Anne in Brazil

I used to think I made a pretty mean mix tape or CD, back in the days before I met my former roommate, Sean. Once we started living together and I saw the extent to which he dedicated himself to compiling albums (complete with title, theme, and illustrations), I realized he was way out of my league. A few weeks ago I asked him to put together a CD for me in his spare time, thinking that eventually I would get something of his, maybe after the beginning-of-semester rush subsided. I should have known better! Just last Thursday I got his newest collection, titled "Hip hip hooray," in the mail. To my delight, it's 20 tracks of tunes (in English!) ranging through his tastes, but tailored to what he knows I like. Here is the track listing, so you can make your own:

1. Ben Folds - In Between Days
2. Broken Social Scene - Looks Just Like the Sun
3. Flaming Lips - She Don't Use Jelly
4. Thicke - A Beautiful World
5. Outkast - Hey Ya
6. The Montgolfier Bros. - The World is Flat
7. Damien Jurado - Matinee
8. The Fountains of Wayne - Stacy's Mom
9. Clem Snide - Donna
10. Radiohead - Wolf at the Door
11. Sloan - Everything You've Done Wrong
12. Iron & Wine - Upward over the Mountain
13. Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane
14. Okkervil River - Seas Too Far to Reach
15. The New Pornographers - A Testament to Youth in Verse
16. New Order - Temptation
17. The Flirtations - Nothing but a Heartache
18. Will Oldham - New Partner
19. The Lucksmiths - Self Preservation
20. The Small Faces - Ooh La La

Of course, the best thing of all is that the whole CD glows of Sean, someone with whom I have spent many, many hours cooking, cleaning, arguing, studying, and discussing music, and someone I miss very much. This CD reminds me of everything about him. Sean, thanks for the enrichment of my music knowledge and bittersweet reminder of the grand days of the Querbes 5.

Greetings Earth people. The past two days have been wild here...the city decided to raise the bus fare by 20 cents, which may seem like peanuts to some of us but it caused quite a stir here. The buses are essentially the only form of public transportation in the city, and the fare certainly adds up when you have to take the bus multiple times per day (like me). Anyway, the entire high school student population of Salvador has been protesting the fare increase by hijacking buses, blocking buses from going anywhere, camping out at the mayor's office and generally causing havoc. As a result, it was completely impossible to go to class today, and tomorrow might be the same. As irritating as this has been, I am proud of the students for accomplishing what they have - apparently the city is going to allow students more discount opportunities, and in the process they've been on the national news for several days in a row. I think McGillians could learn quite a bit from their tactics!! Of course, as I am not a Brazilian citizen, I will not benefit from the discounts but at least I can admire what these kids have accomplished.

In other news, I did receive my credit card last week, so I am feeling substantially more independent than I had been during my borrowing days. Should I reiterate that I'd been without access to my bank account for more than a month? Anyway, I'm glad it's here. Some friends and I went CD shopping the other day, where I began my process overhauling my CD collection. I hope to be a real expert by next June.

I hear McGill's classes started today...I hope those of you who were affected by this had a good day. It is incredibly weird not to be in Montreal. As a present to myself I bought the latest edition of Vanity Fair, which has quite a lot of ads for fall fashion - I already miss wool.

Take care and keep in touch.