atwob: ah! the wonder of boredom.

technically, this is an atwos: ah! the wonder of… something. because, i’m not bored. i’m busy. but i am working to an amazing soundtrack and it prompted me to document it, bloggy-style. (bloggy-style? i hate myself sometimes.) also, since being self-employed, my days run into each other. it’s totally valid for me to note a favorite of the week on a monday. or wednesday. (i just had to look at a calendar.)

favorite movie of the week: again, no strong favorites. but i have watched quite a few: burn after reading, the golden compass, the first two movies in the pirates of the caribbean series and the beginning of ratatouille (which i didn’t finish, but hope to). burn after reading had a great cast. i love frances mcdormand. brad pitt – not so much, but he certainly did not disappoint.

favorite song to work to: 15 step by radiohead, off their album in rainbows. why have i not loved radiohead my entire life? it’s funny how you can hear a band when you’re 16 and chalk them up to being too chaotic and noisy. then you hear them again seven years later and it’s like love at first sight. (…or sound as the case may be.) this has happened to me not only with radiohead, but also jeff buckley. some music is just ahead of its time.

favorite color combination: i’ve been working on a few different websites lately, which is rare since most of my work these days lies in the print arena. i didn’t end up using this color palette, but i still love it.

favorite website: skreened.com: i’m going to be designing all my clothes from now on.

atwob.

when i was in high school, i created an underground movement called ATWOB. okay, so it wasn’t really an underground movement, but rather a weekly email i began circulating that gained a lot of popularity by my senior year. ATWOB, appropriately abbreviated for “ah! the wonder of boredom” listed favorites of the week and funny things happening around school. meh, perhaps you had to be there.

but!

i’m bringing it back. (mostly for my own documentation of websites and other links worth noting.)

welcome to a slightly more mature, but always pointless atwob.

favorite movie of the week: watched the invasion, hairspray, and once this week. and my favorite is certainly not once. i tried, really. after hearing rave reviews from friends. i just couldn’t get into it and frankly, i fell asleep. the only thing worth mentioning is the song played inside the music store. i am in love with the harmonies on the chorus. for that reason alone, i may buy the song on itunes. maybe, the album. but i doubt it.

i still have yet to watch stranger than fiction which is sitting on top of my dvd player as we speak, but i think i can already safely say out of the four, the invasion is probably my favorite of these. but even that one wasn’t spectacular.

EDIT: stranger than fiction was actually a lot better than i thought it’d be. a light comedy with a cute story, very suitable to watch while preparing dinner.

favorite song to work to: rats by pearl jam. the opening sound is reminiscent of dave matthews, but then the familiar eddie vedder rock kicks in. the resulted groove is totally motivating and should be added to playlists around the world!

favorite color combination: so-bright stephy by pixeljedi via colourlovers.com.

favorite website: moo.com: i’m obsessed with these mini-business cards. i received a check from third coast clay the other day from selling one of my paintings in their store and they included one of their personalized cards in the envelope. too cute!

the art of the boomerang.

i bought a book when i moved into my first post-collegiate apartment five years ago: spilling open, by sabrina ward harrison. the book is an amazing mish-mash of color, creativity, and thought provoking words. the back flap reads “sabrina ward harrison is now 23. she was born in berkeley, california where she spends a lot of time making art on the floor, exploring with her camera, having tea with ten year olds, and going to school. she is a sketch book writer, photographer, and teaches spilling of all sorts.” it made me love the book even more, especially since we were the same age.

i’d forgotten all about it until saturday when the world crashed on my shoulders. nothing terribly out of the ordinary happened, but i sometimes have these moments when reality becomes real. these are the moments when time tends to stand still and i take a moment to reassess and say “woah. what am i doing?!” these are sometimes hard to take. but necessary.

i remembered the book and after dusting it off, i happened to flip it open to page fifteen. weird that the picture had my name on it. weird that what i read made total sense to the situation.

the truth is we all ache. we all have growing pains and wonder if we are okay and enough & loved. the thing is – we are. really. without the silver shoes and leopard print sheets. we are enough without all the things we buy to make us much more than we are or need to be. we aree simple and complex and rare. as is.

so, the art of the boomerang. is it really true that what goes around comes around? i’m not talking karma so much as history repeating itself. this book was relevant when i was 23 and continues to be a good reminder when i’m on the cusp of 28.

i just reminded myself of a song by the propellerheads.

the word is about, theres something evolving,
whatever may come, the world keeps revolving.
they say the next big thing is here,
that the revolution’s near,
but to me it seems quite clear
that it’s all just a little bit of history repeating.

The newspapers shout a new style is growing,
but i don’t know if it’s coming or going,
there is fashion, there is fad
some is good, some is bad
and the joke rather sad,
that it’s all just a little bit of history repeating.

…and i’ve seen it before
…and i’ll see it again
…yes i’ve seen it before
…just little bits of history repeating.

well, it must be true if they wrote a song about it.