Oct 31 - Adele

Supperclub last night was fantastic. Here's the menu.

It was the 2 year anniversary, so they had a big dinner for 200 people, catered by the Jean Georges team. He has 3 restaurants here in Shanghai, his flagship Jean Georges, serving French food; Marcato, which is more Mediterranean/Italian food and one of my favorite restaurants in Shanghai; and Chi-Q, a Korean place. I haven't been to Jean Georges, but I really want to, and after last night I definitely have to. My favorite dishes were the 3 made by the Jean Georges team, actually in the order they're listed. That foie gras was absolutely insane. I had 3 servings. My heart should have exploded. I would have died so happy, though. The foie gras was so soft and buttery and flavorful, and with the textures from the granola and dried cranberries, and mixed with the sweet and savory flavors, it was perfect. Oh God, I want it again. Now. Every day. Always. Dinner in general was great, but that was definitely the best.

And then this morning I've just been doing some clean up and laundry around the house and I made a costume. I skyped my sister, too, and we looked up easy, last-minute costumes. So now I'm going to be a green Lego brick. Hopefully this will bring me luck in the upcoming job interview. Still not sure what I'm doing tonight, but I'll head over to my friend Zabrina's in a bit and take it from there. But I'm pretty sure death metal concert is out.

Today's song is not Halloween themed at all. Part of me feels like it should be, but then I can't think of anything but Michael Jackson's Thriller. So instead of the King of Pop, it's one of the many Queens, Adele. With her new songs, Hello, which came out last week and is, in typical Adele fashion, wonderful. Unfortunately the video has talking and stuff over it, which is annoying, and there's no Soundcloud version I could find. So you're stuck with this for now.

Oct 30 - Moses Sumney

My plan to kill this cold hasn't worked. My throat still hurts, and I feel completely sapped of energy. This is terrible timing for tonight's supper club. But I'm not missing it. We'll see how much I drink though, it'll probably be limited. If any. I even left work early to come home and sleep for 2 hours and I still feel like I have no energy. What is going on?

Today's song is from Moses Sumney, another up and comer, who I always think of when I hear Bob Moses. I think you can see why. He's got 1 EP, Mid-City Island, which came out last year, plus a couple more singles from this year, and it's all really weird. The grows-on-you kind of good weird, though. Like TV On The Radio, but more out there. Even his voice is weird. I'm still not sold on the guy, but I'm getting there, and I think I really like him. Doesn't hurt that he also went to UCLA. No album on the horizon that I'm aware of, but he's definitely one to look out for next year. I feel like I should share Plastic with you, it's a great song and probably his most popular. It's also more accessible than some others. But I think I'm gonna go with Mumblin'. It seems to be his least popular track, but the most interesting one to me. And it seem the only way I can get the song to embed here is by embedding the entire EP. So you can listen to the whole thing, including Plastic and Man On The Moon, but just make sure you listen to Mumblin'. That's the only one going onto the Spotify playlist.

Oct 29 - Bob Moses

I don't know how I forgot to tell you about my evangelical cab driver yesterday. I got in this cab, and the guy was nice, but then he wasn't chatty after the first couple minutes, which is great. I love cab drivers like that. But then towards the end of the drive he got a bit chatty again and asked where I was from. When I said the US, he was like "Oh, there's lots of Christians there," to which I said yes. Turns out the guy was Christian, which is actually more common than you'd think here, but people aren't open about it. Then he found out I wasn't, and that I was actually Jewish, and went on for a bit about how silly it is that we Jews don't believe in Jesus. He never really actually tried to convince me or anything, just went on for a bit. Which wasn't offensive, it was more interesting to me because it's so uncommon here. But then at the end, he said "God Bless You" and "Convert soon so you can go to Heaven!" Nice guy.

Then I went to work today. Still fighting this cold, but I'm on the Chinese meds now, so hopefully they'll help. And I went to Elixir tonight, the best hot pot place I know, which they call Health pot instead of hot pot. So I'm also gonna go with that'll make me better in time for the weekend. And I didn't drink and I'm going to bed early. So yay me.

I'm taking it up another level on the upbeatness today, but still staying firmly in chill territory. Bob Moses just put out their debut album, and it's a good one. Don't be fooled by All In All, it's actually just a singles collection in album form. Days Gone By is the real first album. The entire album is great. It's actually hard to pick a standout track. So I just went to Soundcloud, saw they only had 3 songs on there (well, they have more, but there's 3 officially from the album that are not remixes or anything), and picked my favorite of those three. So it's gonna be Tearing Me Up, which sits squarely in the middle of the album as the longest track. And if you like it, go get the album, cause it's all pretty much just like this.

Oct 28 - Jono McCleery

I didn't go to the office today because of doctors appointments, and I thought I wouldn't be going tomorrow and Friday cause of this training course I signed up for, but the class got postponed. Which means I'm back in the office tomorrow. Boo. But like I said, I've been busy so I guess it's good.

I did go and get my annual physical today, though. And I went for a teeth cleaning and dental check. I actually don't even know the last time I went to the dentist, but it was definitely high school or before. So like last millennium. I don't know why I waited so long. I think it just got to a point where I was nervous to go, and also I was travelling so much, so I just didn't. Plus there was nothing noticeably wrong. Well, as it turns out, there is nothing wrong. The two dentists who saw me were both amazed at how good my teeth are. When I mentioned how long it had been since I've gone to the woman who did my cleaning, she was sure she'd be having some fun cleaning me up. And the woman who did my check up took about 5 minutes, and then was telling me I have some of the best teeth she's seen, considering how long it's been. So yay for me! And thanks to my parents for the good genes.

I also went for some grilled cheese tonight with my friend Bryna. We had to have a bit of a chat, cause I've been quite frustrated with her lately. She's extremely flaky, and flakiness is a huge pet peeve of mine. And I realize that it happens sometimes, but it's been literally every time lately, and it's been extremely hard to stay positive about it. So we had a chat, which went very well, and she explained a couple things and hopefully will continue to explain things in the future instead of just flaking. I'm supposed to spend Halloween with her, which should be fun, cause she loves it and she's going to do my costume. We discussed a couple ideas, but basically it's all on her cause I'm terrible at costumes and will do whatever I'm told.

