How can I possibly sum up why I love this city in one post.  How do you take an infinite number of memories and create a cohesive mixture of words to express what is in my heart, mind and soul.  Shadup, I know I sound cornball but it’s true.  I’m not eloquent enough like some of my friends to even come close with words, so I’ll do a few pictures to try and express what I love about “the city”.  I say Part I since I’m sure more will come along.

View of SF from Treasure Island

Sunrise on an Autumn MorningYerba Buena Gardens

Mr. TVL - an unequivocal positive force in my life here in SF

Ridiculously awesome events like Bacon & Beer Happy Hour

SF Fog…a constant staple

The Golden Gate, Iconic SF

What do you love about SF?

While Friday is a day I always look forward to I have been especially looking forward to Friday this week.  I’ve been out every night (partially my own doing) and work has been so crazy lately.  My body tells me I should take an evening off but plans are already in the works for this evening.  At least I’ll be able to go out tonight knowing that I wont need to get up before dawn tomorrow.

In other news, I’ve finished The Twilight Saga .  I really enjoyed it – in fact I read all four books in a little over a week.  Some may balk at the idea of reading them considering they’re in the YA section but hey, it’s more adult than Harry Potter and people of all ages enjoyed that.   That being said, my enthusiasm started to wane a bit in the last book.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it but I didn’t agree with the story line the author decided to take.  I guess it doesn’t really matter but after thristily reading through the first three books I was expecting more for the last book of the series.  Ah well…it’s easy reading and for the most part keeps you on the edge of your seat.  For any local friends, you can borrow them if you’re interested although Suki already has first dibs!

This weekend is The Treasure Island Music Festival.  I had initially planned on attending but due to lack of funds and lack of interest from the majority of my friends, will not be attending.  However, reviewer extraordinare will be there.  Definitely keep an eye out for his review on his blog (and in Performer Magazine!).  He’s one of the few people whose reviews I actually enjoy reading; perhaps because he himself is an artist and reviews as such.

Please feel free to share your exiting weekend plans…especially if they involve events in SF!  I’m always up for hearing what is going on in our fair city!

I was reintroduced to the soundtrack of Once recently by The Boy.  I had seen the film back in October in a hotel on a business trip.  It was one of those random choices…many films to choose from and I chose it without thinking much about the choices…it was just something to do on a rainy, late night in DC.  Little did I know how I would be touched by this film.

At first glance you expect it will be another one of those tired ‘boy meets girl’ films but it quickly develops into something moving and tangible.  The music quietly drives much more of the story than you realize on first watching it.  The music is simple but with such raw emotion that it makes you both elated and heartbroken at the same time.  The film doesn’t drop its emotions on the characters’ sleeves – it trusts you enough to leave some of the best stuff unstated. In other words, it trusts you to know that half the music lies between the notes.

Stand out songs from the album that you should seriously consider downloading:

Falling Slowly – A sweet ballad with simple harmonies.  It really showcases Glen Hansard’s vocal range and how easily his voice can manage to melt your heart.  This is the best known track from the film as they won an Oscar for Best Original Song.

If You Want Me – This is one of two songs featuring Marketa Irglova.  Her voice is simple and true.  The banjo playing really reminds me of Travis‘ ‘Sing’ on the chorus of the song.  A long distance love song.

Leave – Glen Hansard defines my bitter reality in this song.  It’s very David Ford-esque with just a guitar, vocals and emotion.  His repeating the lyrics, “Leave, leave, Let go of my hand, You said what you have to now Leave” at the end of the song can only be described as raw, honest pure angst.  I can only describe it as wanting to jump up and down and scream and yell and yearning to get out of your skin joy/pain.  That may not sound appealing, but I think you’ll see what I mean when you hear it.  It ends too abrubtly for me though…it’s such a great song but it needs some sort of refrain at the end for it to be perfect.

When Your Mind’s Made Up – Something about this reminds me of Badly Dawn Boy but I’m probably the only one who hears it.  This is a great scene in the film where they’re recording in a studio and the engineer is ignoring them and realizes how good they are and starts actually doing his job.  This song has a brilliant crescendo of vocals and instruments.  It really features the instrumental talents of all the players as well as the singing.

