Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Blast From the Past - And Inaccurate

Amanda's Friendster Profile

Female, 33, In a Relationship, Great Britain (UK)More
My Friends (11)

Member Since:Oct 2003
Hometown:Bolton, Ontario
Other education:Queen's University, Classical Studies, 2001
What I enjoy doing:hiking, travelling, film and book addiction
Favorite Books:the No1 Ladies Detective Agency, Ian Rankin novels, Oryx and Crake, Manufacturing Consent
Favorite Movies:baraka, whale rider, the first two godfathers, anything with audrey hepburn, documentaries, buffallo soldiers, the diner
Favorite Music:radiohead, ani difranco, mull historical society, idelwild, the flaming lips, rem, u2, sleater kinney
Favorite TV Shows:haven't watched tv since i lived in scotland and probably won't own a tv in the next year
About Me: well, i'm sort of randomly wandering around at the moment, just back in Edinburgh, Scotland and from living in Vancouver and Korea. I have finally broken the horrible trend of working in banks.

Monday, April 18, 2011

A Warmer Spring Evening, Please!

Coop and I got quite wet running tonight. It's chilly out there.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Running Songs

Nickelback: Animals
Metric: Gold guns girls
Foreigner: Soul Doctor
Silverchair: Anthem for the year 2000
Bloodhound Gang
Mary J Blige: Family Affair
Eminem

The King of Bedside Manor - Barenaked Ladies
Pump It - Black Eyed Peas
Me Against the Music - Britney Spears
Add It up - Violent Femmes

Just Can’t Get Enough – Black Eyed Peas
Up n’ Down – Britney Spears
Right Hand Hi – Kid Sister
Get Outta My Way – Kylie Minogue
Til the World Ends – Britney Spears
Backseat – New Boyz
Rolling in the Deep – Adele
More – Usher
Hey Baby – Pitbull
Yeah 3X – Chris Brown
Please Don’t Go – Mike Posner
Letting Go – Sean Kingston
Push Push – Kat DeLuna
You Used to Hold Me – Calvin Harris
Dirty Talk – Wynter Gordon
New in Town – Little Boots
Club Can’t Handle Me – Flo Rida
Flashback – Calvin Harris
Ridin’ Solo – Jason Derulo
Freeze – T-Pain
Calabria – Enur
Super Bass – Nicki Minaj

Sing, Sing, Sing - by Benny Goodman
Gorillaz: Dare
natasha beningfield, "unwritten"
"hip hop" by mos def
"sick" by the sneaker pimps
"survive" by hybrid
"fall into you" by soulstice
"passing me by" by the pharcyde
You Spin Me Round - Dead or Alive (Princess Julia Mix '03 is great)
Things Can Only Get Better - Dream
Don't Bring Me Down - ELO (more like 110 bpm)
It's My Life - Dr Alban
Life Is A Highway - Tom Cochrane
Lips Like Sugar - Echo & The Bunnymen
Right Here, Right Now - Fatboy Slim
"All these things that I've done" - the Killers
"Holiday" - Greenday
"Southside" - Moby
"Wild Wild Life" - Peter Gabriel
"Beat City" - the Raveonettes
"Such Great Heights" - the Postal Service
and, of course, "Born to Run" - Bruce Springsteen

-"Blue" by Elastica
-"Stutter" by Elastica
-"Kamikaze" by PJ Harvey
-"Cannonball" by the Breeders
-"Denial Twist" by the White Stripes

"Girls" - Beastie Boys
"Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See" - Busta
"Shake That" - Eminem
"In the Morning" - Junior Boys
"Sexyback" - Justin Timberlake
"Fantasy" - Ludacris
"Loose Control" - Missy Elliot
"Closer" - NIN
"Frontin'" - Pharrell
"Ain't Nothing Wrong With That" - Robert Randolph and the Family Bad
"The Way I Are' - Timbaland
"Where'd You Get Your Body From" - Will.i.am

M.I.A. - Bamboo Banga ("Road runner, road runner, going hundred miles per hour!"), Boyz, BirdFlu, 20 Dollar
Metric - Dead Disco, IOU
The Bravery - An Honest Mistake
Stone Roses - Fools Gold
New Order - True Faith
The Cure - Fascination Street
U2 - Lady with the Spinning Head, Fast Cars, Hawkmoon 269, Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car
George Michael - Freedom
Keane - Crystal Ball
Beyonce - In Da Club *blush*

