I've Seen Christmas Lights...

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has aired, the repetitive commercials are getting annoying, the holiday music is playing and people might seem somewhat more civilized to each other. Yup, it's mid-December and by now, the Christmas season is in full swing.

This time of year is always filled with traditions. Longstanding traditions that we all hold dear for some reason or another. In my opinion, the best ones are the ones that only you and your family can truly understand. For instance, for some reason, my family cannot keep a secret when it comes to gifts. It's rare that I do not know what I'm getting for Christmas from my family by December 15th. We all use Amazon.com wish lists, and I think, that is our downfall. You can see what's been purchased for you! We have no will power.

Christmas music is one of those traditions that I know many people share. Every year, I try to find new and interesting songs to add to my Christmas playlist. This year, I found many. Glasvegas actually has a Christmas album front and center on the iTunes holiday store. It's pretty funny considering it has to be one of the few Christmas albums that drops the f bomb. I loved this album last year and I continue to love it this year. Here is a Christmas playlist for 2009. After that, I'll discuss some non-traditional Christmas movies.

1. Glasvegas - Careful What You Wish For
   


2. Jets to Brazil - Further North
   


3. Death Cab for Cutie - Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)
   

OR


4. The Raveonettes - Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)
   


5. Coldplay - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
   


6. The Weepies - All That I Want
   


7. Smashing Pumpkins - Christmastime
   


8. Athlete - Wires
   


9. Glasvegas - A Snowflake Fell (and it felt like a kiss)
   


10. Mick Jagger - Lonely Without You
    


11. Vince Guaraldi Trio - Christmas Time is Here
    


12. The Raveonettes - The Christmas Song
    


13. Nina Simone - Little Girl Blue
    


14. Sufjan Stevens - O Come O Come Emmanuel
    


15. Kanye West - Coldest Winter
    


16. Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining
    


17. Okkervil River - Listening to Otis Redding at Home During Christmas
    


18. Mogwai - Christmas Song
    


19. Julian Casablancas - I Wish It Was Christmas Today
    


20. Ryan Adams - Hey Parker, It's Christmas
    


21. Joni Mitchell - River
    


22. Feist - Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming
    


23. Rogue Wave - Christmas
    


24. The Swimmers - The Christmas Sound(Download)
    


25. Relient K - I Hate Christmas Parties
    


26. Sufjan Stevens - That Was The Worst Christmas Ever!
    


27. Pedro the Lion - I Heard the Bells on Christmas
    


28. Coldplay - 2000 Miles(Download Here)
    


29. Glasvegas - Silent Night (Noapte de Vis)
    


30. Sufjan Stevens - Star of Wonder
    


31. Phantom Planet - Winter Wonderland
    


32. The Dismembermant Plan - This Christmas
    


33. Tom McRae - Wonderful Christmastime (Download)
    


34. Badly Drawn Boy - Donna & Blitzen
    


35. Glasvegas - Fuck You It's Over He mentions Christmas. Doesn't that count?
    

Undoubtedly, this is a downer Christmas mix. There is always something about the holidays that is bittersweet to me and I tried to capture that with this mix.

With the Christmas season comes Christmas movies. There are a few movies that are pretty standard these days. It's a Wonderful Life, one of the many Christmas Carol films (I prefer the Alastair Sim version), A Christmas Story(played out, but classic), Elf , Love Actually (both modern Christmas favorites) and the list goes on.

What about the non-traditional ones? The ones that I've come to enjoy, that take place around Christmas, but may not necessarily have plots centering around family or festivities. Here are some ones that you may or may not know about in no particular order.

1. Die Hard
   One of the best action films that happens to take place during the Christmas season. This movie also has "Christmas in Hollis" by Run DMC in it.
   
   
   



2. Edward Scissorhands or Batman Returns
   
   Gothic Christmas anyone? Johnny Depp and Tim Burton...enough said.
   
   
   
   Another dark Tim Burton film, I used to think this movie was awesome when I first saw it as a kid. Upon subsequent viewings, it is not at as cool as I remember it. Batman is hardly in this one. It's more about the villains. Despite being a summer release, this film takes places around Christmas.
   
