Bon Iver

Oh man. The last week of classes is brutal. These last 3 semesters, somehow I end up with all but one of my classes opting out of having an exam in exam period, and instead finishing up in the last week. Now this is good on the one hand because it means that, after classes are done, I only have one exam to worry about, while everyone else is struggling through 3, 4, maybe even 5. However, this means that the last week of classes is mad hard. This week, I have 4 "midterms," several homework assignments due, a poster project, and a butt-load of reading to finish up. Oh, and my research methods class sprung a 10-page research report on us, due at the beginning of exam period. FUN. I spent a good 15 1/2 hours in the library this weekend, so I feel almost on top of things. Also, I got two of my four tests over with today, which is nice to have behind me.

Honestly though, a big thing that's keeping me calm and focused through this last week is my renewed love of Bon Iver. Now, I've been a fan for a long time, but in the last few days I've been listening to his music exclusively, and wow. Just, wow. Bon Iver makes, without a doubt, the only music that gives me goosebumps. I've already shared his cover of "I Can't Make You Love Me," here (DROOL), but here are a few more of my favorites, to help get you through the stress of exams and ease you into the Christmas season:

Towers (off the album Bon Iver, this is my new favorite original Bon Iver song I think)

Skinny Love (off the album For Emma, Forever ago, this song is a close/tied second. HNNG SO GOOD)

Blindsided (also off For Emma, this song is just good. In all ways.)


On a related note, I've decided that, if I were to die tomorrow, my biggest regret would be not going to see Bon Iver when he came to Vancouver recently. Seriously, I can't even express how much I want to see him perform live, right now.

On a side side note, if music/Bon Iver is not your thing, my sister's friend has a blog where he shares some of his writing, etc, and it's pretty interesting. (He's doing his masters in writing at UBC right now.. so that's pretty cool) Check it out here.

How To Have One Perfectly Perfect Moment.

Step One: brew one cup of this tea, with a scoop of brown sugar and milk.

Step Two: play this song (I Can't Make You Love Me/Nick Of Time cover by Bon Iver)

This is about the prettiest song ever, and I love love love it. I don't think I could ever get tired of it.

Step Three: get comfortable.


Enjoy!

Bon Bon

As per request (yeah, I get requests and stuff, how legit am I?)  (The request was from my sister. But still...)

MOVING ON: So exciting, Bon Iver's new song!



Never fails. He's a talented one.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Bad-ass Pumpkin: Check.

Alright, so I'm a little late on this post (like, 2 months too late? Ah well.), but I just want to put it out there: Kanye West, despite sending out a constant vibe of douchey-ness, makes damn good music. His new (as of November) album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, is awesome. Seriously, if you haven't heard it yet, you're probably under an even bigger rock than I am.

Not only does this have a ridiculous number of famous musicians (my favorites: Bon Iver and Nicki Minaj. Yeah.) making appearances in various tracks, this is probably the best playlist for running, like, ever. Seriously. I don't ever like exercise, but running to this album is great. Read more about it, courtesy of my good friend Wikipedia, here. And for good measure, for those of you who want just the straight facts, here's the tracklist (in picture form, because the formatting is being stupid and dumb):

Wow.

Listen to that and tell me it's not awesome. I dare you. 

Check out Nicki Minaj's verse on Monster here. I'm not fully on the "we love Nicki Minaj" wagon at all really, but yeah... she kills this verse.

And my favorite track from the album:

Lost in the World, Kanye West

[Insert mandatory Kanye discussion "Imma let you finish" joke here]

Oscar Nominations

Hold on to your hats folks (Hehe, see what I did there? With the picture? No.. just me?.. okay..), because the Oscar nominations are out! The Oscars are always fun to watch, and this year shouldn't be anything less than awesome (hello, James Franco hosting? Yes please).

The nominations can be found here.

I'd just like to point out that The King's Speech swept. Twelve nominations? That's impressive, no matter how trivial you think the Oscar's are. 127 Hours, probably my favorite movie that I've seen in a while, also did pretty well, with six nominations. Other then that, I'm excited to see which movie wins Best Picture, because I've seen 6 of the 10 nominees, and was nothing less than impressed with each and every one of them. (I kinda hope that, while it probably won't win Best Picture, The Social Network wins something. It really good.)

Anyways, I'm not claiming to be an expert or anything on these kinds of award shows. I watch them for the entertainment value, and not much more. So on February 27th, I intend to be watching Anne Hathaway and James Franco host the 83rd Academy Awards, in the most superficial way I can manage. I'll probably be kept company by a few friends and a big ol' bowl of popcorn as well. It's going to be awesome.

My friend showed me this girl on YouTube, and I absolutely love her cover of Skinny Love by Bon Iver. Check it out:


P.S. If you really like movies, don't forget to check out my 'movies of 2011' page on the right!

Nighttime

Alright, so basically tonight we're one night away from a full moon and it's finally cleared up outside. Because I'm a big nerd, and I don't like doing homework, I walked down to Cadboro bay, fisheye and tripod in hand, and took a few long exposure shots. I've always liked doing long exposures (all but maybe one here are 30 second exposures)... especially if they work out. I'm pretty pleased with these ones tonight, which is good, because I just about froze my fingers off in the process. Some of them are a little messy, or the focus is a little off, but that's just me, unable to feel my fingers, sometimes forgetting exactly how wide the angle of my lens is, and my crooked tripod. Anyways, hope you enjoy at least a few of these! :)

 

Scariest. Octo-slide. Ever. EVER.

Hey it's me!

Lov..e?

Close-up of the tide

Low tide.

Keep in mind that all these pictures were taken at around 11:30 at night, and I am very tired writing this. Sorry about any non-nonsensical things written above :)
Now that you've enjoyed calming pictures (minus the scary slide), listen to this sweet sweet song and feel even better about life.

Blindsided, by Bon Iver




Then, check out another one of Bon-bon's (as my cousin and brother like to call him) song, one of my favorites: Skinny Love.