The Who - join together
bush = machine head
Coldplay - clocks
eminem - dont know name of his songs but the one from the really bad movie hes in
r.l. burnside - its bad you know
pink floyd - run like hell
black eyed peas - hey mama
simon and garfunkel - cecilia, me and julio down by the school yard
johnny cash's but performed by dave mattews - long black veil
Potential Breakup Song- Aly and Aj
Crazy in Love- Beyonce and Jay-Z
Head over Heels- Boys Like GIrls
The City is at War- Cobra Starship
Guilty Pleasure- Cobra Starshit
Dance, Dance,- Fall out Boy
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth is- JET
Stronger- Kanye West
In Da Club (Dirty) - 50 Cent
Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes
Don't Do Me Like That - Tom Petty
Ooh - Scissor Sisters
I Don't Feel Like Dancing - Scissor Sisters
SOS (Rescue Me) - Rihanna
Float On - Modest Mouse
Dead Disco - Metric
Mondo 77 - Looper
Outta My Head - Kylie Minogue
Uncle Jonny - The Killers
The Ballad Of Michael Valentine - The Killers
Andy, You're A Star - The Killers
Jenny - The Killers
The Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani
It's My Life - Gwen Stefani
I Don't Wanna Be In Love (Dance Floor Anthem) - Good Charlotte
Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
Chelsea Dagger - The Fratellis
Under Pressure - David Bowie
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk
Tango shoes - Bif Naked

Einstein on the Beach - Counting Crows
Rain King - Counting Crows
Like a Prayer - Madonna
All These Things That I Have Done - The Killers
Mr. Brightside - The Killers
Caroline - David Gray
Under Pressure - David Bowie
Most of Matt Nathanson's fast songs
Send Me On My Way - Rusted Root
I'm Not Running Anymore - John Mellencamp

The Script - Rusty Halo
Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby
Lost Prophets - Everybody's Screaming
Paramore - Miracle
Kevin Rudolf - Let it rock

Long Train Runnin' - The Doobie Brothers
It Keeps You Runnin' - The Doobie Brothers
Running Down a Dream - Tom Petty
Running on Empty - Jackson Browne
Who Will You Run To - Heart
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
Band On the Run - Paul McCartney
Take It On The Run - REO Speedwagon
Take the Money and Run - Steve Miller Band
We Run This - Missy Elliott
Run to the Hills - Iron Maiden
On the Run - Pink Floyd
We Run - Sugarland
I Run for Life - Melissa Etheridge
Run Rudolph Run - Chuck Berry
Run to You - Bryan Adams
The Long Run - Eagles
Fox On The Run - Sweet
Ready To Run - Dixie Chicks
Run-Around - Blues Traveler
Run Don't Walk - Hey Monday
Young Hearts Run Free - Kym Mazelle
You Better Run - Pat Benatar
We Could Run Away - Needtobreathe
I Ran (So Far Away) - A Flock of Seagulls
Running On Sunshine - Jesus Jackson
Time is Running Out - Papa Roach
When The World Is Running Down - Police
Runaway - Bon Jovi
Runaway - Del Shannon
Runaway - Jamiroquai
Runaway - Janet Jackson
Runaway Train - Soul Asylum
2000 Miles - The Pretenders
Road To Nowhere - Talking Heads
Run Through The Jungle - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Walk This Way - Run-DMC
I Walk the Line - Johnny Cash
Don't Walk Away - Miley Cyrus
Walk Like an Egyptian - The Bangles
Walk Like a Man - Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
Walk Away - Kelly Clarkson
Walk On - U2
Go Walking Down There - Chris Isaak
Bright Side of the Road, Van Morrison
On the Road Again - Willie Nelson
Middle of the Road - The Pretenders
Steppin' Out - Joe Jackso

'Back to Black'Amy Winehouse (2006)

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Monday, April 04, 2011

There Is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Greene

When I was young, I thought people died of Ethiopia. I thought it was a disease, rather than a place. Since then, I'm ashamed to say, my knowledge hasn't grown too far beyond being able to find it on a map. This book has changed that. It taught me about Ethiopian history, as well as a great deal about the history of HIV/AIDS and ARVs.

There Is No Me Without You will break your heart into pieces. The end of the book, with a small number of orphans beginning ARV treatments and the lives of others in America with their adoptive parents described, will begin to put it back together, but nothing but hearing that since its publication the world had finally responded to the AIDS crisis in Africa would fix it entirely and we all know that not to be the case.

A quote in the book, about Haregewoin's visit to NYC reminded me why I travel: "Buildings full of the glowing windows marched one after another all the way to the horizon. Each building was like a lantern, radiating firelight through numberless openings. She understood: America has electricity in abundance. The only thing Ethiopia has in such abundance is dirt." I travel to understand the world, to escape the all too human tendency to assume that my experience is universal. To learn. To appreciate.

There Is No Me Without You opens with a scene that brought me right back to Kpalime, Togo, when Ortencia and I sat with her foster family, eating chocolate in the dark during a rainstorm: "On a dim, clattering afternoon in the rainy season, I sat in a crowded living room in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, stupefied by water. The rain drumming the tin roofs of the hillside district was deafening, as if neighbors on rooftops banged with kettles and sticks. The mud yard boiled and popped in the downpour."

If only we all reacted to the sorrows of our own lives by reaching out to others. The world would be a far better place. "It hurt most of all to see how blessed were all other mothers. They kept their daughters in life, while to her eternal shame she had failed hers at the only thing that mattered."