I listened to Jono McCleery's new album, Pagodes, today. I heard it on Spotify a couple weeks ago, and about 3 songs in I knew I needed to buy it. So I stopped listening on Spotify and bought it but only listened to it today. It's like a more orchestral version of Fink. So it was no surprise to find out he's on Ninja Tune, a label I love. He's actually exactly the right sound for them. Apparently Pagodes is his third album, but I'd never heard of him before. But now I want to go and hear everything by him. But an excellent introduction is This Idea Of Us, the opening track on Pagodes.

Oct 27 - Kurt Vile

I think might be getting sick. Started feeling a bit weird this afternoon, but luckily I had site visits out of the office today so made it home early and took advil and a nap. Now I just finished watching a great film, Beasts of No Nation, and cuddling up in a blanket to try and not feel sick. It helps, blankets are wonderful. Luckily I'm going to the doctor tomorrow, so if I'm not feeling better I can always mention it tomorrow.

When I got home this afternoon and wasn't feeling well, though, Kurt Vile also made me feel better. He belongs to that whole Philadelphia rock scene with bands like The War On Drugs, of which he was a founding member (though is no longer a member). He put out a new album last month called b'lieve i'm goin' down..., which people are loving, as they do him. I'm not huge on this whole Philly rock scene, but I do like it, and from time to time there are great songs (like The War On Drugs' Red Eyes, which is incredible). This new album is very chilled out rock, and it was exactly what I wanted to be listening to this afternoon when I wasn't feeling 100%. So today you get Life Like This, one of the better tracks off of his new album.

Oct 26 - Raury

Work was long and busy today. I guess it's a good thing I haven't been traveling much, cause I need the time in the office. Although for some reason I haven't been sleeping well the last few Sunday nights, so I was super tired today. Luckily it's the only full day in the office, and tomorrow I don't have to get up early. Which is why I'm still awake at midnight and just said goodbye to Julia. She entered a chili cook-off, but has never made chili, so she cooked some today then brought it over and made me her guinea pig. In return, I showed her The Goonies. Very good trade.

And for your song today, it's Devil's Whisper, a fantastic song off of a fantastic album, All We Need, the debut from Raury. This is genre-bending hip-hop/R&B. A little bit of Kanye. A little bit of Outkast. A little bit of folk and pop. Though not so much in this song, this song is like pure Kanye style. But he is 100% unique. Raury's been getting a lot of hype for the last year or so since he first put out singles and an EP, and I never really got it. Not until I heard this album. This album totally blew me away. Go have a listen.

Oct 25 - Geographer

Another great Sunday today. Luckily the weather hasn't turned yet, so spent a good part of it out and about walking. My friend Steph who's visiting came by with her brother this morning so we could figure out where to put all the ceramics I saw yesterday that I want to go buy. So now I'm gonna go buy a bunch of stuff. I can't wait. We also went back to Baoism, the restaurant I was at on Friday night that my friend opened. Great stuff.

One thing Steph wanted to do while here was look for antiques. This was all part of the shopping for her new apartment plan, which started last night with ceramics. We went to Dongtai Lu, which used to be this outdoor antique mall, but it was pretty much all torn down after Chinese New Year to make way for new development. It sucks cause it was a great market. But anyway, so we went walking down Dongtai Lu today hoping a couple shops might still be there (which there are), and you would not even recognize it. That street actually has sidewalks. And people. These are things I never saw there before. And some of the old buildings are super nice. It's still in the French Concession, so you have a lot of interesting European architecture and unique buildings that just got lost in the jumble of shops and stalls and people and things to look at. I just hope they're not going to tear down some of these old buildings, but rather just renovate them or incorporate them into something else. But knowing China, they'll be gone soon to make way for a big, fancy new mall. Which would suck.

This was followed by a walk to a terrible shoe market, a nap, a couple job applications, and dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in the city, a Yunnan place called Lotus Eatery. I love it, and I haven't been in forever, so it was wonderful. And at dinner I learned about this app where you can place an order for a chef, then the chef comes over and cooks for you. Amazing! I think I need to do this every Sunday and just have my food for lunch for the week made. Then I wouldn't have to eat our crappy canteen food anymore. That'd be fantastic.

Today's song is not a new one, it's a couple years old. I just got into Geographer this year when he released his new album, Ghost Modern. I actually shared I'm Ready, the lead single off that album, earlier this year, cause it's a great one. Well, after hearing that album, I went and listened to (then subsequently purchased) his last album, Myth. And I'm pretty in love with The Myth of Youth, my favorite track off the album. Maybe my favorite track by him (them?), actually. I can't just listen to it once. So now you can go and listen to it about five times in a row.

Oct 24 - jennylee

Wow, last night took a turn. It was just supposed to be dinner at my friend's new restaurant, a place making Taiwanese-style bao with delicious global stuffings, like carnitas and korean fried chicken. I thought it'd be a chill dinner with a few drinks, maybe followed by more drinks somewhere else, and home. I got the first part right. It was a chill dinner with a few drinks, which turned into a lot of drinks. Like many beers and a bottle of whiskey and a few bottles of wine and some mijiu (a type of rice wine from Southern China, but actually good, not like the typical baijiu), and then we went on to KTV (or karaoke, as it's known everywhere else in the world). That didn't even start until midnight, so no surprise I got home much more drunk and with no voice at 4am. Then slept until 11:30 and basically only moved from my bed to my couch and back for a nap for about 4 hours.

At 3:30 I finally got off my ass to go and meet up with my friends to watch this performance by a group called Bandaloop. They're a vertical dance group, so they basically perform suspended from ropes on the side of skyscrapers. So we watched that and it was bizarre and amazing. It was super cool, but it was hard for my brain to comprehend. First of all, they should not be able to do that. Obviously. But ok, ropes and harnesses and whatnot. But also, when they would do their leaps and stuff, it was like everything was in slow motion. I have no idea how that worked, but it definitely made it seem extremely graceful. And it's crazy how precisely they can control their movements and landings. And to make it all the more impressive, I am under the assumption that they can't rehearse. I don't understand how they'd be able to, unless their studio is just an empty 6 story building and they jump around on the walls rehearsing all day, but that just seems so inconceivable. I'm stumped. And impressed. It was super awesome.

And then the drinking started again, but very light drinking. Which actually made me feel better. And then I went with my friend Steph, who's visiting for the weekend, to check out this amazing ceramic shop. I can't remember the name now, but they sell Jingdezhen ceramics, which I learned today is about as good as it gets when it comes to Chinese ceramics, but they have amazingly creative pieces and some beautiful colors and shapes, and all of it is very affordable. Apparently they just opened a shop in NYC that's like triple the price, but in Shanghai it's all surprisingly cheaper than you'd expect when you see it. I will probably end up buying a lot of things there for myself, and also for anyone getting married for the rest of the time that I'm living in Shanghai. I was so impressed. And to finish off a fantastic day, I finally got my falafel at Dahliah's! So I've now been 5 times in less than 2 weeks, and in the end, it was worth it. Cause that falafel was fucking delicious. I want to eat it every day. And there was shakshouka and babaganoush and hummus and I am one happy Jew.