   
   


3. Black Christmas
   Before there was Halloween, there was this Canadian gem. Bob Clark, the director of A Christmas Story, directed this several years prior. The guy just loves Christmas.
   
   
   



4. Gremlins
   This is a Steven Spielberg production that I LOVED as a kid. Which is weird, considering the fact that it is one messed up movie. It takes place around Christmas, but the holiday gets severely fucked up for this town. Phoebe Cates is way hot too.
   
   
   


5. Serendipity
   Ok ok ok, so I am not one for romantic comedies, because usually they are not well made. Much like slasher movies, these films are made to turn a quick profit. Not this one. First off, I think John Cusack is a good actor. I thought he was great in The Sure Thing, High Fidelity and Grosse Point Blank to name a few. Second, this movie is not a cookie cutter rom com because "couple" of the movie is not together for most of it. The beginning and end of this film center around Christmas. If you have not seen it, check it out.
   
   
   


6. Alfie
   This movie got pretty bad reviews, but I think that it's actually pretty good. Takes place in Manhattan around the Christmas season. Sienna Miller is ridiculously hot in this.
   
   
   


7. Less Than Zero
   A movie based on the book of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. Spoiled rich kids with effed up lives reunite during Christmas break. Obviously, the book is better.
   
   
   


8. The Sure Thing
   An 80s classic that revolves around a guy who is trying to go coast to coast in search of a "sure thing" during Christmas break. Along the way, he finds something he didn't expect. This is a great movie starring John Cusack and a solid 80s soundtrack.
   
   
   


9. Catch Me If You Can
   This movie was released on Christmas Day, so it is no surprise that the holiday is a consistent theme running through out the film. A Great director and a great cast makes a great movie.
   
   
   


10. Scrooged
    This movie is pretty damn funny. I think I like it more than Christmas Vaction. Yet, whenever I mention this movie, many people haven't seen it. If you like dark humor, sarcasm, or Bill Murray, then you should love this.
    
    
    


11. About a Boy
    Hugh Grant plays a slacker living off of his father's Christmas song royalties. Check it out. Good flick.
    
    
    
    
12. Trading Places
    This movie is hilarious. Period.
    
    
    

November

When I come to the troubling realization that Halloween has passed and October is officially over, I get upset. It seems more and more these days that people think that fall only lasts as long as October's 31 days, but why? Winter doesn't even officially start until December 21st, just 4 days before Christmas. Seeing Christmas decorations on November 1st, or even earlier, is probably one of the most disheartening things around. Don't get me wrong, I love the holiday season, but please don't rush life for me. Let's slow down for a little bit before we dive right into the holidays. I would like to take this time to share my views on the great month of November.

Yes, NOVEMBER. You know, that month between Halloween and the Holiday Season? I would like to take this time to discuss the great month of November. To a lot of people, November isn't anything special. To me, it is. November spurs on a lot of emotions in people, both good and bad.

The fall foliage just keeps on coming. These colorful appendages of tree limbs continue to adorn the streets. I can't get enough of a street covered in red, orange, yellow and brown. In milder climates, November is where the true color changes take place.

The Football season gets into full swing. I get that the football season has been going on for 2 months now, but by now you know if your favorite team is a dud or a stud. If you're a Vikings or Saints fan, for instance, then you're having a pretty great November. Even if these teams drop the next 9 games, you know that you had a great November. If you're a Redskins fan, like myself, you've come to embrace that old adage, "there is always next season." Emotions abound in November.

There is always some sort of election going on in November. Again, emotions abound. November '08 was a month when overwhelmingly hopeful thoughts filled the air. Virginia was officially a Blue State! November '09 sucks because Virginia is making it's way back to being a red state with the election of a Republican Governor. Elation or bitterness has already revealed itself very early in November.

Shit, it's dark out! By November each year, daylight savings time has already begun. Melancholia sets in as the days become shorter and you're suddenly wondering why it feels like it is 10pm outside when in fact it is only 5:30pm. To this, I suggest you put on a sweater and go have another pumpkin spice latte. To me, this change of mood brings about some degree of sadness but also optimism because of this next reason.

