Oh, snap. . .

When mom says your middle name, and you know you're in all kinds of trouble.

In which I finally confront spellcheck. . .

Needy people all up in my email. . .

I was just deleting the mail in my spam folder and saw an email, supposedly from some hot girl. The subject line was "I've lost my panties again."

And I'm just like, "Bitch, how am I supposed to help with your ADHD? I hardly have a handle on my own."

In which I try Snapchat for the first time. . .

I turn 43 on Monday, so I decided to join the digital age. I tried Snapchat. Got my rainbow headphones on, my heart's beating like a kick drum and I'm sharing a glimpse of my mermaid soul.

Song of the Day: "Into the Light" by Siouxsie and the Banshees

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I've got another song of the day because it began playing in my mind, unbidden, after listening to a new Lana del Rey joint. It's "Into the Light" by Siouxsie and the Banshees off their album Juju. It has such a memorable opening and Siouxsie's voice and words are everything.

I was only six when this album came out. Being into Siouxsie and the Banshees when I was in
high school made me feel like I belonged to an exclusive club, full of dark dreams and fairydust. In fact, I still feel that way.

Song of the Day: "Groupie Love" by Lana del Rey

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Isn't it nice to see Lana Del Rey smiling on the cover of this album? Here's my song of the day, her "Groupie Love." That's someone named A$AP Rocky rapping up in there. I'd know who he was if I was more abreast of the hip hop world.

BTW, isn't homegirl prolific? I just looked it up and Lana Del Rey is 32. She's released five albums and who knows how many singles since she busted out with Born to Die in 2012. She's got a deep catalogue and is crafting a really unique musical legacy.

Plus, she makes me really tempted to make myself uncomfortable and apply some fake eyelashes—even if they may be slightly obscured behind my glasses—because she's always done up so pretty.

Song of the Day: "Road Head" by Japanese Breakfast

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"Road Head" by Japanese Breakfast is song of the day on battlestar eclectica. This lo-fi alternative pop tune is atmospheric and imaginative.

It's just what I needed on a day when, for some reason, so many old songs are boring me. I'd call their album "Music for a Jaded Listener" but instead, their new record is called "Soft Sounds for Another Planet." I love it.

 Japanese Breakfast, Wikpedia tells me, is the solo musical project of Michelle Zauner of the band Little Big League. Little Big League, Wikipedia tells me, is a Philadelphia emo band founded in 2011.

Warning: The video is kinda creepy, with a tall goat-headed looking monster. He's pretty chill until the girl does him in. But if creepy is not your bag, you can play the video and cover it wth a new page or nudge it over to the side of your screen. 

—Sarah Torribio

Random Musing: The folks on "Wife Swap"

That moment when you're watching "Wife Swap" and you realize that, dysfunctional as you may be, "My god, these people are batshit crazy!"

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Song of the Day: "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" by The Smiths

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My song of the day on Battlestar Eclectica is "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" by The Smiths. 

This tune helps me when I get impatient to "blow up," i.e. become noted or at least respected and paid enough to take care of bills AND pursue a bucket list. You know, stuff like traveling to Wales because Alex, 8, is inexplicably teaching himself Welsh.

Like going to Australia and hanging out with my high school chum Catherine—who moved Down Under at age 19 or 20—in an Uluru-adjacent sweat lodge. We'll be sensitive to Aboriginal needs and only climb the Red Heart of Australia, called Ayer's Rock by the uninitiated, in our hearts and minds.

I'm craving resources for self-indulgent activities like building a backyard music studio with room for Brian's drum kit and my new bad-ass bass amp. I want to get the kids a swing set before Alex is too old to care. I wanna go to a fancy restaurant and find out once and for all what the hell "baked Alaska" is.

You can imagine this song's getting "ril" or, as Morrissey croons in another tune, "it's too close to home and it's too near the bone" as I near 43. B-day's coming up on July 17, y'all. Can I get a witness?

—Sarah Torribio

Epigram of the Day: "Call Me"

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Song of the Day: "Titanium" by David Guetta ft. Sia

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I really love "Titanium" by David Guetta featuring Sia. It's blowing my mind. I'm currently playing this vid on repeat because when you first fall in love with a song, why listen to anything else?

Sia's my girl and I think I'm now going to have to explore all of David Guetta's catalogue, because he's a super-talented electronic artist. I probably have already enjoyed some of his work. I just tend to focus on singers more than musicians sometimes. Mea culpa.

There is so much good music out there. I marvel every day at how much and how hard it is to keep up. No once can hope to have an "encyclopedic knowledge" of music anymore. Let's just say that some people have read the Cliff's Notes.

Thank God for Shazam, which identified this song for me as it played on the radio Those bastards on the radio never say the names of songs anymore. You're right, Morrissey. Hang the DJ, indeed.

—Sarah Torribio

Song of the Day: "Ablaze" by School of Seven Bells

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"Ablaze" by School of Seven Bells is song of the day on battlestar eclectica. I'm told their most recent LP was their last, but I'm ready to dig into their catalogue. This is some epic shoegaze—it's got me looking at the stars.

It has a lighter touch that Siouxsie and the Banshees, but there's a touch of that mystical wall-of-sound magic.

—Sarah Torribio

Song of the Day: "Writer in the Dark" by Lorde

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My song of the day is "Writer in the Dark" by Lorde, off her latest album Melodrama. This is a low-key, melancholy and wistful song by the New Zealand-bred songstress, who has now reached a ripe old age of 20.

Her voice is such aged whiskey, her melodies are lovely and her words are remarkable: "I am my mother's child/I'll love you till my breathing stops/I'll love you 'til you call the cops on me." She sounds like she's been suffering and learning and performing for 50 years.


It's a great slice of indie-pop, and I would do well to listen to the whole album.

—Sarah Torribio

Song of the Day: "I Will Spite Surive" by Deerhoof, ft. Jenn Wasner

Today's song of the day on battlestar eclectica is "I Will Spite Survive" by Deerhoof, featuring Jenn Wasner.

I'm told by Wikipedia that Deerhoof is an experimental indie music group formed in 1994 and consists of John Dieterich, Satomi Matsuzaki, Ed Rodriguez and Greg Saunier. I'm told by an NPR article that Deerhoof's recently-released sophomore, "Mountain Moves," features a cast of talented musicians including Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier, plus Juana Molina, Xenia Rubinos.

I actually don't know who any of those people are, because my encyclopedic musical knowledge has whole pages torn out, but they're making some good noise.

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