By Emily Miles

Amid a national depression, skyrocketing rates of foreclosure and record-breaking debt, Americans are struggling to buy and maintain homes. In the city of Ithaca, however, one organization strives to change that. 

Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services functions under the motto of “Building neighborhoods, community, ownership,” and lists one main goal: “to serve all people seeking affordable housing.” Since its establishment in 1977, the organization has far exceeded its goals. INHS has recently expanded its services to all residents of Tompkins County, spanning beyond Ithaca City limits. 

INHS serves to assist low to moderate-income families in obtaining quality, sustainable housing on a long-term basis. INHS believes this is the first step toward revitalizing neighborhoods and encouraging stability and diversity. Recently, the organization has also committed to creating energy-efficient housing and sustainable communities that benefit residents of all income levels and occupations.

Image by Marc Phillips

“Promoting home ownership is considered key to meeting INHS’ goals,” Executive Director Paul Mazzarella said. He believes that when renters become homeowners, the whole community benefits. In order to achieve this, INHS offers affordable houses and townhouses for purchasing and owning and has also developed apartment complexes for renting.

“We believe in general that homeowners become stakeholders in their neighborhood and work with other residents to ensure the vibrancy of the neighborhood and make our community a better place to live,” Mazzarella said.

Overall, there is a fairly low rate of home-ownership in Ithaca, with only 26 percent of housing units owned by homeowners. According to Mazzarella, this rate is at 66 percent nationally and has risen steadily. It recently reached all time high of 68 percent. The reverse is occurring in Ithaca. Home-ownership has been declining. This is mostly due to the fact that more and more rental units have been built. There are also more renters in general with a high population of students and professors. 

Mazzarella said that an important goal in the city has been to increase ownership. City officials believe that homeowners are a stabilizing force in communities because they tend to be “more engaged” and remain in the area for a longer time.

INHS also offers home buying classes to ensure that homebuyers understand the basic facts of the process, inspection, loans and signings. Just this year, the classes were offered on a sliding fee scale starting at $20.

“It’s practices like these that have enabled Ithaca to maintain its homeownership,” Mazzarella said. “Our programs are based on education, which is largely the national problem.”

Currently, only one INHS program is limited to city of Ithaca residents. The Senior Home Assistance and Repairs Program (SHARP) exists to offer free repairs to homeowners, only at the cost of materials. Natasha Tall purchased her house 15 years ago. Now, widowed and living alone, Tall relies on SHARP to maintain her home. 

“When you are alone, it is so important to know that people will be there to help you and take care of you,” Tall said.

And INHS has been there through it all. Tall said, “the list would take days to produce.” Toilet repair, new windows, screens for the summer. If Tall has an issue with her house, she calls INHS and they send someone right away to take care of it. All Tall has to do is pay for the materials.

“What they do is really wonderful,” Tall said, “I know that if I need anything, they will be there for me.”

Without the help of INHS, Tall would have had to mortgage her home and face extreme debt. This is the exact problem that most homeowners in the United States are facing with the rise of subprime lending and “bad” banking practices. Subprime lending is typically offered to people with bad credit reports. INHS avoids this by offering affordable housing. Families in Ithaca are able to purchase homes without relying on lending.

Mazzarella believes Ithaca has largely avoided the foreclosure bubble. Typically, local banks in Ithaca do not offer subprime mortgages. Ithaca boasts an extremely low rate of foreclosure, ranking last nationally according to the New York Times. The city has also maintained a stable economy throughout the recent national depression.

Carol Eichler, the director of community relations at INHS, believes that ownership contributes to the feeling of community. Part of Eichler’s job is finding success stories and sharing them. In an interview with a young couple that had purchased their first home, Eichler asked the couple what ownership meant after the experience. The couple expressed their gratitude to INHS for assisting them in buying their first home.

“It completely changes people’s attitudes about their communities,” Eichler said.

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Emily Miles is a freshman journalism major known for sharing her dollhouses with the community. E-mail her at emiles2@me.com.

Image by Lucy Ravich

By Kacey Deamer

Since moving to campus in August, I have noticed poor quality toilet paper; it is thin, rough and rips too easily. Toilet paper isn’t exactly something I focus on, but it was a big change from the plush two-ply I was accustomed to using at home.

When walking back from the library one night, nature called, so I stopped into the Whalen bathroom outside Ford Hall. The bathroom itself was one of the nicest, largest and cleanest I have seen on campus. But as I reached for the toilet paper I noticed something different. The material I was holding was softer and slightly thicker than I had become used to. After closer inspection I realized the sheets even boasted a small floral pattern.

Why would the music building have nicer toilet paper than every other bathroom on campus, especially when most students are relieving themselves in high traffic buildings like dining halls or dorms?

IC could be focused on the fact that many non-students visit Whalen to attend performances and recitals. Thus, the music building gets precedence in distribution of bathroom products—after all, the soap smells nicer, too.
If this is true, it seems Ithaca College administrators care more about the people visiting the college than about those who are already here. It’s valid for IC to want to make a good impression on visitors, but they should also consider students already attending.

Why not evenly distribute the nice toilet paper so that all students can benefit? I doubt the cost would be too overwhelming for the college. Chafed students, unite!
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Kacey Deamer is a freshman journalism major who’s tired of wiping with sandpaper. E-mail her at kdeamer1@ithaca.edu.

Image by Zachary Anderson

By Des Parrote

Mxxy name is Desiree Louise Parrote and I’m a highly attractive 21-year-old college student. I’m always busy running around to numerous activities, and I enjoy lonely nighttime walks along poorly lit paths.
So why isn’t anyone stalking me?

