Pseudo-Something

Snippet from a great article featuring Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes—saw them perform during the Railroad Revival Tour, and this captures their vibe quite well.

“From Zeros to heroes… the rise and rise of a superband”
The Independent, 28 August 2011

I had a South African teacher at school, a sort of hippie who played the acoustic guitar while us five-year-old kids would sing along, playing our tambourines and recorders in unison,” explains Ebert. “It was just this deep sort of atmosphere, you know, of not taking it too seriously, but feeling a sense of community while playing the music. That’s partly where this all comes from – I’m acting like a five-year-old and it’s impossible to bullshit at that age.

Happening across quotes that so perfectly apply to the current situation.

Don’t waste your time complaining about what brings you down. Instead, get yourself away from it in whatever way you can. If you’re in a negative pattern, break the pattern by establishing a new, more meaningful, positive and empowering one. Doing what you’ve always done will continue to get you what you’ve always gotten, and to get a change you must make a change. Reach inside and reacquaint yourself with what you truly care about. Your authentic purpose is far more important than keeping up old habits or superficial appearances. This is your life and this is your opportunity to do something positive about it. You are far more powerful than you’ve allowed yourself to be. Decide to use that power in the service of what is most important to you. Though a change of focus will initially be frightening and uncomfortable, you will soon feel you’re right where you belong. The beautiful possibilities are calling. Now is your moment to focus your life upon, and to allow, what really matters.
–Ralph Marston

Lying liars who tell lies.

“Write when the book sucks and it isn’t going anywhere. Just keep writing. It doesn’t suck. Your conscious is having a panic attack because it doesn’t believe your subconscious knows what it’s doing.” —Cory Doctorow

“And when at last you find someone to whom you feel you can pour out your soul, you stop in shock at the words you utter—they are so rusty, so ugly, so meaningless and feeble from being kept in the small cramped dark inside you so long.” —Sylvia Plath

The rare times I open up to people, pulling out thoughts and memories so carefully tucked beneath the day-to-day, have a hard time handling the rawness that follows.

People underestimated the speed of thought. It was possible to cover just about every major incident of a lifetime during the average bar band’s set. —Juliet, Naked

Stepping outside of an old cozy lodge to take in late night surroundings… spring budded trees, a lonely gazebo, moon and stars clear as could be, silhouetted mountains, and the sound of a rushing river while deep breathing some of the cleanest air in America.

Wrote this November 27th last year… endlessly applicable.

No idea how to explain what is going on in my head right now. Today. Lately. Ever.

Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they are doing. Do things without always knowing how they’ll turn out. You’re curious and smart and bored, and all you see is the choice between working hard and slacking off. There are so many adventures that you miss because you’re waiting to think of a plan. To find them, look for tiny interesting choices. And remember that you are always making up the future as you go.
—Randall Munroe