When Winter Break Gets Too Long...

Favorite pump-up song: 1) "Bombs over Baghdad" - Outkast 2) "Seven Years" - Saosin

Favorite exercise song: 1)"She's Hearing Voices" - Bloc Party 2)"Like Eating Glass" - Bloc Party
Favorite late-night drive song: "Chicago(acoustic)" - Sufjan Stevens

Favorite new discovery: "Out Dragging the River" - Mason Proper

Bands that can do no evil (aka anything they produce will be amazing): The Shins, Sufjan Stevens, Jeff Buckley, Counting Crows, Guster, Jack Johnson, Josh Rouse

Favorite 8am apartment dance song: "I'm Good. I'm Gone" - Lykke Li

Favorite in love song: "The Luckiest"-Ben Folds/"Question"-Old 97's

Favorite broken hearted song: "Hallelujah" - Jeff Buckley

Favorite nostalgic song: "We're Still Fighting It" - Ben Folds

Favorite "guilty pleasure" band (you wont claim it in public, but you are in love with them): Something Corporate/Jack's Mannequin

Favorite classical piece: "Nocturne In F-Sharp Op. 15, No 2" - Chopin

Favorite band from the 60's: Jimi Hendrix, but Simon & Garfunkel is a close second

70's: Zeppelin

80's: Can I squeeze "Pixies" in here? they were kind of borderline 90's..I guess the same goes for "The Cure." But that's my answer. and Michael Jackson.

90's: Weezer/Jeff Buckley/Counting Crows - take your pick.

2000's: Shins/Jack Johnson

Favorite "who needs love anyway?" song: "Semi-Charmed Life" and "Motorcycle Drive By" - Third Eye Blind (dont ask me why!)

Favorite contemplative song: "Casimir Pulaski Day" - Sufjan Stevens

Favorite foriegn band/singer(non-english speaking): Laura Pausini

Best guitar solo: "One Big Holiday" - My Morning Jacket

Best gangsta' beat: 1)"Through the Wire" -Kanye West 2)"Action Figures" -Cool Kids 3)"Dont Feel Right" -the Roots

Best voice in(or that WAS in) the business: Jeff Buckley

Best lyrics: The Shins

Favorite song about....

California: "Winding Road" - Bonnie Somerville (there are a billion songs about california, and I dont like most of them...this one mentions it and it's an incredible song!)
Utah: 1)"The Great Salt Lake" -Band of Horses 2)"Friend of the Devil" -Counting Crows

Europe: "Holiday in Spain" - Counting Crows

Italy: "Postcards from Italy" - Beirut

Asia:"El Scorcho" - Weezer (that's terrible, I know!)

Blue: I'll put "Dark Blue" by Jack's Mannequin until I find something better

Yellow: 1)"Yellow" - Coldplay 2)"Big Yellow Taxi" - Counting Crows

Green: "Green Eyes" -Coldplay

Trains: "Rise" -Josh Rouse

Airplanes: "Landed" - Ben Folds

Pirates: "The Hook" -Stephen Malkmus

Friday: "Friday I'm in Love" -The Cure

Unrealized love: 1)"Casimir Pulaski Day"-Sufjan Stevens 2)"Fake Plastic Trees"-Radiohead

mmmm 6 more days...

Christmas

Alright...you got it! The Christmas post is finally here! I wish I knew how to upload my favorite Christmas songs on here, but, sadly, I'm still quite "blogger ignorant." I can still write about my favorite Christmas songs though right? Alright, lately I cant get enough of Amy Grant. Her Christmas music, to me, embodies all that is good about Christmas. It is perfect for a night drive to see Christmas lights, it's perfect for a warm fire and a cup of hot chocolate. It's perfect. Not only does she sing all the best songs, but I love a soloist voice. Especially her's. I'm a big sucker for Sufjan Stevens' Christmas cd as well...it's just so innocent and charming...how could you not love it?

This Christmas for me is definitely an interesting one, as it is my FIRST American Christmas since 2005! My last two Christmases have been in Italy, where traditions are different, but the gap is definitely getting smaller. My best memories of Italian Christmases were eating "Pandoro" Christmas cakes (I'm still not a big fan of Panetone), seeing all the festive Christmas lights in downtown, and going to midnight mass (even though I'm not Catholic). Even though I was so far from home, and we didn't have a Christmas tree or money for gifts, these were some of my favorite Christmas experiences. It was so simple...and I think that was what made it so beautiful. Now that I'm home...the Christmas tree is back and "black friday" now has a name for its outrageousness. I'm so excited, though, for the opportunity to serve. Ok, so I haven't done an abundant amount of service so far, but I really want to. The last two years, giving myself to service and thinking of others instead of myself, I really realized how amazing it really is. Christmas gifts get old, out of fashion, break and tear...but the impact you have on someone else is something that lasts. For me, the only way I've been able to recapture the joy and exuberation I felt as a kid and waking up to see presents surrounding our Christmas tree, is through service. The feeling you get by helping someone else, by bringing light and hope into their life, supercedes any possible gift santa could manage to stick through the chimney. And in the end, I'm sure that's how Christ would want us to remember His birth anyway.

-Roscoe

Comforter

Lately I've been noticing the importance of the Holy Ghost in my life. This, the third member of the Godhead, is known also as "the comforter" and "the spirit." It's role is many: it comforts, guides, testifies of truth, and answers our prayers. Many people have felt the Spirit in their lives. After reading an especially touching account of Christlike service and love, I often feel warm, overwhelmed, teary-eyed. These senstations are from the Holy Ghost, telling us that such things are good. A great blessing of being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is that after baptism we recieve "the gift of the holy ghost." Simply put, After we promise to live as Christ did and be His disciples (baptism), He promises to bless us with the Holy Ghost, that leads and guides us in our lives and helps us make choices that will bring happiness.

Follow Me.

In the intensely individualistic society in which we live, people are generally looked down upon if they fall into the category of follower instead of leader. American culture is void of the sense of family and camaraderie found in other nations such as those in South America and in Asia. Reflecting on that, I find all the more significant the call of the Savior to follow Him. After imploring of Simon Peter three times "Lovest thou me?" and finally eliciting the humble response "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee," he commanded Peter saying "Follow me."

Many Americans unreasonably feel they have been blessed through education with a heightened sense of moral justness, with an increased capacity to see past perceived prejudices, and with a greater ability to love.

Many Americans consider themselves an authority an all things political, familial, religious and social.

Many Americans shun the call of the Savior and distort and ignore His teachings to favor their own pride, swollen incredibly out of proportion.

But there is another way. A way that brings ultimate peace and clarity to a world whose borders have been hastily blurred by the cheap, brittle eraser of falsehood that masquerades as such virtues as love and liberty.

He knocks, and we have but to open the door, and follow Him.