National Record Store Day, Take 2

As you know, I jumped the gun last month and did my record shopping early. Of course I didn't let that stop me from venturing out again this time for the real thing. Since I was up in Capital Hill for breakfast, I stopped by Sonic Boom to pick up Lisa Hannigan's album Sea Sew. I posted one of her videos (Lille) a couple weeks ago, and another has been making the rounds on the interwebs (through the series of giant tubes) that has the same simple yet beautiful quality. On top of the lovely voice and charming videos, the cd includes lyrics! I hate that fact that so many artists no longer include the lyrics to their songs. I like to sit down with the lyrics and follow through with the album a couple times. Not only does this album include the lyrics, she hand stitched the lyrics, notes, and cover art. Thanks L for letting me know about her.

I Don't Know from ATO Records on Vimeo.

I was also sucked into buying a t-shirt so that I could get the screenprint to honor the day and raise money for the School of Rock. It's a rock music school for kids 8-18. I thought they were pretty clever with the design. It is a record broken in half like the friendship necklaces little girls wear. You could get half of the design at the Capital Hill store and the other at the Ballard store. Since it was such a nice day, and I was on my bike, I decided to trek to Ballard. Fortunately I was already at the top of Capital Hill, so it was a nice downhill ride to Ballard. I'm not sure I would have done it the other way around.

One of the things I really like about the design is that it could stand on it's own, each portion has part of the name on the record and the other in the field. I imagine most people would only get one of the designs. I think that I was the first person to come to Ballard, because the kids printing the shirts were really excited to see the other half.

Bathroom

I think I might try to start a new series of posts, interesting bathrooms in bars/restaurants. You may remember the tire mirror frame and exposed conduit I posted about here. This bathroom moment is directed at Adam.

(I don't mean that to sound the way it might...)

While Top Pot Donuts has a mediocre donut (don't get me started on their "cruller") they do have a palindromic name and a nice approach to bathroom design. I particularly like the picture frames. They are about 6" deep, and each side is solid wood, not a buildup of profiles like you would find in wood molding. I also appreciate the fact that, while certainly not a quiet frame, the lines are simplified and elegant. Not the sort of thing you expect in a donut shop.

SUNSHINE!!!!

I think that the whole of the PacNW breathed a collective sign of relief and rushed out into the sun this weekend. It was the first real signal of a change in seasons, warm weather and sunshine the whole weekend.

I took Friday off, and spent the day cleaning the house and out in the yard with my roommate working on the garden. It was a fantastically beautiful day, and it felt great to spend some productive time outside.

Since I was so productive on friday, I decided that saturday should be a really selfish day. I spent the day wandering around Capital Hill, where I came across this mural. It is on the side of a building that is being demolished for a light rail station, and they had invited several artists to do installations in the empty storefronts. I'm not sure if this piece was part of that or not, but it has been up for a couple months. I've passed it several times, but now that the trees are in bloom, it really jumped out at me.

Sunday was the best day by far. Lisa (the intrepid leader of my recent horticultural activities) has some land out on Whidbey Island, so she organized a work party/brunch. The group that I went out with decided to park at the ferry but take our bikes across and ride to the site. Once again it showed how out of shape I am, but it was a fun ride all the same.
Don't get me wrong, we did some work. at the same time, it was a work/brunch party, so there was plenty of wine and food, and a bit of time around a campfire. Eventually we turned to games, and made Charlie try to stack the wood he is cutting (background) in a certain amount of time. He failed, and so I do not owe him a sandwich.
The games progressed to running through the woods, and wiffle golf, once again demonstrated by Charlie (although again he did not win, poor lad.)
Finally the return trip to Seattle. Unfortunately the iphone doesn't really capture panoramic vistas so well, so you'll have to take my word that it was beautiful.

Weekends like this make me appreciate living in Seattle, and make me want to enjoy it as much as possible while I am here.

Disney cutting corners

Here's a funny video from college humor showing how Disney traced over animation for newer movies. I can recognize Snow White, Cinderella, Sword in the Stone, Robin Hood (one of my favorites, and Jungle Book. I think maybe the Aristocats, and possible one about a mouse as Sherlock Holmes, but I'm not sure

Watch Disney Templates on CollegeHumor