Friday nights are for deconstructing Sufjan Stevens. Saturdays are for sleeping in.

This is my 40th post on this blog. I surpassed my original "ethics" blog about 24 posts ago.

Tomorow is the first Saturday in three weeks where I won't have to wake up early worrying about Sleater-Kinney concert tickets. Wait a minute, they haven't added a third show, have they?!

*checks s-k.com*

Okay, we're safe.

third show = nervous breakdown

I'm going to start my vinyl collection when I get to Portland. Someday I'll buy a turntable. Backwards, I know.

I noticed that I'm getting better with the saws. I breathe in all the sawdust through my nose because I don't want to eat it, which means that I end up sneezing quite a bit. Why would anyone want to be a carpenter?? The particles in the air make my eyes hurt and sometimes it feels like I've dunked my head into a bucket of sand. The dust goes everywhere. Everywhere in the wuhhurld, baybeh. If you're tired of sawing there's something you should try! You said, "Halleluiah baybeh! Halleluiah child!"

Complain, complain, complain! I need to remember that there's a very good reason for me to do all of this. Actually, there are three very good reasons.
(CCJ)

Sufjan Stevens has his good moments. He seems to get carried away with his need for complexity sometimes, but there are some parts where everything seems to come together beautifully. His song structures are atypical. Take "Vito's Ordination Song" for example. He starts off by setting up a scene that makes your mind go into a mental-image-painting frenzy. You think it'll go somewhere, but instead he launches off into the most deliberate "broken record" segment ever. He and his supermodel backup singer repeat the same line for 4 minutes or so. You'd think it would get old, and maybe it does for some, but for me it's strangely beautiful. It breaks down around 3:38. From here, it gets interesting, if you haven't already fallen asleep. They take off into an impressive building sequence. Layer after layer, Stevens gets into your head. He's still singing the same line, but somehow, it seems alright, if not just downright perfect.