To be honest I could sing the praises of all the songs from this film.  Even the silly Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy makes you smile.  This album is a story even without the film…you can paint the songs in your head quite easily and adapt it to the realities that so many of us face each day. It’s real.  It’s true with no pretense.  I hope you’ll check it out and let me know what you think.

…until my half marathon!

This will NOT be my reaction to finishing...

Ugh, long story short, I got roped into doing the running portion of a a triathlon for my company.  Tomorrow morning, 5 teams (15 of us) will be either swimming, cycling or running in The Big Kahuna Triathlon in Santa Cruz, CA.

Now, most people who do this sort of thing would probably be pumped about tomorrow.  I am not one of those people.  I got coerced into doing this only a month ago, so I’m really not as prepared as I should be.  Yes, I ran in The SF Marathon a year ago….but haven’t been running regularly since then (sadly).  That being said, I did manage to run 10 miles on Labor Day, so I know I can at least finish.

To try and get myself more excited, I created a playlist today for the run tomorrow.  When I did the SF Marathon we weren’t allowed to have mp3 players on the course (although I saw a few).  Now that I know I’ll likely be running myself the whole way, I’m happy to have some tunes to keep me company (and keep me going!) while I’m out there.  I got loads of suggestions from friends on Plurk; some good, some bad.  But I’m pretty please with my final selections.  Most of them are rock or dance.  Check it out!

Again & Again – The Bird And The Bee
Tony the Beat – The Sounds
Song With a Mission – The Sounds
Night After Night – The Sounds
Us -Regina Spektor
Apocalypse Please – Muse
Time Is Running Out – Muse
Hysteria – Muse
Butterflies & Hurricanes – Muse
Starlight – Muse
Supermassive Black Hole – Muse
Take A Bow – Muse
Soldier’s Poem – Muse
Exo-Politics – Muse
F-cking Boyfriend -The Bird And The Bee
Assassin – Muse
Invincible – Muse
City Of Delusion – Muse
Hoodoo – Muse
Knights Of Cydonia – Muse
New Born – Muse
Rapture – IIO
2 People – Jean-Jacques Smoothie
Romeo – Basement Jaxx
American Dream (Joey Negro Club … – Jakatta
Lovely Day – Brancaccio & Aisher
Bushes (Noman Cook Club Mix) – Markus Nikolai
Getting’ In 2 U -  W.o.s.p
Finally – Kings Of Tomorrow feat. Julie McKn…
Song For Shelter – Fatboy Slim
The Soulshaker – Max Linen
Smoke Machine – X – Press 2
Jetfunk – Kidstuff
Let’s Dance – David Bowie
Under Pressure – David Bowie
Above You, Below Me – Badly Drawn Boy
Chocolate – Snow Patrol
Run – Snow Patrol
Walking In The Sun – Travis
All I Want To Do Is Rock – Travis
Good Feeling – Travis
Spitting Games -Snow Patrol
Gleaming Auction – Snow Patrol
Hung Up – Madonna
Get Together – Floor Madonna
Future Lover – Madonna
Forbidden Love – Madonna
Club Foot – Kasabian

LSF – Kasabian

Reason Is Treason – Kasabian

Cut Off – Kasabian
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head – Kylie Minogue
Come Back To What You Know – Embrace
All You Good Good People – Embrace
Ashes – Embrace
Someday – Embrace
Wish Em All Away – Embrace
Laid – James
One of The Three -James
Say Something – James
Sometimes – James
alive – Festizio
Kids – Kylie Minogue
Your Disco Needs You – Kylie Minogue
Fever – Kylie Minogue
Burning Up – Kylie Minogue
On A Night Like This – Kylie Minogue
In Your Eyes- Kylie Minogue

Now, this is far more music than I’ll need to run 13.1 miles tomorrow.  But I figure I’ll be waiting around and before the swimmer and cyclist finish so I’ll have some time to kill.  Plus I may want to fast forward through certain songs depending on how I’m feeling.  I’m planning on playing it on random so I didn’t put them in any specific order.

What songs would be on your playlist for something like this?