Another thing which made me a happy Jew yesterday was the release of jennylee's first single. She's one of the members of Warpaint, which as you may know by now is one of my favorite bands. She's putting out a solo album, right on!, in December, and Never is the first single. It's a pretty good song, I'm not in love with it or anything but it's definitely a sound that I'm liking and which I want to hear an entire album of. Although that's probably because it still sounds very much like Warpaint. Which I will never complain about, those women are amazing.

Oct 23 - Shakey Graves

I worked from home today, which means I didn't really do too much work. I mostly did the bare minimum and planned to do 2 tasks that I want to complete, but then I watched tv. I've probably spent more time without pants on than I have with pants on today. Which is also nice cause Julia and I had another late night at Dahliah's (though not as late as Thursday), but again with no falafel. Frowny face. But good hummus and drinks and pasta and company. And a dog, but just for a bit. I did make it out of the house for lunch and to buy stain remover. I've been told about this burger place, Rachel's, around the corner from me. Turns out I passed it months and months ago and wanted to go but forgot where it was and never saw a name, and now I've been and it's great. So I'll definitely be going more. And I took a nap. Man, it's been fantastic.

And today, I'll finally tell you about Shakey Graves. This band's debut album, And The War Came, came out last last year, and I listened to it a bunch and never bought it, and then it came up again recently, and again I listened to it a bunch, but this time I actually bought it. It's a really good album, I don't know why I waited so long, honestly. So they've been put off for a year already, and then got bumped by Bayonne, and actually almost got bumped again today but I'll just do the other song I wanted to share today tomorrow instead. Family and Genus, today's song, is one of my favorites on the album, although I'm not sure how well it reflects their overall sound. They've got more of a southern/roots rock sound, in general, which in general is really great, but I really just love this song.

Oct 22 - Bayonne

Yesterday was my miss for the month. I had a band all lined up and everything (not the band I'm actually going to write about today, I found something more exciting and yesterday's band is now postponed until tomorrow), then I went out to dinner for many hours and came home and passed out. I've been to this restaurant Dahliah's 3 times since last Monday, and I'm actually going again tonight. I've been before, it's a cute little Austrian place. Actually, cute isn't the right word. It's pretty freaking cool. It's got swings in place of some of the chairs, and a big twisty slide that you can ride down from the 2nd floor bathrooms. It's pretty fun. And the food is nice, too. I've never been too blown away by it, but last week I went with my friend Julia (who's Austrian and loves it), only to learn that Dahliah's friend Dani is visiting from Israel. He's pretty awesome, and he makes amazing hummus and cocktails, and promised me amazing falafel. So I keep going back, only to find out he didn't make the falafel when he told me he would. But I'm trying again tonight in the hopes of great falafel. Also it's a great place and I spent last night not only with Julia, but also chatting with Daniel, the boyfriend of Dahliah, and Dahliah a bit as well. They're already good friends with Julia and my friend Graeme who joined us last night, and it's always nice to sit and chat with the owners of restaurants. It makes it feel even more homey, and makes me want to spend more time there. I think that's part of what I love so much about the grilled cheese shop, is it's always nice to go in and see Greg and say hi, have a quick chat, and eat delicious food. Definitely makes it better. So this may be the start of me going to Dahliah's a lot more. Which I'm more than happy to do if the falafel is as good as I hope (though Dani's only visiting, so he won't be cooking there much longer), and also because I learned last night when I didn't have falafel that they have a pretty damn good burger. And I love a burger.

Also, today is essentially my Friday night. Not going to the office tomorrow. And it's been a really good and productive week, which ended in praise from the CEO during a video conference. I'll still work from home tomorrow, but it's nice not to have to go in.

Alright guys, I finally figured out the Roger Sellers mystery. Remember how I posted about him about a month ago, and about how great his album, Primitives, is, and about how after I listened to it it totally disappeared from Spotify and existence? And then how I scoured the internet for news about Roger Sellers and this amazing album I heard once and then had taken from me? Well, NPR has come to the rescue and updated me with the information that Roger Sellers is now known as Bayonne. And that Bayonne is on Mom + Pop Records. And that Bayonne will (re-)release Primitives, in an expanded edition, in early 2016. He says that he made the name change to make a clear separation between his more electronic work, specifically Primitives, from the more folky stuff he'd already released (which is on bandcamp and which I would not describe as folky and which is fine but not as good as Primitives though there are some great songs). And I'm guessing the mysterious disappearance of the album had to do with being signed to a new label and some contractual agreement, though I would be much happier if he'd just kept Primitives out there for me and everyone else who didn't get to it last year, and just released an album of completely new material in early 2016. But he's not. At least now I know I can rest easy, and sit in anticipation of early 2016 when Primitives will finally be released (again) and available to me. And in the meantime, here's Spectrolite. This is the first song I heard by Roger Sellers, the one that really grabbed me, but then I couldn't find to share with you last time. But now I've found it, thanks to Bayonne, and you can listen to it also. Seriously, this song is amazing from the first note. And it just gets better. I love it. A lot.

Oct 20 - L'Anarchiste

And we're back to boring work stuff. Actually I was pretty busy with work today, and it wasn't so boring, but it's nothing I need to talk about here. Other than work, I applied for 2 jobs today. One with Disney, and one with this random company my friend told me about. And I actually sent my resume to a headhunter as well. I guess I'm getting more serious about this. Headhunters seem serious, anyway. But really, I just want that LEGO job. But I have to wait a month before I can go talk to anyone. Blergh. It'll be worth it if I get it though.

Today we're listening to L'Anarchiste. I heard them a few weeks ago, specifically the song And It Goes, off of their sophomore album, Giant, which came out in July. It took me a couple of weeks to actually get back to them and give them a proper listen, and I am very glad I did. Giant is a fantastic album. The closest thing it reminds me of Milo Greene's debut album, with all it's layers and instrumentation and depth. And it's really got a coherent, cinematic sound to the whole album. But there's also a bit of the intricacy and delicacy of Alt-J, and the distance of Other Lives first album. It's fantastic, really an impressive album. I listened to it like 3 times today. Sadly their first album, The Traveler, wasn't as good, but their eponymous EP that came before that, is also great. I'll probably end up buying everything just to support these guys, though. And you should too. But you can start where I did, with And It Goes. Surprisingly I can't find it streaming on Soundcloud or YouTube, but I've now learned that I can embed songs from Bandcamp. Maybe. I'm not sure it's actually working. But if it does, that's pretty awesome.

