Blowing & Drifting

The only thing better than a giant snowbank is a giant snowbank with tunnels in it, and the only thing better than that is a snowbank tunnel from which emerges a smiling first grader!

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With Christmas now winding up, I think the song that Vivi created on Christmas Eve does a good job of summing things up:

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I’m not sure what exactly is going on here, but…

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This song appears on the mix played during the “boot camp” training sessions I do at Carleton. It’s a heinous piece of work, maybe the worst song I’ve ever heard. The video is just as bad. (FYI, Selena Gomez repeats “I love you like a love song, baby” just 18 times in this song. I [...]

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At the end of my bike ride yesterday night, I had to stop to marvel at the hundreds of fireflies rising from the verges to blink at me. This video hardly does them justice. [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/44321264[/vimeo]

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I realized the other day that I hardly ever ride my bike for pure pleasure, the way a kid might. To be sure, I have a lot of fun riding my bike, whether commuting, running errands, training, or racing, but I never just ride around for the sake of riding around. On realizing this, I [...]

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Adam Yauch, better known as MCA and one of founding members of the excellent and influential rap group Beastie Boys, died on Friday. (This obituary is especially good.) Hearing that MCA had died made me really sad. Listening to his music nonstop since then has made me a bit happier, but I’ve been listening to [...]

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Julia was lucky (and, I say, talented) enough to be chosen to read her “color poem” at her elementary school’s annual “Beyond Words” literacy fair tonight. We’ve been to the fair for three straight years now, and while the event never fails to be anything less than amazing, the poetry reading is the highlight: the [...]

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Yesterday, Carleton dedicated its second wind turbine, a gift from two alums that will significantly cut the College’s energy costs and reduce its carbon footprint. In true Carleton fashion, the dedication ceremony was neither too formal nor too casual – a low-key gathering at the turbine (a mile or so east of campus); some remarks [...]

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Today I read a story in a Runner’s World special issue (unfortunately not online, though excerpted here, and not unlike this other RW story on the race) about the Dipsea Race, a 7.5 mile trail race every June in Marin County, California, from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach – up and down and up and down [...]

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Here’s Julia reading her “lovey poem” at Sibley Elementary’s “Beyond Words” literacy festival: Julia’s Poem from Christopher Tassava on Vimeo.

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I keep thinking that a “book trailer” is something you attach to a book to haul stuff (bookmarks, a highlighter, etc.), but it’s actually a short video promoting a new book, such as Torn: True Stories of Kids, Career & the Conflict of Modern Motherhood, in which my wife has a great essay.

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Vivi cuts the rug to a few seconds of tinny Disney-fied calypso music. Dancing Queen from Christopher Tassava on Vimeo.

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Following on yesterday’s post about my experience in Steve Kelly’s jazz history course, here are the best ten songs that I heard for the first time in the course. 10. Coleman Hawkins, “Body and Soul” (1939) 9. Nina Simone, “Love Me Or Leave Me” (ca. 1965) 8. Count Basie Orchestra, “One O’ Clock Jump” (1937) [...]

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Let’s go to the video. 33 Seconds of Sledding from Christopher Tassava on Vimeo.

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