Family. Like it or not you're going to see them, very soon. You've got the all-american holiday Thanksgiving at the end of the month followed quickly by the December holiday of your choice. This is when we're happy to have family, as well as your solitude during the rest of the year. Let's face it, if you're lucky enough to have family then you are lucky enough.

Finally, my brother, sister, and I all have our birthdays in November. Yes, it is a shame that we must get older, but who doesn't love the extra attention?! I know I do.

Well that is the end of my love affair with November. Here is a continuation of fall music. A couple are from earlier mixes. Fall tunes usually abound in sad bastardom, but there are some bright spots here. Enjoy.

Fall 2009

1. Miranda Lee Richards - Early November (Official Video)
   


2. The Mary Onettes - Puzzles
   


3. Spoon - Got Nuffin'


4. Tegan and Sara - The Ocean


5. Au Revoir Simone - Only You Can Make You Happy


6. Julian Casablancas - Left and Right in the Dark


7. Glasvegas - Come as You Are


8. Mirah - Special Death


9. Kings of Convenience - My Ship isn't Pretty


10. Tegan and Sara - The Cure


11. Maps - I Dream of Crystal (Official Video)


12. Kings of Convenience - Mrs. Cold (Official Video)


13. The Mary Onettes - The Disappearance of My Youth


14. Hearts of Black Science - Snowfall


15. The Wooden Sky - Something Hiding For Us In The Night (Live)


16. Jaymay - Autumn Fallin' (Video)


17. Athlete - Airport Disco


18. Wilco - Impossible Germany (Live)


19. Ryan Adams - Follow the Lights (Official Video)


20. Nightwaves - Fascination

October viewing...

So I just got done watching some pretty random movies on the old Netflix Instant watch. First, was Misery, with Kathy Bates and James Caan. This movie was pretty suspenseful and Kathy Bates definitely deserved the Oscar for Best Actress. She goes from very nice to psychotic in a split second. The scene where she re-breaks James Caan's legs is disturbing to say the least. This flick is definitely worth a rent.
Next up was this old German flick that I had been reading about online recently. It was supposed to be a classic vampire film imaginatively called, Vampyr. I didn't really love this movie. There is no neck biting in it, no head vampire, not even any fangs. I think the credit this film deserves lies in it's special effects. Today, they are laughable, but at the time this was probably pretty cutting edge. The poster for this flick is pretty sick too.
Lastly, I purchased the recently released Trick 'r Treat. I think this film truly captures the Halloween spirit. It seems to be a love letter to the holiday itself from director Michael Dougherty. This film was supposed to be released in October 2007, but it never happened. Same with October 2008. Finally, the film was released direct-to-dvd. Even though this was not released to theaters, the cast is pretty impressive. Brian Cox and Anna Paquin headline a pretty good cast. It is no surprise that both actors appear in this film since Michael Dougherty wrote X2 and Bryan Singer, the director of X2, also produced this film. This is DEFINITELY appropriate Halloween viewing.

The 2009 Marine Corps Marathon

Yesterday, I completed the Marine Corps Marathon. I finished with a time of 5:19:23, which is not exactly the most impressive time, but the important thing is that I finished my first marathon ever. There were 30,000 people running this year.

Some people ran competitively, some ran just for the experience and others ran in remembrance of a lost loved one. Seeing everyone doing this for their own reasons was a pretty awesome experience.

I was asked after the race if I would ever do another one. I replied, "ask me in two weeks." My body is understandably very sore, hence that response. I think I will do another one. Not just to do one now, but to improve on my time. With a more serious training regimen, and not going on a month long road trip, I think that I will definitely be able to do that.

Happy Fall/Halloween '09

Here are some fall sad bastard tunes and some Halloween jams. Yeah, it's a little random. Almost all of these are not the real music vids, but I wanted you to be able to at least hear the music.

Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead This was used in the film The Hunger perfectly.
Matt Pond PA - Halloween
The Wooden Sky - Oh My God (It Still Means a Lot to Me)
Ou Est Le Swimming Pool - Dance The Way I Feel
Ian Brown - F.E.A.R.
Tears for Fears - Mad World Covered in the film Donnie Darko, but the original is legit as well.
Simple Minds - New Gold Dream
Tea Leaf Green - Flippin' the Bird
Ryan Adams - Stop
Ray Lamontagne - Within You
Ryan Adams - Halloweenhead
The Smiths - Cemetry Gates
Marilyn Manson - Sweet Dreams
Muse - New Born Watch the movie High Tension and you'll see why this one is freaky.
For Whom the Bell Tolls Throw this one on for the kiddies.

Ok, so all of these don't exactly fit into the downer/halloween genre, but who cares.

Welcome Katherine.

Yesterday my sister gave birth to a 7 lb 1 oz baby. Welcome to the world baby Katherine!

Home Sweet Home

After leaving the Nashville area, we stayed in North Carolina for the night. The next day we headed back to Delaware. The road trip is over. After driving over 7,500 miles, we made it back. This truly is a very diverse country. I loved every minute of this trip. Here is a map of what we did.
I plan on updating the blog every now and then. Thanks for reading though!

Tennessee

Yesterday we drove from Amarillo to Conway, AR. Not a lot to report there.

Today, we drove from Conway, AR to Lebanon, TN which is just outside of Nashville. First we made our way past Little Rock and stopped in Memphis for lunch.

For lunch, we went to a place called Charles Vergo's Rendezvous. This place is known for it's dry rub ribs. It was also featured on the Travel Channel show Man v Food. These were probably the best ribs I've had in my entire life. The rub was mixed very well. When the ribs first arrived at the table, I caught a whiff of what I thought was Old Bay. The dry rub must have had some of the same ingredients. The beans and slaw that came with the ribs were AMAZING too. Check it.

After lunch, we then walked around Beale Street for a little while. This area is pretty hopping and probably looks more impressive at night. There were two bands playing though and it was a weekday. If this is what it is like during the week, I can imagine it being pretty awesome on a Saturday night. There are more pics on facebook.

With our bellies full, we headed towards Nashville. The town looks pretty nice. We stopped only for a short while though. They have this fake Parthenon that is actually a full size replica.
Sorry this is so short, but we mostly just drove today.

AZ to TX

Today we drove from Holbrook, AZ to Amarillo, TX. We stopped in Albuquerque, NM for lunch. We drove down to the older part of town. This is a cool south west town. I would say that it is for an older crowd though. Do I really care about southwestern jewelry and antiques of that nature?

We had tex mex at a small restaurant where the food was solid, but not mind blowing. I will say that I liked the dessert that we got at the end of our meal. Sopapillas. I think that's the spelling. Basically it was fried dough. We added honey to them for a great post lunch treat.

There was a small little town square with an even smaller pavilion for entertainment. This band was playing when we were there.
We arrived in Amarillo, TX around 8:30 local time. We had gone across two time zones today. Since I had so much energy and I'm about three weeks from my marathon, I went for a 20 mile run. I finished too! This means that, barring anything unforeseen, I should have no problems finishing the marathon on October 25th. YES!

Also, on an unrelated note, Vampire Weekend has released they're new single for their upcoming album. Here it is!

The Grand Canyon (they weren't lying)

Today, after leaving Vegas, we went to the Grand Canyon. They weren't lying. This thing is ridiculously huge. My mom was freaking out every time I approached the railing to take a picture. Mom, it's only 5000 feet deep! Jeez!

While we've been on the road trip, the Ken Burns documentary about the National Parks has been airing. This documentary has discussed the Grand Canyon at great length and to see it in person was amazing. I guess it just worked out that we'd be taking this trip while this PBS documentary aired. If you've never been to the canyon, do yourself a favor and see it before you die. I think every one in the US should have the opportunity to take in this truly remarkable sight. I know that's cheesy, but it's true.

Tomorrow, we cross two time zones from Holbrook, AZ (where I currently am) to Amarillo, TX. Time to make the big push back east.