Oct 19 - SG Lewis

As suspected, today was not exciting. It's never very exciting when I'm just in the office. And I'm in the office this week until Thursday, but Friday I won't be, luckily. Which means I can talk about yesterday.

It actually started out kind of annoying. I went to my friend Graeme's houseparty on Saturday night, and left earlyish to come home because I had to be up at 8am on Sunday. There were a few things that had to be fixed around the apartment, so the contractor was coming. Of course he was 45 minutes late, though. And then after 5 minutes left for like 20 to go pick up his tools cause he came unprepared. Go figure. But at least things have been fixed.

After contractor it was brunch time. There's an Austrian restaurant called Dahliah's here in Shanghai, owned by an Austrian woman named Dahlia. She's got a family friend visiting, this Israeli guy named Daniel, who I met when I went for dinner last week. He's helping out at the restaurant and making Israeli food while he's visiting, so we went to have his Israeli brunch. Actually we went to eat his falafel, cause he told me he'd make it, but then he didn't. But then he said he's making it tomorrow, so maybe I'll go for dinner tomorrow night. Anyway he's hilarious. As soon as he saw me last week, the first thing he says is "What's your name?", then after I told him he just stares at me for a minute, and he goes "I grew up with a Russian Jew who looks just like you. Or are you Polish?" His Jewdar is spot-on. Although I do make it easy. Anyway, we ate his brunch, it was good, but it was not falafel. So hopefully falafel will happen tomorrow.

Then it was naptime followed by not applying for jobs. I intended to apply to this Disney job I found, but then I slept and started prepping cause I had a dinner party last night. A couple of my good friends missed out on my housewarming, and so they decided I'd be having another, which we turned into a Mexican feast. I actually did a lot of the cooking myself, which if you know me is pretty amazing. I made salsa and tinga, this chicken dish my mom makes and my grandma used to me, which I love. And then we had ceviche and guacamole and beans and rice and all the fixings to make tacos, and we also had quesadillas. It was a lot of food. I ate leftovers for lunch and dinner today, already made myself a couple quesadillas for lunch tomorrow, and will still get at least 1-2 more meals out of it. Also I have lots of ice cream now. So the food was fantastic, and so was the company. It actually turned out to be just me and like 7 women, somehow. But they were some of my favorite women. And I also made Micheladas! Almost forgot that. Turned out pretty good, too. Not as good as my favorite one, which is at this bar called Pocho's. I think mine needed more beer and more lime, and probably a little more hot sauce. But overall it was pretty good.

So that was my wonderful day. And then I didn't sleep well for some reason but had to still wake up early to go to the office. Blergh. At least I got some good, new music in today. SG Lewis, today's artist, comes from a Spotify system recommendation. Warm is the opening track off of his debut EP, Shivers, which is pretty great. I probably need to buy it, but I think I'm gonna end up listening like 3 more times before I actually do for no particular reason. Anyway, this guy is like 20 and is making the music that I thought Kwabs would be making. Apparently Kwabs has released his debut album, Love + War, which I was very excited for, but it's not on my Spotify. So I only listened to a playlist of preview tracks on Soundcloud, and found it somewhat underwhelming. But SG Lewis seems to have gotten his sound (and even similar vocals) down pretty well, so there's that. Also, he did a really cool remix of Magnets, which is one of my favorite tracks on the new Disclosure album. So I'll be keeping an eye on this guy next year for more.

Oct 18 - Bad Bad Hats

Today was a long day. A very good, long day. It's just ending, and it's too late to spend time recounting it, so I'll just leave you with a song and write about today tomorrow. That song will be Midway, by Bad Bad Hats. It's a great track, off of their debut album, Psychic Reader. I listened to the album once, but kind of in the background, and was going to listen again before I decide if I'll buy it or not. But as it turns out, you can get it for free, along with their previous EP, It Hurts, on their record label's website. Just click here if you want them. And in the meantime, enjoy Midway

Oct 17 - San Fermin

Well I didn't end up at the Spanish place last night. Instead we went to this Japanese place I love, but sadly last night the meal just wasn't up to par. I don't know what was off last night, but it's been really good every other time I went, but not this time. This time some stuff was great, but some was actually not good. Too bad. It was supposed to be a pretty chill dinner and an early night, and the former was true, but the latter not so much. I somehow ended up home at midnight.

I wanted it to be an early night cause I was up early this morning to go visit a farm. There's an online, organic grocery store called Kate & Kimi, and my friend Lizzy had heard about a farm visit, so she invited me to go along. I thought it would be something different and interesting, and it was different, but only kind of interesting. Also it was definitely a very family oriented activity, so it wasn't very social and there were lots of children screaming throughout the day, and some douchey parents. Generally I like kids, but today I did not. But it was nice to get out of the city and see the farm. I do wish it was also a bit more interactive. They let us pick some lettuce at the end, but that was about it. I really think it was just an excuse for families to get out of the city and take their kids somewhere outdoors. Which is not what we had in mind. But now I'm home, gonna eat a quick bite, and then headed to a house party. This one also can't be a late night, though, cause I have a contractor coming at like 8am tomorrow.

Since I didn't play you San Fermin yesterday, I will today. They put out their first album in 2013, and it was fine. I enjoyed it, not enough to buy it, though. Their big song at the time was Sonsick, a great track. And apparently they were touring with Lucius, and if they're good enough for Lucius they're good enough for me. Well, earlier this year they released their sophomore album, Jackrabbit. I knew it would be coming out, but it somehow flew under my radar. It flew so far under my radar, in fact, that they've even released a new post-album single. But as of last week, it is no longer under my radar. And this album was worth buying. The band's got both a male and a female vocalist, who don't sing together, not in the way Stars does or anything, but they obviously sing on the same songs, just at different times. I actually didn't even remember the male vocalist until I heard this album, and as it turns out he's got that great, deep, emotive voice like Matt Berninger from The National, or the guy from Murder By Death. But he's not on the song I'm going to play you today, which is the title track, Jackrabbit. It's just got the lady singer. But if you want to hear him, too, then go listen to Two Scenes. Probably my other favorite track on the album, but I like Jackrabbit more. And if you don't have Spotify, the whole album is on Soundcloud.

