The Sounds That Shaped My Year: The 25 Best Albums of 2012

In no particular order... 

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DIIV . Oshin | Sun Kil Moon . Among the Leaves | Damien Jurado . Mariqopa | Wild Nothing . Nocturne   Lambchop . Mr. M | Bob Dylan . Tempest | Bat For Lashes . The Haunted Man 
Cloud Nothings . Attack on Memory | Grimes . Visions | Beach House . Bloom 
James Blackshaw . Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death | Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti . Mature Themes Merchandise . Desire | The Men . Open Your Heart | Spiritualized . Sweet Heart, Sweet Light
Sufjan Stevens . Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas, Vols. 6-10
 Mac DeMarco . 2 | Ty Segall Band . Slaughterhouse | Tindersticks . The Something Rain  
Andrew Bird . Break It Yourself | Lotus Plaza . Spooky Action at a Distance  
Richard Hawley . Standing at the Sky's Edge | Windy & Carl . We Will Always Be
Mirroring . Foreign Body |  Motion Sickness Of Time Travel . Motion Sickness Of Time Travel 
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Merry Christmas

Love,
Nellie and Gavin

Come Home.

Friends gathered on a roof top in Saigon to send Baylin warmth and get him through this ordeal and
home safely.

 

Baylin Coddington: Time to come home. We're all rooting for you and waiting for your safe return.  If anyone can do it, you can.  We all love you.

This Weekend: Mui Ne

We needed to get out of town to celebrate Gavin's birthday properly.  We thought a visit to the sun-drenched coastal strip of Mui Ne was long overdue.

We headed up early Friday morning via the train from Saigon (First Class Ticket = 150,000 VND).  We got in a few hours of sun and some much needed dips in the sea.

Neon nativity scenes...  2012 has undoubtedly been the gaudiest Christmas yet in Vietnam.

A seafood feast was in order! Each trip to Mui Ne we visit our friends Viet and Linh @ Bo Ke Ngan Sao.  Once a tiny stand near a nondescript strand of seawall, our pals now have a bustling enterprise with an additional restaurant down the road.  Tireless workers and great people, it's nice to see a lovely young couple do so well and prosper.  Look for the "Thousand Stars" sign near the Km 14.5 marker on Nguyen Dinh Chieu (the main drag in town).

Clams, oysters, scallops, calimari, and a magnificent lobster along with rice and veg.  What a feast!

Saturday Sun with none of the Drakeian melancholia...  Highlights include sunbathing and swimming in the sea, a seafood feast, a sunset walk down the Fairy Stream and dancing our pants off at Pogo while our pals from the Banana Project and Bicycle Thief sang, strummed, and beat their drums.  A perfect birthday for a perfect guy!

A blurry meal in the blaring afternoon sunshine.

Kites over Mui Ne Bay.