Happy Valentine's Day

Not much to say on this Valentine's Day, so here are some songs that may make the day more enjoyable for you.



Teenage Fanclub's "What You Do To Me" is about as lyrically simple and direct as they come.



Matthew Sweet's "I've Been Waiting" seems a lot, err, sweeter without a video that suggests his adoration is aimed at an anime character.



The Pixies' cover of "Head On" is pretty terrific in its own right, but the original by The Jesus and Mary Chain would have been here if embedding were permitted.

Valentine's Day

I confess that I have no particular affinity for Valentine's Day, but I'm not opposed to it either. Honestly, I find the haters' moaning about it being a Hallmark holiday more annoying. For the single and unattached it can be a day to feel a bit lousier than usual, but it's not like that's the intention behind it. That's just how it sometimes works out.

How have I dealt with it in the past? I don't remember. Recent years have found me doing something myself and not being particularly concerned about it, which can be easier said than done but whatever.

Now today did not get off to the best start as the arrival this morning of an e-mail pertaining to a festering sore of a work matter--seriously, when will it ever end?--put me in a foul mood right away. I figured it was best not to forward it along to my co-workers and ruin their weekend as well, so the best way to deal was to go back to sleep for awhile.

Then it was watching the Winter Olympics, having a good early supper at North Market, attending the hockey game (a loss but at least a well-played game), and flipping on the Olympics coverage I recorded while gone.

I'm not sure why everyone seems to think that reveling or moping are the only ways to acknowledge the day. Maybe it's my male perspective that it isn't something that should be a big deal, especially if you have no reason to observe it. Still, I am kind of glad that it will be over for another year.

Valentine's Day

Oh, Valentine's Day...the day when being single and unattached is felt a bit more deeply. There are 364 other days out of the year to feel self-pity--365 this year!--to let this one be more bothersome than the rest, but you know you're in bad shape when the most you have to show for the holiday is this:

At least the movie studio kept me in mind, although I think I'd rather not get a card with Larry the Cable Guy holding a rose in his mouth.

It's such a normal state of being that Valentine's Day isn't all that different from any other day, except that working at a college means being surrounded by two types of people (students, mainly): the lovey-doveys and bitter, bitter singles. And they can't stop talking about it. And they inevitably turn to the administrator and wonder aloud what the deal is with me. This can necessitate all manner of expert dodging. I know I'm pathetic, but it's certainly not my place to confirm for them that women aren't knocking down my door.

Anyway, I had plans for tonight. Vertigo, one of my favorite films, was screening in a 70mm print, so I wasn't going to sit at home and mope (not that I would have been doing that if I'd stayed home). I was feeling tired, but the film has a dream-like quality, so maybe my weariness enhanced it.

Immediately after the film I went next door to see Vampire Weekend in concert. (I don't think it's a particularly good band name but whatever.) They've been the buzz of the music blogs for awhile, and the backlash has already started despite their debut album coming out just two weeks ago.

Their press clippings have been pretty favorable to this point, so I'm not going out on a limb with the prediction in the next sentence. I've enjoyed the record, but seeing them live gave me a greater appreciation for the album and the gut instinct that they're destined to be big. Whenever they return, I doubt they'll be playing to a crowd as small as the 500 (if that) at tonight's sold out show.

My camera isn't fast enough to grab performance shots without the flash (or with it, for that matter), but the smeary, pinhole camera-like effect is kind of cool.

The concert had been pretty good, but they won me over completely when they played "M79". With just a single record (and a short one at that) to their credit, I expected it would be a short concert. They played every song in their repertoire in the 45-50 minute set, including the non-album track "Ladies of Cambridge" and a new, untitled song, and it was plenty satisfying.

Would the day have been better if circumstances were different? Perhaps. But they weren't, so all in all I feel like I made the best of it. Really, that's the one thing any of us can do.