Oct 16 - Ojos de Brujo

I think this is the first time in months that I've spent an entire week in the office. I'm usually either away on business or find a reason to get out of the office for a day for something. But not this week. Luckily I did have a fair amount of work to keep me busy. And the week ended on a pretty good note, with an acceptable resolution. So that's good. And now I can properly enjoy my weekend, starting with drinks and dinner. Pretty typical Friday night. I was hoping to go to this one Spanish restaurant where I read about some event for Spanish National Day, which the internet tells me was on Tuesday, but as it turns out I'm going to some other Spanish restaurant (which is amazing) which will hopefully have something going on for Spanish National Day. The other place had flamenco, so that'd be pretty sweet if it were the case here, too.

I feel like I should play some Spanish music today, considering that last comment. I kind of want to pick yesterday's song of the day as today's song of the day also, but that won't work. So I was thinking of playing you San Fermin, but maybe that'll wait for tomorrow. Because today, we'll do something for Spain. And that something will be Ojos de Brujo. I haven't listened to this band in forever, but they are fantastic so I'm glad they came up. They're flamenco-hip-hop. More flamenco and less hip-hop, but I'm gonna play you a more hip-hoppy one. Todo Tiende, off of 2007's Techari. Great band, I need to go listen to them again.

Oct 15 - Vieux Farka Touré & Julia Easterlin

Another pretty boring day at work. I've just been in the office all day. It's not fun. But I at least I've got stuff to do. Also I identified another job to apply to, this one at Disney. So I'll be doing that soon.

And until then, I'll listen to today's song on repeat. I think it might be one of my top tracks for the year. It's brought to you off the new album touristes, which is a collaboration between Vieux Farka Touré, who I have recently learned is apparently a really famous Malian musician with a famous Malian musician dad, and Julia Easterlin, who I have also found out is a not-famous girl from LA. From what I read she does loopy stuff like Tune-Yards, and any time you mention Tune-Yards you've got my attention. Anyway, this album touristes, is not at all like Tune-Yards. It's half Malian music, and half Malian influenced folky-singer-songwritery stuff. That's what Little Things, the title track, is, and it is beautiful. And the video is adorable. And you will want to listen over and over like me. 

Oct 14 - Gordi

Not much to report today. It's a pretty boring Wednesday. Sorry. But here's a song. It's by Gordi. Not much to say about her either, as she's pretty new and only has 3 singles. But I can say she's from Australia. And that her 3 singles are quite good and I like this one the most. It's called Can We Work It Out. It's also the newest.

Oct 13 - Lowell

Well, my work anger was not resolved today. But my work-anger-directed resolve was strengthened. And I did some work so that I can be more persuasive in fixing the problem. Again, not saying too much, this is probably not the correct forum and I don't want to get into it. But I do want this to be done. So annoying.

Today's song is from Lowell, who released her debut album, We Loved Her Dearly, last year. This is another interesting album. Quite poppy, but some interesting sounds. She is on Arts & Crafts, though, same label as Stars and Broken Social Scene, so that's gotta be worth something. And much of it inspired by her time being a stripper. In fact the track I Killed Sara V. is specifically about that, as her stage name was Sara Victoria. Thanks Rolling Stone for that tidbit. Anyway, I'm probably gonna listen again. Not sure it's worth buying, but I'll give it another go. But here's the song that I first heard and caught my attention, The Bells. I don't remember anything else on the album being this good, or quite like this, but this is a great track.

Oct 12 - Big Grams

Man I had a frustrating day at work today. The day was actually fine, there were just a couple of infuriating things, one of which actually has me extremely pissed off. The other one I don't care about that much, but until it's resolved I won't be happy. I'm probably gonna have to have a chat with the big, big boss tomorrow, cause I am not a happy boy. We'll see how that goes. Anyway I've been trying to watch funny TV shows all nigh to distract myself, but it hasn't worked. I'm still pretty pissed off.

But in good news, the Big Grams album came out. This is quite an interesting collaboration, between Big Boi of Outkast and Phantogram. Interesting combo, but it's pretty cool. Also I don't think I have enough hip-hop on the blog, so I'm glad to get this on here.  The album, Big Grams, is alright, but this song, Goldmine Junkie, is pretty great. Definitely my favorite track on there.

Oct 11 - Julia Holter

Today was a pretty perfect Sunday. Grilled cheese sandwiches, wine, puppies, perfect weather, bike rides, ramen, friends. Really excellent. And I applied to jobs with McLaren and LEGO, and already got an email back from the head of HR & Operations for LEGO. It may have only been a 1 day weekend, but it was a very good 1 day.

I also listened to quite a bit of music, as I did spend a lot of time sitting and updating my resume and applying to jobs. Made it through a few albums on my Spotify list of albums to check out. And I made it through the Kacy Hill EP (Bloo) on my iPod like 4 times while biking. Didn't make it much further than that EP, really. It's a good one. But yeah, so I listened to lots of music, most of it just so-so. One of the so-so artists is Julia Holter, who does have one great song I heard in a few places, but then the rest was pretty disappointing. But that good song is Feel You, the opening track on her new album, Have You In My Wilderness. Which, from Spotify, looks to be like her 5th album. In 5 years. That's productivity.

Oct 10 - Daughter

I had to go to work today. China does this wonderful thing where if you have a long public holiday, you have to work extra on the weekends around it to make up for the days you get off. It's great. Luckily I was busy at work, because it kept me distracted from how exhausted I was. I only got like 4 hours of sleep last night, it would not have been fun if I wasn't busy.

And while I was spending my Saturday at work, what was my sister doing? She was in San Francisco watching a Daughter and Ben Howard concert. She's the worst. And Daughter played 2 new songs, not just the first new single, so Hanna's now heard one more Daughter song than me. Not fair at all. She did send me a video of Smother, which she said they performed particularly well tonight. And it was pretty amazing and made me hate her even more when I read it. Then Ben Howard played, too. He was the headliner, but really Daughter is so much better. And today's song should probably be Smother. But I've already put 4 Daughter songs on the blog this year, the only artist that I've done that for. And I even put a song by them like a week ago. There are a few artists that got 3, but only one with 4. So should I make it 5? Or should I just put Ben Howard on for the 2nd time? The plan was Ben Howard cause I thought I hadn't shared a song by him. But fuck it, here's Smother. If I had shared a Ben Howard song, it would have been The Fear or Under The Same Sun. Just FYI.

