if i could hold this moment in my hands i'd stop the world from moving, i'd stop the clocks from turning

Today's weather has been absolutely abysmal! Do you like the constant weather update? Good because it'll probably keep happening. On the television right now is Cupcake Wars, which I have attempted to watch before but always got distracted away. Hopefully this time will go better. There is a massive thunderstorm outside with lightning all over the place. But really, it's okay because thunderstorms are always the best kind of background noise. It's even better when it's time to sleep. Thinking of a summer thunderstorm right now is just torture! Imagine time:

Sitting on the deck of a beach house, watching a thunderstorm roll up (either over the Atlantic or up the North Carolina coast) and you can feel the temperature drop from that warm air to the cool breeze. In the distance you can see the lightning and it's far away enough that you don't hear the thunder. Some Frank Sinatra or Louis Armstrong in the background, perhaps? Ah, summer evenings.

Moving on...

The music rant for the day is all about... Twilight. Ah yes, yes, same reaction as yesterday? Yes, yes, I know the movie is poorly written and the books are even more poorly written... but the soundtracks are absolutely genius. That's really what I look forward to when the movies come out. The first soundtrack was solid, but the second one is just pure gold. The third one is also amazing, but the second is probably the best (at least in my opinion). What is great is that the songs chosen are often by bands that no one really listens to. It's also great because it allows these bands to get their music and their name out there. There aren't many big names on the soundtracks, except for Muse, Paramore, and The Killers. There's some mediumly known bands, too, such as- Vampire Weekend, OKGO, The Bravery, and MuteMath. Here are the highlights (my highlights)

Twilight:
1.Full Moon- The Black Ghosts
2.Spotlight- MuteMath
3.Flightless Bird, American Mouth- Iron&Wine
4.Eyes On Fire- Blue Foundation

New Moon: it's essentially impossible to pick favorites, but I tried hard
1.White Demon Love Song- The Killers
2.Friends- Band of Skulls
3. Slow Life- Grizzly Bear
4.Monsters- Hurricane Bells
5. Shooting the Moon- OKGO
6.Done All Wrong- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Eclipse:
1. Life on Earth: Band of Horses
2. Chop and Change: The Black Keys
3. Ours: The Bravery
4. Heavy in Your Arms: Florence and the Machine
5. What Part of Forever: Cee Lo Green

Basically... it's all a bunch of alt music that is so chill and so good. Band of Skulls is a good band, as they were also mentioned in the last post. While you may recognize those two songs (the one from New Moon and the one from No Strings Attached) , you will also recognize their song called Light of the Morning. It's in this THIS Ford Mustang commercial! Hah-za!

A lot of the music from the Twilight soundtracks really remind me of being out West. Probably because of the Arizona scenery in the first movie and from then on it just stuck. Speaking of being out West... my mom found this printing press in Tennessee that is really sick. Yessss I know what you're thinking: "what? Kelly... Tennessee is not West." But once you see these pieces that they do, then you will understand my correlation. They are called YeeHaw Press and can be found here: http://www.yeehawindustries.com/home.html . I want the My Grass is Blue poster, the Jack Daniels poster, as well as the Cupcakes poster. Okay, okay... maybe they're not Western-esque... but they are Americana and that's awesome.

(found here)
(found here)(found here)

Speaking of blue grass. If you haven't listened to Dierks Bentley's newest stuff, it's fantastic. It's got a blue grass feel and it's awesome! It's not too much blue grass to freak out those who just want to scratch the blue grass surface. For those who would like to dive deeper, get at me for the "Sounds of Appalachia" CD... as well as any of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. But back to Dierks!

1. Up On the Ridge
2. Draw Me a Map
3. Bad Angel (feat Miranda Lambert and Jamey Johnson) ((personnel faveee)
4. Fallin For You (that's only a sample)