Spent America’s birthday sleeping in and eating out. Was going to buy some sparklers but didn’t feel like rolling down to the craft shop and getting them. Did an extra-long, night-time bike ride. There were still kids out at the park at 11:00 pm! Listened to Heartless Bastards.

Have discovered new wondrous delight that will eat all my money. Men call it screen golf.

Just finished the first season of True Blood. I’m really liking it. It’s got palpable Anne Rice roots, especially the creepily erotic southern gothic tone. I was also never irritated by the love story, which was strange. In most love stories, I want to stab both of the characters in the eyes. Nobody knows how to write a good love story anymore. So they just write two whiny characters who bitch at each other over nothing. But I actually like the female and male leads in this show and want them to be happy together.

Altered a new shirt. Originally it was baggy; now it’s tight around the waist and baggy around the back and sleeves. Came out pretty good. Next time I will do before and after pics.

Started playing Dead Space. Liking it so far. Playing it on the laptop, though, so graphics are crappy. And it seems you can’t change the video card on a Dell. Rats.

It’s a pretty scary game, but I’m a pretty hard to scare person. In some ways. In other ways, I’m a total wuss. I don’t usually get scared by things I see. “Jump” moments in horror movies don’t affect me much. But I can be seriously, inexplicably terrified by things I hear. One good example is Ligeti’s Requiem. You probably know it from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Ligeti’s whole family, except for his mom, was murdered in the Holocaust, and Ligeti’s emotional response to the Holocaust was one of the inspirations for this music. Freaks me the hell out. I have trouble sleeping after I’ve listened to it (I mean, I have trouble sleeping most nights, anyway; I get insomnia, but still.) 2001: A Space Odyssey is a very scary movie for me, and it’s not even supposed to be scary.  I’m not even sure what I’m scared of exactly. Just a formless dread.

I’ve written a number of songs, and for some reason, they all seem to be love songs. Love is easy to write about; it’s straightforward, emotional, and universal. But since I want to improve my skills as a songwriter, I’ve been looking for new subject matter that’s more specific and personal, yet has widespread appeal.

The best way to get emotion across in a song is to describe specific sensory details. And that’s a struggle. A great writer can describe coffee steam and dirty doorsteps and half-eaten sandwiches in a way that paints a complex emotional landscape. I have trouble with that.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Imani Coppola lately. Check out her smash hit, The Stoop:

It’s a list of mundane, real-life details. There’ are two abstract, philosophical statements in the whole thing:

• “It is what it is. It ain’t all hard up in the hood.”
• “It’s all good. Cuz I love my hood.”

Pretty simple ideas. Not especially profound. But it’s the mundane, real-life details that make the song work.