Oct 9 - Janet Jackson

I pretty much just worked on my resume today. Not much else happened. I didn't go to the office cause of the potential for Toastmasters, which also didn't happen, but I spent like 2 hours skyping my dad and another couple hours with my friend Zabrina updating my resume (and discussing other not-so-boring topics). I did also try a new restaurant for lunch, which I've read is a rip off of Shake Shack, though I wouldn't know. But they do have a copy of In N Out's animal style fries, which I know and love, and which I can add jalapenos to. Probably a new favorite. The fries, at least.

Today's music is in keeping with yesterday's theme of pop. And Janet Jackson is very much pop music. She used to be great, then got a bit too poppy for me, but she just put out a new album, Unbreakable, the first in 7 years. I gave it a listen and it's pretty good. And it features Missy Elliott, which always helps things. There are quite a few stand-out tracks actually. I do need to give it another listen before deciding if I'm going to buy it, but I'm leaning towards yes. The two songs that really caught my attention were The Great Forever and Shoulda Known Better, though I'm leaning towards the latter, so here you go.

Oct 8 - Mina Tindle

The first day back at work was a bit of a bore. I could have done more, but then I didn't. Oops. But I did start looking at jobs. Not because I'm actively looking for a job, but just because I've thought about looking for a job so I might as well see what's out there, right? I also spent an hour on Skype teaching my mom how to use Facebook. And I had a horrible video conference that I was sent the wrong documents for so felt very unprepared for. And I overcaffeinated myself, so by the end of the day I was simultaneously exhausted, jittery, nauseous, and unable to fall asleep on the shuttle. But then I had dinner and lots of beers and a whiskey and a hookah with Lizzy and I'm no longer exhausted, jittery or nauseous. I'd like to be exhausted. I want to go to bed. But I'm not tired for some strange reason.

Ok, that's enough listing of sort of random and only tangentially related things that happened today. On to music. I was actually surprised to see that I hadn't shared Mina Tindle sooner. I was sure I had earlier this year. I found out about her when she came through Shanghai. Sadly I didn't go to her show, but I did listen to her and buy her second album, Parades, which is really good. I think it's actually pop done right. It made me realize that it's not pop music as a genre that I have a problem with, per se, it's popular music, which is different in that pop music is just fun dancy music that everyone can get behind (but doesn't always), while popular music is the unimaginative, cookie-cutter sub-genre of pop music that every does get behind. And that's usually shit. In fact, as I write this Reptar is playing in the background, a band I fell in love with this year, and who I would classify as pop-rock, but with the pop part done right. Anyway, so Mina Tindle. She's French (which means I've already fallen in love with her), and I just found out that she collaborated with Bryce Dessner of The National on some songs on this album, including my favorite song on the album, Taranta, which I'm not sharing with you today. Why? Because since I'm using her as an example of good pop, I should use something more upbeat and poppy, which is one of my other favorite songs on the album, Pas les saisons.

Oct 7 - Youth Lagoon

My flights were pretty good. I had booked a rewards flight for the return, and the only thing available (even 3 months ago when I booked it) was a 1 way ticket in business class, which is how I flew back. So I took Turkish Air to Istanbul (hence the last post) and then Asiana from there. Both are great airlines, and business class was lovely. I didn't sleep as much as I would have liked on the long flight between Istanbul and Seoul, but that was more cause of the timing than anything else. But I did take a nap when I got home this afternoon, so that helped for sure and I'm feeling pretty good right now.

On the flight I watched Inside Out (which was really good, and did not make me cry like everyone said it would) and Pitch Perfect 2 (which was not a great film, but which was quite funny). Otherwise, I pretty much read and slept. So when I landed I felt ok (until I got home and into bed), which was good because I expected the longest lines ever at immigration and for taxis. After all, today is the last day of the public holiday and everyone goes back to work tomorrow. But the airport was totally empty. There were literally 2 people in line in front of me at immigration, and then it took about 2 minutes to get into a taxi. I wish it was like that every time. Now I'm unpacked and just hanging out, and need to stay awake for another 4 hours or so, then I'm allowed to fall asleep.

I did get to listen to a bunch of music while reading. I listened to the new Youth Lagoon, which I mentioned the other day, plus I have a lot of new music that I lost the ratings for (I'm kind of OCD about giving all my songs ratings) so got through a lot of that, too. And, as promised, today is my favorite song off of Youth Lagoon's third album which just came out, Savage Hills Ballroom. Youth Lagoon is pretty weird lo-fi, but I really like him and have since his first album. I was thinking the other day about how he probably sounds like a lot of artists that I'm not so into, but something about him just draws me in for some reason. He's also (surprisingly) great live. I saw him at Laneway in Singapore a couple of years ago, and he turned out to be one of my favorite acts of the day. So today is Highway Patrol Stun Gun, the second single and my favorite track off the album.

Oct 6 - Superhumanoids

Today's blog comes to you from Istanbul. I pretty much just woke up, hung out for a bit, then went to the airport. And now I'm on my layover in Istanbul. I've heard that the Turkish Airlines lounge here is supposed to be one of the best in the world, and I can honestly say it's up there. It is super impressive. As soon as you walk in there's this library with a pool table, which I maybe would have tried to use if I wasn't alone. Then they just have everything you could imagine. There's obviously food everywhere, but unlike most lounges where they just have buffet-style food, here they have stations where food is being made fresh. Freshly made pasta and grilled meats and pide and Turkish dumplings. And there's all these mezze stations and dessert stations and drink stations. Not to mention the 15 or so open bars spread around the lounge. And that's just refreshments. They also have the standards like showers and newspapers, but then they have film rooms and a virtual golf room and Playstations and wandering masseuses. Masseuses! Actually, the more I write, the more convinced I am that this is the best lounge I've ever been to. And it's also not super crowded. It's just wonderful.

I also had a few shopping requirements. Specifically coasters and a hookah. I actually wanted to buy a hookah in Georgia, but I couldn't find any. I'd been told I could get one here and assumed it would be like the Dubai airport with all kinds, but sadly it wasn't. They only had tiny ones, which at least weren't so expensive. I wanted a bigger one, but I had no choice in the matter. Plus I'd rather have a hookah from Istanbul than from some online shop in China (I did actually check the online shops and couldn't find any, so it's not just me being pretentious). And the coasters were inspired by my friends James and Lauren. I stayed with them in Philly a couple months ago, if you remember, and they had these great coasters that they said they got in the Grand Bazaar here in Istanbul. I found something similar at duty free, so I paid too much for them, but I did need coasters and also didn't find anything like this that I wanted on the online Chinese shops. So I feel ok with my overpriced purchases.

