a guest post for Stuff (or is it Things? Whatever) White People Like.  If you were looking for my feelings on the underground rap scene, you'll just have to wait. Sorry.

Two Sundays ago my lady friends and I got together for brunch. If there is one thing white girls are REALLY good at, it's brunch. It combines a lot of our favorite things: day drinking, mini quiche, gossip, champagne, etc. Now, of course I am generalizing. But generalizations have to come from somewhere, right?

I was watching something recently (no idea what it was now) and one of the characters said something along the lines of "If you are drinking at 10am on a Tuesday, you have a problem, if it's 10am on a Sunday you have brunch." I have to agree.

Brunch is amazing because it's so...indulgent.  People who make impromptu weekend trip to the Bahamas have brunch.

Real Housewives have brunch.

It's almost so leisurely and indulgent you shouldn't be doing it.You know you could being doing something productive, but instead you're drinking mimosas.It's like ditching school, but for grown ups.

At our brunch my friends and I did had pancakes and bacon instead of mini-quiche,  but also did a clothing swap, tarot card readings, and were drinking mimosas sans OJ by 2pm. Like a boss. (Or a Housewife?)

Hot jam of the week is Hotel Yorba by The White Stripes. The White Stripes are one of those bands I always forget I really like. If someone asked me to name my top ten favorite bands, I probably wouldn't include TWS, but when I really think about it, they might be somewhere in the 6 to 8 range. I love Hotel Yorba because it's a little bluegrass-y and it's really hard not to tap your toes. Jack White is a bona fide weirdo but that only makes me like him more. Next time I'm in Nashville I'm going to see if he wants to be my best friend.

Bonus: Another band I sometimes forget I like, The Fratellis, covered Hotel Yorba and it's pretty great too. Check it out here

Jackson Hole and The Hold Steady

In case you haven't checked your calendar lately, it's January. And in case you're new here, I live in Anchorage. January in Anchorage looks like this.

And sometimes like this.

I'm feeling nostalgic for warmer, brighter days.Let's reminisce together, shall we? Some of my favorite warmer, brighter days were spent here:

Grand Teton National Park

I spent summer 2009 teaching environmental ed in Jackson, WY and it took about 35 seconds for the general Jackson Hole region (Jackson is the town, Jackson Hole is the whole area) to become my favorite place in the whole world. I could write pages of reasons I love Jackson Hole, fraught with flowery language and extended metaphors. But I still wouldn't do it justice.

A lot of times this was my job:

Sometimes, it was this:

Other times, I wasn't working, so I floated the Snake River

Or made rock art at the Gros Ventre slide

 I got in bison jams

And played kickball:

Long story short, I made no money, but spent everyday in the sun. Worth it. I've been a lot of beautiful places, especially here in Alaska, but nothing compares to staring up at the Tetons from String Lake or the alpenglow on Sleeping Indian.

This week's hot jam is Magazines by The Hold Steady. I love the honesty (and I'm not sure honesty is quite the right word) of The Hold Steady songs. I love that they don't try to glamorize anything. The songs all tell a story, and usually not a  very pretty one, but it's covered up with catching choruses. Genius.