I am hairy

In the past week, at least three people have commented that they prefer the way I look with a beard (with one even going so far as to say that it "completes my face"); this led me to imagine that there'd been a recent shift in public opinion, but thinking about it, I realize that I've had various folks compliment the beard in a fairly consistent fashion since first it grew. My persistent impression that my facial hair is somehow swimming against the common aesthetic seems to stem, mostly outdated, from A) that back before its first appearance, a number of pretty girls had mentioned that, in the abstract, they found it less attractive, and B) the fact that Rachel still prefers me without it.

Music Post

Live

There is a Perpetual Dream Theory show in a little over a month! Do any of the Vancouverites reading this want to attend it with me?

(Perpetual Dream Theory is a band that I discovered, on the internet, in 2002; on a whim and the basis of a single track, Andrew and I went to one of their shows, where we were apparently the only ones there who didn't know them personally. Afterward, when I posted briefly about it in my weblog, one of the band members found it, and sent me an e-mail asking if they could link to it as a review. They've become somewhat better known since then, but it's very difficult for me to gauge how much*; to me, their music still tastes like tiny coffee houses (which is a positive feature).

(* Except I introduced J. and Rachel, so, by at least two people. Today is parentheses day!)

It's been a long time since the last time they played where I could go and hear it, so I'm pretty happily anticipatory.)

Albums

I got a bunch of albums for Christmas; as my inability to listen to anything but Sufjan Stevens ebbs, I've slowly been exploring them. ( They include... )

Mixes

It's difficult to tell how much the shapes of my mixes matter to people who aren't me, though to me they matter a lot. I had a conversation with J. last week (or so?) in which he admitted that he found it difficult to think of these things as wholes; he would mark transitions between individual songs, but his attention span didn't extend much further than that. Later I was talking to Elise, and she said that she thinks there are four main approaches to constructing a mix, which hopefully I recall well enough to reproduce:

1. To try to collect songs that thematically and lyrically suit the person you're giving it to;
2. To try to collect songs that the person you're giving it to will probably really like;
3. To just put together a bunch of songs that you like;
4. To try to make something coherent, like an album.

Looking at this list, it's pretty clear to me that my first priority is always goal #4, and any of the others a secondary concern; I like a lot, and am consistantly concerned with, the idea of a synergistic context that enhances each component, the album as a thing in its own right, with a larger emotional sweep. Probably this is the fault of hearing "Abbey Road" at some formative point in my listening career.

Sleepy

As predicted, I've been very sleepy today (this may have been evident from some or all of my prose). Now I am going to reward myself for writing this post... By sleeping.

Coming soon, for Rachel: a catalogue of my current classes.