All in all, my 4 hours here were a pleasure. Other than the shopping and eating, I caught up on saved articles on Facebook and listened to music. I've actually gotten through a lot more music today, and while I stand behind my recommendation from yesterday, if I had kept listening last night for about 2 more songs I would have found a song I think was great. But on the bright side, now I have this great song to share with you today. The song is Anxious in Venice, the opening track off of Superhumanoids album Do You Feel OK?, which came out last month. I know I've heard these guys before. They have another album, Exhibitionists, but the cover art doesn't look familiar. But I'm 100% sure I've heard something by them. Maybe an earlier EP or something, I can't remember. But I must not have been that into it if I can't remember at all. This time, if Anxious in Venice is any indication, I just might be. I still have to listen to the full album, but hopefully it's this good, too.

Oct 5 - Boogarins

The Georgia trip is pretty much over. Rei actually already left tonight, and I'm flying out tomorrow morning at 11:20. Veronica had to work today, but we did manage to spend most of the day hanging out with Marc, at least, and we visited Veronica for lunch.

Unfortunately we had pretty shitty weather for our last day, but Marc still took us to a couple of viewpoints today. Our first stop this morning was at this Stonehenge type place on top of a mountain on the outskirts of Tbilisi. I say it's Stonehenge-like purely because of the shape, but it's actually a pretty new construction that was purposefully put on top of this hill to become a place people would visit. It's large metal pillars, and they're covered with carvings that we guess are showing bible stories or people that were famous in Georgian Orthodoxy. Actually we're not 100% sure, all we know is it's super Christian and there's also a church. But it is also quite impressive and has some nice views of the city and the Tbilisi Sea, which is the local reservoir.

We also stopped at the US Embassy to have lunch with Veronica. It was actually my first time properly inside a US Embassy. I've been into consular sections or US Citizen Services before, but this time we went into the offices and got a tour and everything. It's pretty impressive. The scale is, anyway. I actually did not expect Georgia to have such a large mission, but it's massive. Otherwise it's just like a secure office that is somehow reminiscent of a hospital. What is also impressive is the amount of services and stuff they provide to embassy staff. They have a salon, a doctor, a commissary, a gym, a playground... all kinds of stuff all on campus just to make your life easier. Apparently this isn't the standard at all embassies, Marc and Veronica say Hanoi (their last placement) was not this good, didn't even have a cafeteria, but I was pretty impressed by the safety net they set up.

Other than that, we did a bit of souvenir shopping while wandering around old town again. Tbilisi is a very cute city. The old town isn't large, but it's really nice. In fact, the city isn't that large. It's really long, spread along the river valley, but it's not sprawling or anything. It really does feel small. And very European. More Eastern European I'd say, after all it is a former Soviet Bloc state (or if you ask the Russians, still part of Russia). There are things about it that remind me of lots of totally unrelated places, like Slovenia or Nepal, but it's also a very unique city. You don't need much time to explore and get a feel for it, we really only had 2 days actually in the city and exploring the city, but I think I got a pretty good feel for it. While I do think it feels pretty first-world and European, there are definitely elements of the Wild West to it, like the traffic and apparently the healthcare facilities, but it seems like a place I could live comfortably if I had to (though I'd probably be a bit bored). All in all, I'd say my take away from Georgia is that it's a very nice country, but not overly exciting. I may try to come and visit again since Marc and Veronica are 1 year into a 4 year mission and I want to see them, but I'm pretty happy with what I came and did and saw. Maybe next time will be a visit to Tbilisi with a side trip to Armenia or Azerbaijan or something. Or maybe Israel, it's been years since I was there.

While not having listened to too much new music this week, I did actually manage to listen to some new tracks and pick out a few interesting artists. The problem is, most of them had a track that caught my attention and so I put them into a playlist I have on Spotify of artists I want to hear more of, but I have not yet identified whether or not I like the artist, or whether or not they have a song worth sharing. But in the interest of sharing new music, today's song will be one of the better ones I found: Avalanche by Boogarins. It's the only song I've heard by these guys, but it's interesting and Brazilian and fun, which hopefully the rest of their music is, too.

Oct 4 - Saintseneca

We took another day trip out of Tbilisi today, this time adults only. Marc and Veronica got their nanny to come over for the day so we could head to the Kakheti region and hit up a winery. Kakheti is Georgia's main wine growing region and where most of the wine comes from. And as we learned today, there's like 45 varietals of grapes here that only exist here or something.

So we drove out to this town called Sighnaghi, which is a cute little town on top of a hill, with kind of ridiculous views down into the valley. And it looks pretty good sitting on it's little hill in the middle of the valley as well. Like Mtskheta yesterday (and unlike most of the rest of the country), it's been really well preserved. There isn't really much to do or see there, but it's a cute little town to walk around and it's full of wineries. The one we chose was called Pheasant's Tears. We weren't actually able to go to the vineyard, but they have a restaurant in a 300 year old house in town, which they've turned into this idyllic little garden with great food and wine. Without the kids around, we were able to have a nice, long, slow lunch together, a few glasses of wine, and even a bit of chacha before heading home (chacha being the local spirit, made from grapes and similar to grappa. It's not great, but I guess it's a cultural experience). Then we got home and just chilled. It was our last full day with Marc and Veronica, as V has to go back to work tomorrow, Rei leaves tomorrow night, and I'm out of here on Tuesday morning. But we're gonna make the most of tomorrow as well.

Good news in music this week as well. I finally remembered to go on iTunes and buy the new Youth Lagoon album (still haven't listened, though. Maybe a song will be coming soon), and of course when I go on iTunes I have to look at all kinds of stuff and usually end up buying even more stuff. But in this case, I found out that Kacy Hill is actually releasing an EP! It's called Bloo. Obviously I bought it immediately and got a download of Foreign Fields. Now I just have to wait until Friday for it to come out and get a couple new tracks (and a couple remixes). But also if you Google her, you can find sites to get a free download of Experience, her last single, which will not be on Bloo. Very exciting stuff.

