One of the first fun activities Brie and I got up to on the coast was a trip to Malibu's Getty Villa. It was like a quick trip to a small coastal Italian village. In fact, if you ever miss Italy, you should make the trip out to Malibu. And while there's not actually all that much to see in the way of interesting antiquities, tickets to the Getty Villa are free and there's some truly epic jewelry. That alone is worth the effort of the trip. I wouldn't have minded bringing a good book and parking on one of the benches for a few hours with huge shades and a sunhat.
ChadHartigan has been raking in the awards at pretty much every film festival there is with his awesome flick, This Is Martin Bonner. (Including Best of NEXT Audience Award at Sundance.) Here's the official trailer. It takes place in Nevada (holla!) which is where I'm headed today.
Greetings from Santa Monica! I'm writing to you from 12 stories in the air overlooking the Coast to the North and Santa Monica pier in the distance. Despite the June gloom, it feels more like summer here. Perhaps because I've got some company. Reconnecting with one of my favorite childhood friends after 20 years has been pretty amazing. We frequently revert to childlike glee and laugh like hyenas about pretty much nothing. We meet up at her house many days and swim laps in her Olympic sized pool. Now that I'm back into swimming laps like when I was a teenager and dancing around like a spazzy kid, the quest for summer songs becomes even more important. I used to keep myself busy while swimming the mile in high school by singing songs in my head under water. Now, they have underwater listeners to help with that. But I've still been jamming out to this song in my head while I swim. London-based Bastille has blown up over in Europe, but I'm hoping this energetic business gets a fair shake here too. It's a pretty good kickstart to the week. Enjoy! Hope you have a great Monday!
You guys. You might have realized that for the past few weeks, I've been taking quite large gaps in posting. For this I am both sorry/not sorry. I should probably fill you in on a little bit about what's been going on. First of all, I've been kind of uninspired about the true purpose of this blog since leaving Europe. My readership dropped off a lot since I was no longer galavanting through castles and I toyed with ideas of revamping into something much different or ceasing to post entirely. I've tabled all those discussions for the time being. But I feel like I'm close to figuring out what this space will next become. In the meantime, I've been spending a lot of my energy normally reserved for this blog on a lifestyle e-mag/app platform that will bring the words and ideas to a much, MUCH larger audience and one that is both recognizable and super respected. It's been amazing so far to help launch what I hope this will become. More on that endeavor very soon. Until then, just know that there's lots in the works, lots to be excited about, lots to write about and so many interesting things on the internet. Here are some of them. And happy Tony Weekend, musical lovers! - I can't believe this Mary Queen of Scots exhibit wasn't open when I was there. - This amazing house in Russia - Hard to believe these works of art aren't photos - Yet another example of why the writings of Alex Williams are in my axis of evil. - David Simon on gov phone tapping. He would know lots about wires. I heart him. - SO much crazy rape talk on the internets. There was this.... - Which got SO ugly here. Lindy! Solidarity, girl. People make me really ill sometimes. BUT! - This article about the distress of the privileged is one of the best I've read. - Best LA places for outdoorsiness. - Recently uncovered 1959 photos of Robert Redford (holla!) - Almost RIP, Google Reader. Tear. Here's why it really got the ax. - Reading literature makes us nicer and smarter. No shit, Sherlock. - TONY stuff. I like the analysis here. But I'm for Matilda all the way on everything. - Giada De Laurentiis's chocolate linguine. BOOM.
One of my favorite anecdotes from the Frightened Rabbit concert back in March was Scott Hutchison's story of his 4 year old niece who, when asked what her favorite song of all time was, leaned in and whispered to her teacher [insert brogue] "Death... March." It's also my favorite FRabbits song. Which is why I'm so glad they released an EP with an alternate version of the song. It almost sounds like this could be a CHVRCHES remix of the song (wink wink. That concert was fabulous btw.) Unfortunately, said EP is not (yet) available for sale in the US, but you can listen to the alternate version below. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of the full EP to check out their collaboration with the full Manchester Orchestra. Hope you're having a great Monday!
