The View From the Afternoon

For the first time in three weeks, I'm spending the weekend in Morelia. The plan was for Paulina to come visit me, but her friend Javier couldn't make it, which prevented her from coming for reasons that still elude me. Either way, the downtime has allowed me to think about my experiences thus far. I'm certainly more adjust to the Mexican way of life, and I've learned to accept the good parts of this country (the savory food, sense of community, etc) with the bad (widespread corruption, suffocating Catholicism, etc), which has made much happier in the long run.

I've also learned to get along with most of my classmates, though Phoebe-From-Friends Girl is still pretty obnoxious (she though Angelo was me until three days ago). In fact, I may have spent *too* much time with my American buddies, because I need to practice my Spanish more. Luckily I'm going to a picnic/volleyball game too meet the entire family of my host mom, Rosalinda (who was the oldest of 11 children, by the way). I had wanted a trial by fire for my ailing Spanish skills, and I guess this is it. Mexican family parties are great because: a) everyone is invited, b) everyone brings food c) everyone brings liquor.



Since I've been doing it for about a month now, I've also had time to think about my experience blogging, which has been a big part of my enjoying my time abroad. I've started to suspect myself of subconsciously ripping off the writing style of whatever author I happen to be reading: up until a week ago it was Vladamir Nobokov's Lolita and since then Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, so I'm probably just flattering myself. I've also had time to reflect on what it is I like about blogging in general, as I've recently started reading some blogs other than my own, most of them relating to music. I thought I would share some of my favorite ones to read:

Fluxblog is music blog featuring Matthew Perpetua, a former NPR employee and a contributor to Spin magazine as well as countless blogs. But it's obvious from reading Fluxblog that he's just a really enthusiastic music fan. Everyday he writes about one or two new artists, covering everything from esoteric indie rock and hardcore rap to commercial pop and r&B, and he approaches all of it with the same level of dignity and curiosity for what makes the tracks work. He also makes every song available for free download, which is great for a music fan who can't find anything in Mexican record shops but Hoobestank and the Jonas Brothers.



The Deerhunter Music Blog is another great one: it's essentially a stream-of-consciousness look into the fragile, neurotic, endearing psyche of Bradford Cox.

The frontman and principal songwriter of Atlanta's psychedelia punks (and my favorite modern band) Deerhunter, and his laptop pop side project, Atlas Sound, Cox is also my generation's most earnest embodiment of young male angst. He has a rare form of dwarfism that makes him appear deathly anorexic, which he compounds by performing in drag. He is openly gay. He has revealed his unrequested love for his best friend/songwriting partner/Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt. And for a year he has posted all of this on his blog, along with more great, forward-thinking rock music than most bands ever come up with (Atlas Sound began as a pseudonym for his home recordings). Cox has made his outsized personality inseparable from his music, which fixates on bodily decay, sexual perversion, romantic tragedy and proscription drug addiction. But what makes Cox so compelling is that, beneath his music's layers of guitar drone, digital ambience and found sound, there's a fully-formed and sympathetic personality. Above you can watch him and Deerhunter play two thoroughly awesome new songs from their forthcoming album "Microcastle."