But we're not here to talk about Kacy. We're here to talk about Saintseneca, who also have a new album, Such Things, coming out on Friday. Obviously I haven't heard it yet, but I'm excited for it. Their last album, Dark Arc, was a great one. Almost made my Top 10 in 2014. If you're a fan of The Decemberists, you'll like these guys. Here's Sleeper Hold, one of the singles off of Such Things, and probably my favorite track off of it so far.

Oct 3 - Sexwitch

Today was actually a long and tiring day, unlike yesterday. We were up and out quite early to go see a few places just outside Tbilisi. This time with little children in tow.

We started by heading over to Mtskheta (the M is silent. And there's a ch like challah in there. I wanted to tell you how to pronounce it but I can't even figure out how to write those sounds) to check out a few famous sites. First was Jvari Church, this very important church way up on a mountain that's visible for miles. It was built at the end of the 6th century by this lady Nino. She's very important here. She was the first convert to Christianity in Georgia when the Syrians took the place over way back in the day, then she spread the good word and was murdered. But this was one of her first churches so people love it. And being up high on the mountain it's also got great views of Mtskheta and the entire valley around it.

After the church we headed down into Mskheta to visit this farmers' market we heard about, which actually turned out to be pretty disappointing. But Mtskheta is super cute and actually maintained really nicely, unlike most Georgian towns. Most towns here are kind of falling apart and full of abandoned buildings, but Mtskheta is a UNESCO site so I guess they've got higher standards. The traditional houses in old town are really cute and well maintained, and they have another very important church, the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, which is probably the most impressive church I've seen in Georgia. No hidden Jesus in this one, though. Or in Jvari, actually.

Our next stop was Uplistsikhe, another ancient cave town sort of like Vardzia, but also not. And it was 3000 years old, which is pretty impressive. It's this whole cave city up on a hill with a huge church, which is also apparently very important. And also has no hidden Jesus. But it must be important because everyone was kissing the walls and relics as they were walking in and out and all around the church. It was pretty fun being there with Milo, Marc and Veronica's 3 year old. We climbed a lot, which is always good. And he liked to sit in these holes that we don't know what they're actually for but they're perfect size for Milo to climb in and out of and play in.

By the time we left it was like 2 and the plan was to eat on the way home, but then we almost ran out of gas so that became our priority. Then we were almost home so we just came home and got something to eat nearby. Which was fine, except that we were all getting hangry, so post-lunch energy lull turned into all of us sitting around on the couch not doing anything for a while. But then we did some souvenir shopping and I got myself an awesome set of Georgian drinking horns, which are super amazing and I can't wait to drink out of them tonight.

No music was listened to today, but I'm picking SEXWITCH again. The EP actually came out and it's amazing, so you get one of my favorites, which is Kassidat El Hakka (the other favorite, by the way, is Ha Howa Ha Howa)

Oct 2 - Nicki Minaj

We drove back to Tbilisi today. That took pretty much the whole day actually. We left at 9, arrived at 5, then I taught Milo how to use a selfie stick and we had a photo shoot, then we had Shabbos dinner, then we chatted a lot, and that was the day. No sightseeing or anything super exciting, but it's great to be back in Tbilisi with Marc and Veronica.

As I've mentioned, Rei has been DJ during all of these drives. Well today we listened to her music. And I told let her pick another song of the day. Yesterday she picked a song which was from my iPod and pre-approved by me. Today she got to pick anything she wanted. So she chose Truffle Butter. This is a song by Nicki Minaj featuring Drake and Lil' Wayne. It is based on the sex act of the same name, which I learned today is a thing. A very unsanitary thing which I want nothing to do with. But I think it's hilarious that this song about this act exists. If you want to know what it is, click here. But you might not want to know. It can't be unlearned. I have a theory that these three friends were in the studio together and one of them was like "hey guys, I just learned about this gross thing called truffle butter" and they all thought it was hilarious and would be a ridiculous premise for a song so they decided to make a comedic song which they then felt had real artistic value and therefore put proper effort into thus creating the single Truffle Butter. I really hope they did not make this video because they enjoy the act of truffle buttering others. But I tip my hat to Rei for an excellent song choice, especially considering the depths of her global pop music collection and what we potentially could have ended up with.

Oct 1 - Boyz II Men

Today was simultaneously our most active and most lazy day. Being in Mestia, pretty much all there is to do is hike. But then it rained for most of the day, and we did not come prepared for rain. But we did come prepared with smartphones that can tell us the exact chance of rain every hour of the day. So we got an early start and got a hike in before the rain began.

Luckily we also have the car, so we saved some time by driving out of town to the trailhead, otherwise we would have had an additional 3 hours or so of walking to do, which would not have been scenic walking. So we drove out of town, parked the car in the middle of nowhere, and started walking. We were hiking along the Mestiachala River Valley, with the endpoint of our hike being the Chalaadi Glacier (which we didn't make it to and knew we wouldn't given our pre-rain time constraint). It was a gorgeous walk through the valley with mountains covered in trees of every color as autumn begins, and the river rushing down from the glacier beside us. Not shabby at all. We decided that the bare minimum we had to do before the rain was see the river, cross a suspension bridge, and get a view of the glacier, and we managed all of these things, plus made it back to the car just in time before the rain started. So we were very successful at accomplishing our bare minimum today. And all before 12:30!

After that, it was back to town for lunch and a movie marathon. After lunch we literally laid in bed for 5 hours watching movies until we went to dinner. It was great. It was like the perfect Sunday on a Thursday. We watched Pixels, which was actually quite good despite the reviews, and The Big Lebowski because it's a classic and there's a bowling alley in Tbilisi called Lebwoski (no joke, this place totally exists, google it) which I really hope we get to go to when we're back in Tbilisi. Then dinner. At the same place we had dinner last night and lunch today - Café Laila. It's one of about 2 restaurants in town, and it's really good. We did try to go to the other restaurant for dinner tonight, but after waiting 15 minutes for them to come and take our order, they told us they couldn't take any orders because they were too busy and we'd have to wait at least 45 minutes for food. So we went back to Laila, which was fine cause they have this awesome cheesey mashed potato dish that is apparently a Svaneti specialty and better than any other cheesy mashed potatoes you've ever had. Look it up, it's called tashmujabi. So good.

Today is another nostalgic music day. Last time was because Rei made me nostalgic. This time is because I let Rei pick any song from my iPod that she wanted, and that would be the song of the day. So today it's Water Runs Dry by Boyz II Men. Total classic. Those guys are the best. I saw them live once. Amazing. My friend who I went with cried on like six separate occasions during the show. Anyway, enjoy Rei's pick for the day, endorsed by me.