Hello all, this is E.M. from American Princess. While I'm not much of a substitute Wendy--there is no way that I could ever be so adept at getting a fatwa declared on me without finding an internet one and filling in my name, just to make myself feel better about my contribution to the fight against the Islamic Jihad. I'm more of a "make fun of elected officials" type girl. But what I do do, every week, is engage in a little bit of self-indulgent introspection, which, while not quite a informed and experience as Wendy's, and is often solidly less interesting, is comparable in the sense that its accompanied by this weeks soundtrack, a collection of random indie/elitist/obnoxious songs that have either something or nothing to do with my experience over the past week. Its called the Friday Random Ten (hot and creative, I know).

Here goes...

I've been missing my own personality a little, since between sitting in traffic, sitting in an office, sitting in front of the television, I've been forced to listen to other peoples bad music for two weeks straight, trying to figure out where my own tastes fit into their selected soundtrack. It doesn't mostly, and I feel absent from the entire process, but sometimes I get lucky. Sometimes, the music thats been playing around me has created an odd world that I'm unused to, or one that I vaguely remember--an audio deja vu. Noise can do that. Its partly how you remember the way that your surroundings made you feel. Sofia Coppola, for example, is a master at manipulating music to set a mood, and her movies can carry a taste, just like certain days can. Standing downtown this week, I was feeling a little tied to the same period of my life three or four years ago, feeling the same way. Part of it was the cold winter wind--unseasonable--and part of it was the sound of cars passing on the Ann Arbor street, a memory of being lost in the city with someone who wouldn't keep me warm in the cold air, running from parking space to theater and back to parking space in the dark, almost getting hit by passing cars as we dashed across a street with a cultural disregard for the traffic signals. The city smelled the same, it felt the same, but there was a bit of gratitude for the company of the former night deep in my soul, as I lived in the present. I missed those days--that sort of blissful ignorance that is only recognizable in hindsight--but I didn't miss those days. What it was, in the end, was a reminder that I'm constantly growing up and going forward, and that in itself is pleasant. My life is going to have repeated experiences, but theres something nice in knowing that they add to the soundtrack, and don't erase it.

And now the soundtrack of the Ann Arbor night means something new to me. It means a good night, tired but happy, spent with a friend, pretending that the bottom level of the theater was full so that I could see a movie from a balcony. Its a normal night--nothing particularly special--but the next time I enter the same place, I'll remember that moment first, and the lonely, cold moment second.

In that sense, I'm including both solid old music, and good new stuff in the random ten. Theres a little thats decades old, a little thats years old, and a little thats months old. They're all part of the same mix, the soundtrack for this week.

1. In Other Words -- Ben Kweller
2. Become the Enemy -- The Lemonheads
3. Golden Touch -- Razorlight
4. High School Never Ends -- Bowling For Soup
5. The Troubled Life Of No One Else -- The Sessions
6. Answering Bell -- Ryan Adams
7. Side -- Travis
8. Whats An Ocean For? -- White Whale
9. Just Like a Woman -- Bob Dylan
10. Lost In The Supermarket -- The Afghan Whigs

Enjoy the music, and have an awesome weekend.