Happy birthday to Sub Pop!

Seattle’s ground-breaking label turned 20 this weekend and flew its flag on top o’ the Space Needle. In what other city would an indie record label get to celebrate its existence by defacing the most well-known landmark in town?

Exactly.

There also was a two-day music festival and a comedy show (featuring David Cross and Kristen Schaal, among others)!

Seeing the photos of downtown and The Moore on blurt-online makes my heart ache a little.

scream.

And just relax by my mom’s pool. Sorry, we’ve been watching a lot of “The O.C.” in the giesha house. Yeah, that’s the name of my house now.

Apparently, I said something mean:

Otto:  damnnnnn
why not, you be nice
be nice
as patrick swayze says in roadhouse
be nice
until its time to not be nice

me: i don’t know that reference

Otto:  THEN YOU DONT KNOW LIFE
stephanie
the life of a bouncer at a country rock bar is perilous indeed
if one cannot embrace such proverbial advice
one will easily perish
watch Roadhouse
then you will understand
and with that
i leave you
farewell

Thoughts from a long weekend:

• Trilogy may be gone, but b-less wine — the greatest happy hour concept — is still around, and it’s possibly even better than before. The walk home remains a difficult task, but the unlimited chardonnay and delicious pierogies make it worth it.
• Not how I wanted my Fourth of July to start: 1) Guys driving a giant SUV in circles in my neighborhood; 2) with an American flag trailing their vehicle; 3) while wearing T-shirts with cutoff sleeves; 4) blasting terribly outdated and borderline-racist Toby Kieth songs. I mean, I love America and their right to listen to whatever they consider “good music,” but it ruined my breakfast.
• Wine all over one’s face, dress and kitchen is only hilarious in the context of two roommates desperately trying to pry open a bottle in order to continue “The O.C.” drinking game in a timely manner.
• How can you call yourself Bank Of America, yet not have a single branch in the state of Colorado. How?!
• Fireworks are even more enjoyable when accompanied by “Frisky Dingo”/Ronnie-inspired commentary on a rooftop.
• Words can’t describe the awkwardness of browsing a public online forum, out of innocent curiosity, only to stumble across an incredibly defaming acrostic poem on someone you used to know. ’Yikes’ may just have to do.
• I want this hat.
• You’ve worn me down.
• Another reason I wish I had more money: The Cherry Creek Arts Festival introduced me to the work of Cali Hobgood-Lemme, Rebecca Rebouche and Will Corr.
• New York Times’ David Carr has a very interesting column this week.
• I cannot effing wait.
• And lastly, I kind of love Ed Asner/Lou Grant even more after reading this.

Q: What do you think about today’s journalism?
A: It sucks.

Q: What would Lou Grant say about it?
A: ‘Where are the basics: who what, when, where, why, how and how important is it?’ The papers always lead off on page one with the little old lady beating off a robber with a golf club rather than the lady who was on welfare and shot to death being buried on page 30.

I finally made my muxtape site! Since I use iTunes, there are few songs I have in mp3 form, and pickings were slim.

These are simply songs that make me happy at the mo’ and make running at a high altitude a lot more fun.

Listen here or go to sclary.muxtape.com.

And yes … that’s NKOTB on there. I will not apologize for loving this ridiculous song!

I’m a little late on this, but The Kooks’ cover of Peter Bjorn And John’s “Young Folks” is pretty fantastic.

No whistling, but still fantastic.

Listen here: Young Folks by The Kooks

Audio from http://www.eachnotesecure.com/

In times when it’s trendy — and very relevant – to write about the death of print in all its forms; when my roommate and I justify watermelon as a balanced breakfast/lunch/dinner while waiting for pay day, only to see a good chunk of it go toward student loan payments; and when my generation will have to rethink and redefine the American Dream, it’s difficult to stay motivated.

Especially with the career path I’ve chosen: Journalism. I have to constantly remind myself I honestly want continue with my long-term goals, but it can get exhausting when the industry, along with the larger economy, is just so … sad.

So, recently I’ve been on a mission to try to stay inspired and optimistic. One way has been through reading Ira Glass’ “The New Kings of Nonfiction.”

While it’s not new — maybe a year old, and the essays are even older — this collection of stories from various writers displays the ways solid reporting and writing will always be necessary to discovering the worlds we live in.

Quality journalism – whether it’s in print, online, being injected into eyes for instant gratification — will be in demand. And I have no problem with tweaking how I display my work or how it’s digested.

But I have had a problem with my own response to the negativity surrounding the industry.

Thanks to Mr. Glass, et al., and many supportive family/friends/mentors, I think I’ve finally come out of my funk.

I forgot how much I love this song until my iPod shuffled it to me this morning on the bus.

It’s been in my head all day. And I’m not going to feel guilty about it, because after some research, I found that the boys wrote the songs for this album. Booosh

This past week has been quite amazing, if I may say so. The following is a listicle of things that are currently causing much happiness:

• “Frisky Dingo” and its Strunk and White reference.
• Porch sitting with C-Mo and Klaus. And pomosas. And veggie trays.
• Not having to fuel up my ’stang thanks to efficient public transit and great walking weather.
• A Greek restaurant named Pete’s, and the waiter/possible owner who made many one-liners about this particular beer while giving it to us for free:

• Finally buying a floppy hat!
• Seeing Jamie Lidell and his funky, funky ways in concert:
• Thinking about the many concerts to come.
• The sales room at a new, very large Anthropologie.
• Coffee shop meetings.
• The fact that this trailer exists, meaning the opportunity to see this movie will soon follow:
• Reaching new haircut stage: The idea.

What’s currently upsetting me:

• Nose bleeds. Damn this dry heat/my nerdiness!
• Allergies.