This guy in the next picture, look towards the bottom, was painting a portrait of the canyon.
I was listening to some Coldplay today and for some reason, I'm really enjoying this OLD track right now.

Vegas, baby. VEGAS.

Yesterday, we made it to Las Vegas, NV. None of us had ever been, so it was going to be an experience for all. We checked into the Venetian at around 3pm and were VERY impressed with our room. It was definitely the best room on the entire trip.




After checking out our accommodations, we walked up and down the strip for a while. We saw all the big sights. We walked by and saw the MGM Grand, the Bellagio, Caesars Palace (did Caesar live here?), the New York New York, Treasure Island, the Flamingo, the Sahara, Excalibur, etc. We also got to thoroughly check out the canal that was all around the Venetian. Sweet! This place reminded me of a huge boardwalk except with gambling and call girl brochures. Yeah, call girl brochures. That was awkward.


Later on in the evening, after walking up around the strip, we ate dinner at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant Postrio. The food here was excellent. I had a Pork Schnitzel that was pretty awesome. It wasn't the best I have had (Germany was better), but it was pretty good.

After dinner, we walked around the strip more, but this time in the opposite direction. I got some decent nights shots of the Riviera and the Sahara. We then came back to the hotel for some light gambling on the slot machines. I'm not exactly at leisure to go to the black jack table these days, but I was VERY tempted. We had a drink on the casino floor and called it a night.
Ok, so I liked Vegas. I think I would definitely come back here with people closer to my age. It would also help if I had some money to gamble with or splurge and catch a show. A Bronx Tale, was playing at a local theater when we were there. Why do people like this place?! This city has no cultural appeal whatsoever. There are no museums, no food to call it's own, no music scenes, there is NOTHING spectacular about this place. I mean all of it's appeal is mainly the faux Eiffel Towers, the fake Venetian canal and the ridiculous looking downtown "Manhattan" that they have set up. That being said, this IS an adult Disneyland and I wouldn't mind going back, but if I don't end up there again, it's not the end of the world. Las Vegas is a guilty pleasure.

Monterey and the Pacific Coast

The night of October 2nd we arrived in Monterey, CA. We went to dinner in the Cannery Row section of town. We decided on this place called The Sardine Factory. This was probably one of the best meals we had on the trip. I got the seared ahi tuna. It was cooked perfectly and really was a beautiful looking piece of fish. I shut my flash off for the pic. I didn't want to look like a nerd in the restaurant.
The next morning we went down to Cannery Row again. We didn't really get a chance to walk around the night before. We had breakfast at this place called First Awakenings. I got these massive wheat germ pancakes that were really good, but way too huge. No pic though, sorry! I really like Monterey. We didn't get to see the downtown area, but Cannery Row was a cool part of town. It also helps that the weather happens to be pretty ideal there.

We left Monterey in the early afternoon and headed towards Carmel to check out the 17 mile drive. It's right around the Pebble Beach area. The drive along this road consists of picturesque views of the Pacific as well as ridiculously nice houses. We then drove through downtown Carmel.



Carmel-by-the-Sea is a pretty small, but exclusive town. Clint Eastwood was the mayor of the town for one term in the 80s. Artists settled in this town back in the day. It's basically an area with "cute" stores for people with "cute" dogs. It was nice. The houses were nice. That's about it.

After a very visually stunning drive, we began our journey back east. The sun set behind us for the first time in a while. Farewell California, it has been great.

Berkeley, San Francisco, Highway 1, Santa Cruz. I Love California.

So Wednesday we arrived in Berkeley, CA. Our hotel was on the Berkeley Marina and a short hotel shuttle drive away from the Bay Area Rapid Transit station in Downtown Berkeley. We had spent Wednesday morning to afternoon drinking and eating in Napa so we stayed close and ate dinner at the hotel.

Our dinner here was really quite good. I got the Roasted Pork Medallions with fingerling potatoes and perfectly cooked green beans. I actually don't have a picture, but it was definitely a solid meal. My parents and I split a bottle of Canyon Road Sauvignon Blanc. Since we're such connoisseurs (HA!) now we really knew exactly what we were looking for in a wine. After a great meal, it was lights out. Drinking wine and eating obnoxious amounts of good food really takes it out of you.

