Thursday, May 27, 2010

Songs of Summer

There has been massive construction work going on at the end of our street for the last month or so, and one of the unfortunate side effects of this (aside from the shaking of our house) has been that the city keep turning the water off between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. This makes it really hard to get anything done during the day, like laundry or cleaning. Alas. As a result of this, I spent most of yesterday afternoon at the beach, finishing up Wolf Hall, and trying not to further the previous day's sunburn. (Waterproof SPF30 is the way to go, it appears.) Wolf Hall was ultimately unsatisfying, or at least not as satisfying as I'd hoped it would be; it was gorgeously written but not quite the sum of its parts, I guess. One of the problems that I often have with historical fiction is that I'm always laying out a map in my head of the historical timeline, and the fiction often becomes secondary to connecting those dots. It took a long time for Anne to become Queen, even if the journey was beautiful.1

One of my academic colleagues and I have embarked upon a new project together: we are watching David Lynch's Twins Peaks. It's a re-watch for him, but a first time through for me. I have seen bits and pieces of the show before, but nothing in any kind of cohesive way, so this is especially exciting for me.

A few people on Facebook have been posting their favourite summer songs, so I've been trying to compile a list in my head of my favourite summer music. So far the list is pretty short:

Summertime - The Sundays
Rock Lobster - The B52s
Santeria - Sublime
Here Comes The Sun - The Beatles
She's a Rainbow - The Rolling Stones
Steal My Sunshine - Len2
Left and Leaving - the Weakerthans
Be Still My Heart - the Postal Service
Tonight Is A Wonderful Time - April Wine

What are your summer songs?

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1 In retrospect, perhaps not the best "beach book" I might have chosen.
2 Yes, yes, I know that this song is actually kind of lame, but you're forgetting exactly how catchy this song is, as is the song it samples, the Andrea True Collective's "More More More." Plus, if I only hear it for a couple of weeks in a year, I actually don't mind it.

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