This is my life.

---

Mr. Braddock: Ben, what are you doing?

Benjamin: Well, I would say that I'm just drifting. Here in the pool.

Mr. Braddock: Why?

Benjamin: Well, it's very comfortable just to drift here.

Mr. Braddock: Have you thought about graduate school?

Benjamin: No.

Mr. Braddock: Would you mind telling me then what those four years of college were for? What was the point of all that hard work?

Benjamin: You got me.

Things in April

April 3rd - Screaming Females, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists at Club Downunder
April 5th - A Place to Bury Strangers at Club Downunder
April 7th - of Montreal at The Moon
April 8th - The Thermals at Club Downunder
April 9th - The Thermals at UF [possibly]
April 11th - White Rabbits at Club Downunder
April 12th - Speech on Middle East
April 22nd - Nick Kroll at Club Downunder
April 25th - Washed Out, Beach House at Engine Room
April 30th - graduation!

Turkey

The best trip of my entire life was when I went to Turkey with my mother and my uncle (her brother) in July 2008. When my mother, brother, father, and I went to Greece in 2007, we spent one day in Turkey and my mother kind of loved it, so we went back a year later. Anyways, the reason why this trip made me so happy was because there was 1) very little fighting (even though my mother and I got sassy with one another in Istanbul) and 2) I spent my birthday there.

We went to Istanbul, Bursa, Ankara, Cappadocia, Konya, Antalya, Pamukkale, Izmir, Canakkale, and Gallipoli Peninsula.

We stayed in Antalya for my birthday, and here was the view from my room:

During the day, I jumped off a 25-30ft

and yep, we had burger king (sometimes you need to step away from 10 days of lentil soup for lunch)

Sometimes when I get really sad, I look back on these photos and I get super happy and I remember that the world is much larger than I make it out to be.

Here is the entire trip.

Animal Collective Crackers

My North Carolina-based friend Matt and his friend made a video one rainy afternoon:

Animal Cracker Collective from david wynn on Vimeo.

It apparently only took four hours to do!

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Gorillaz have always mixed genres in a way no real band can. With Damon Albarn hiding behind Jaime Hewlett’s creations, he was able to recruit a vast array of performers to perfect his albums. In their self-titled album, it was with Tina Weymouth and Del tha Funkee Homosapien. In Demon Days, it expanded to De La Soul, Ike Turner, Shaun Ryder, and Dennis Hopper. It doesn’t stop withPlastic Beach, which is Gorillaz’s (and possibly Damon Albarn’s) best album to date.

After a short instrumental intro, we’re greeted by Snoop Dogg on “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach.” Snoop’s delivery, like always, is smooth and controlled, and flows effortlessly from verse to verse. The beat is classic Gorillaz, which means you’ll be head-bopping throughout the track. “Rhinestone Eyes,” one of the few tracks with no guest appearances, mixes Plastic Beach’s theme of environmental destruction with romanticism. Damon Albarn’s voice aches when he sings “your love’s like rhinestones falling from the sky” and that “nature is corrupted in factories far away.” The third single off the album, “On Melancholy Hill,” is the poppiest song on the album and is a perfect fit for the background music in a Legends of Zelda game.

“Rhinestone Eyes”

The two best songs on Plastic Beach are “Stylo” and “Some Kind of Nature.” The former features Mos Def and the incredible Bobby Womack, who apparently made up his lyrics on the spot. And if you haven’t seen the video for this song yet, you really should. On “Some Kind of Nature,” cowritten by Lou Reed, Damon Albarn and Reed’s vocals are perfect compliments to one another. And lyrics like “some kind of plastic I could wrap around you” can easily fit into The Velvet Underground’s classic “Venus in Furs.”

“Some Kind of Nature”

The album isn’t perfect, though: “Superfast Jellyfish”, a silly pseudo-commercial jingle which features Gruff Rhys (from Super Furry Animals) and De La Soul, is a bit repetitive and feels out of place in this more serious album. The second track “White Flag” sounds like a good idea on paper: The fantastic UK-rappers Bashy and Kano rapping over The Lebanese National Orchestra? Yes please! However, when it comes on, Orchestra’s beautiful sounds are stopped urgently by the rappers, as if someone had just changed the song. In addition, Bashy and Kano’s back-and-forth lyrics get old really, really fast.

Those two songs aside, Plastic Beach is able to combine artists from a vast array of genres with accessability, making it already one of the best albums this year.

Things I Discovered This Spring Break:

in somewhat chronological order:

1) I cannot climb onto roofs

2) I am much better at crafts than I previously thought (but this isn't saying much)

3) FYCW

4) Modern Family

5) Fang Island *

6) The League

7) I might go to Connecticut for July 4th / wedding

*they sound like "everyone highfiving each other" (their words not mine) and a bit poppier Andrew W.K.

Things That Are Happening in March

March 4 - Jaspers show and afterparty/Esther's birthday

March 5 - Miami

March 6 - Bridal Shower preparations

edit: March 14 - possibly Cymbals Eat Guitars

March 15 - Fruit Bats / Danielson

March 24 - Cursive

March 25 - Miami

March 26 - Natasha's Bridal Shower

edit: March 30 (or 31st?) - Sleepy Sun

insert random house parties, pizza, exams, essays, training cdu's new 10-11 staff, and post-graduation stuff.

p.s. still super, super obsessed with yeasayer's new album.