The human-speaking world has caught up with the earth (which did this trick a couple of weeks ago*) and proclaimed it a fresh new year. Excellent. I spent my vacation time hanging with friends and family in my frozen northern homeland, which obliged by providing plenty of that frozen white stuff for set dressing.

I have to say, I had a great time.

A friend of mine freshly returned from doing human rights work in Indonesia told me how an Indonesian acquaintance of hers hadn’t realized that snow was made of water. Sure is. Speaking of lots of water and Indonesia… if you have somehow missed it, here is the link for donating to the Canadian Red Cross. Right now they need your money more than you do, I promise.

On an immensely lighter note, the track listing for the new years 2005 mix I made for some freinds:

disc 1: heavily populated deserts

1 – Johnny Appleseed – Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros
2 – Astounded – Bran Van 3000
3 – plea from a cat named virtue – The Weakerthans
4 – I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar – Jonathan Richman
5 – Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues – Eels
6 – I Love the Unknown – Clem Snide
7 – Frontier Psychiatrist – Avalanches
8 – Flite – Cinematic Orchestra
9 – Bridges – Utah Philips & Ani Difranco
10 – Sink With California – Youth Brigade
11 – Your Revolution… – Sarah Jones & D.J. Vadim
12 – give paris one more chance – Jonathan Richman
13 – Christmas in Washington – Steve Earle
14 – We shall overcome – Gustav

disc 2: lonely old forests

1 – Mushaboom demo – Leslie Feist
2 – Neighborhood #2 (Laika) – Arcade Fire
3 – Km 19 (Ootsa Lake) – Archie Pateman with the Boot Screefers
4 – st elmo’s fire – Brian Eno
5 – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt.1 – The Flaming Lips
6 – The Dead Flag Blues (lonely edit) – Godspeed You Black Emperor!
7 – Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles) – Arcade Fire
8 – Mondo Bongo – Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros
9 – Lonely Financial Zone – Jonathan Richman
10 – Bhindi Bhagee – Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros
11 – Speed – Bran Van 3000
12 – long shadow – joe strummer & the mescaleros
13 – The Poet Game – Ani Difranco (Greg Brown_
14 – Shooting Star – Bob Dylan
15 – Night Drive – Garnet Rogers
16 – Red Right Ankle – Decemberists
17 – Come On Up To The House – Tom Waits

– my adult friends enjoying winter in a sober reserved manner

*turns out I was totally wrong about the earth being furthest from the sun on the solstice, which if I had thought about it is pretty obvious – it’s summer in the southern hemisphere at the same time that it’s winter up here, so how could the sun’s distance be the issue? incidentally, it happens that the earth is closest to the sun in early January.