Thursday morning, we took the hotel shuttle to the Downtown Berkeley BART station. We had some good coffee and pastries at Tully's Coffee on the main drag of Berkeley, Shattuck Avenue. Shattuck Avenue reminded me of a somewhat larger version of Clarendon, but not as pretentious. This is where I caught my first glimpse of the hipster/hippie/whatever-you-want-to-call-it culture that the Bay area is no stranger to. There are no suited politicos that you see in the standard Starbucks on K Street here. Here, there are people who look older than my parents and may have been staunch activists back in the day or maybe they just look that way.

After our abbreviated breakfast, we caught the BART train into San Francisco. The BART has a pretty cool look in comparison to DC's Metro. It looks and feels cleaner to me. The train tunnels don't look as cavernous. It seems like not nearly as many people use the BART as they do the Metro. The stations were rather small. The BART system was pretty straight forward though. We took our train from Downtown Berkeley to Embarcadero.



Outside of the Embarcadero station, San Francisco looks a lot like many other cities. It's a financial district down there. It looks like New York or Chicago. We got our bearings, and headed towards the water. My first picture in San Francisco was this weird looking piece of art made out of cement. It was pretty cool. We walked along the Embarcadero towards Pier 39, the Fisherman's Wharf, and North Beach.

We walked by many piers before arriving at the famous Pier 39. This place is much like any other city's waterfront areas. Restaurants and touristy stores abound. The smells of candy and fried dough fill the air. Sea lions and seals are laying around sunbathing. Wait what?! Yeah, I'm not kidding. We saw TONS of these MASSIVE animals just laying around on little docks in the water!Next, we continued on to check out the Fisherman's Wharf and North Beach areas. We ate lunch at a place called Cioppino's. The place was named after one of San Francisco's signature dishes, Cioppino. It's basically a seafood tomato based soup. They should just call it Mercury Soup because there is just that much seafood in it! My dad got the Cioppino, my mom went with the seafood salad, and I decided on the salmon fettuccine. We all really liked this place. It was a great meal altogether. The windows were open, the weather was perfect, the beers were cold.


Seafood Salad
Salmon FettuccineCioppinoWe then purchased day passes for the trolley and headed uphill to see Knob Hill and Russian Hill. After a crowded ride, we arrived in Chinatown. This Chinatown was pretty huge. It was honestly like walking into another country. Duh! There were Dim Sum places all around. We had stuffed ourselves at lunch so we didn't get to experience the food here. After exploring a little more, we took the trolley down Market Street to the Embarcadero BART Station to head back to the hotel.
This morning, we continued our tour of San Francisco. We checked out of the hotel and drove to Crissy Park near the Golden Gate Bridge. We walked along the beach there. We had a great view of Alcatraz and the bridge. Before we left town, we drove through Haight-Ashbury. Obviously, it looked cool, but we didn't really have tons of time to check it out. I snapped a decent pic from the passenger seat. I want to come back to the bay area. Two days isn't exactly enough to see an area this size, but at least I got to touch on some highlights.

We took Highway 1 out of the city south towards Santa Cruz and Monterey. Highway 1 is just as much an attraction of California as any of its large cities are. The views are spectacular. The road winds. The mist of the Pacific hovers over the land and you can smell the salt in the breeze. I loved this drive.

We stopped in Santa Cruz to walk around the boardwalk for a little bit. This city was featured in the film The Lost Boys. Unfortunately, most of the boardwalk was closed for the season. It was deserted. The shops, attractions, and food stands would be open for business on Saturdays and Sundays though. There was an arcade at the boardwalk that was like a time capsule. There were photo booths and REALLY old games. Galaxian or Punch Out anyone? I loved it. It didn't matter that the games were old. This place is exactly what you want a boardwalk to be like. We just happened to see it when it wasn't crowded.

After stopping in Santa Cruz, we continued on to Monterey to stay for the night. Today's activities have reinforced the fact that I love California. More on Monterey tomorrow.