Lately, a bunch of my friends have been followed around by sketchy little troll-like men with greasy hair and trench coats. They follow my girlfriends around campus, lurk outside buildings and even follow them home to stand for hours in the bushes, desperately hoping for a glimpse of the bodily areas that don’t see the light of day.

Now that’s devotion.

There are lots of things I do that would make me an ideal stalking victim. I always walk alone, especially at night through creepily un-lit parking lots, and my path takes me by some very conveniently placed bushes. I suffer from stone-colditis, a condition in which I freeze at the slightest moment of alarm. I also live right in town, so any disturbing mail can be slipped into my mailbox — think of the postage my stalker would save!

I’m always leaving my bags unattended and forgetting things, which can by picked up to complete an elaborate, closet-based shrine dedicated to me. And my respiratory problems mean I’m always blowing my nose, and stalkers love getting some used tissues with their victim’s DNA on it, don’t they? Also, I never, and I mean never, close my blinds in my room, which is on the first floor. Whether I’m changing or sleeping or picking my nose, those suckers are wide open. It would be the easiest thing to take some telephoto pictures of me from across the street. And yet, not a single person has been following me around. It’s enough to boggle the mind!

I mean, I don’t mean this in any negative way, I care deeply about all my friends, but the people I know who are getting stalked do not deserve it. Mandy’s nose is way too small for her face. Karen has to pluck every day or else she’ll get a pretty nasty unibrow and Charlotte could be left stranded in the desert for three days with no food and she’d survive off her own reserves, if you know what I mean. And I’m pretty sure Jane is a dude. Oh, they’re wonderful ladies and beautiful on the inside and blah, blah, blah, but there’s a reason I was Dorothy when we did The Wizard of Oz for Halloween.

Also, none of them have lost their apartment key.

Creepy weirdos who don’t shower are as much a part of any college campus as professors in tweed jackets and out of control keggers. There seems to be no end of obsessive virgin freshmen, socially awkward chemistry majors or guys at least three years too old to be in school but  never seemed to leave. This is stalker central, and I’m just waiting for one of them to take this bait.

It has gotten to the point that I’d even be open to a girl stalker—after all, everyone is a little bi-curious in college. Hey, maybe some open experimentation would also attract skeevy guys to following me around, hoping to catch an erstwhile kiss or some second base action. I am completely willing to go there.
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Anne Northgraves is a sophomore cinema production major who misses the old rape trail. E-mail her at anorthg1@ithaca.edu.

Image by Zachary Anderson

Dozens of Rahway, NJ residents are still reeling in light of the news that a local female resident underwent a controversial breast reduction surgery on Thursday.

The woman, a consistently unaware victim of discreet admiration, opted to get the surgery in order to eliminate alleged chronic neck, back, and shoulder pain due to her ‘heavy’ chest.

“Honestly, I’m shocked that she went through with it,” 37-year-old neighbor Gordon Irwin said. “I am going to have trouble adjusting to not seeing that bosom every morning when I go to the edge of my driveway to get my newspaper.”

Other residents of the neighborhood had their own distraught comments about this unfortunate event.

“The recession hit this town pretty hard, and I think we’ve all pulled through it pretty well for the most part,” neighbor Milton August, 45, said. “But the unexpected reduction in size of two of the roundest breasts in Union County may be more than this town can bear.”

“Man, that chick was Baywatch material,” 15-year-old paperboy Troy Davis said. “At least I snuck some pictures of her so I can still, uh, admire her. In private.”

“Indeed, she was nicely stacked,” added Tom Folk, 55, a local garbage man who also reported that his day got “about 12 times better” whenever he saw the woman in anything sporting ample cleavage.

Her friends at work also consented to interviews regarding this disturbing matter.

“It’s such a shame,” coworker Bernard Carsen, 33, said. “The work that the surgeon did was deplorable and, quite frankly, morally reprehensible.”

An investigation is currently underway regarding this questionable procedure. Sheriff Eugene Spielster, 65, has already looked into this case, arguing that this must have violated some of the town’s “viewing rights,” though he has been unsuccessful in locating any such law on the books thus far.

“I didn’t want to do it,” said Lloyd Bellin, M.D., who plans to resign his post later this week. “But the health concerns outweighed the aesthetic properties of her breasts.”

There are some residents who have taken a more positive outlook on this issue.

“I just like rock hard nipples. Breast size doesn’t matter much, I’m more of an ass man really,” Tim Paisley from two streets over said. “As much as I love a big rack, I would take a sweet ass or pretty face any day.”
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Liz Kloczkowski is a freshman journalism major who used to be a chest girl ‘til she found a buried treasure. E-mail her at ekloczk1@ithaca.edu.

No, seriously, you’ve gotta see this movie,” Thomas Welsh, 34, said to a homeless man in a park this weekend. “The characters live in real life, only it’s not real life. It’s a computer simulation of real life. But here’s the thing: who’s to say we’re not all just living in a computer simulation?”

Welsh suffers from a rare condition known as Matrix Delusional Disorder, which causes the sufferer to believe that the Matrix is not merely a popular action film with philosophical undertones, but a very probable reality. People with MDD, as it is called, believe it is the year 2209, in a world where humans are all plugged into a giant machine and suspended in electro-amniotic-fluid-filled pods.

Asked if he would take the red pill, Welsh had this to say:

“Definitely. Not a day goes by when I don’t wish to get that chance. I almost did once, when I saw some black guy in sunglasses and a trench coat in the city last year. He wasn’t Morpheus though. I asked.”

Welsh first saw the Wachowski brothers’ film, which stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss, shortly after its release in 1999. The film has since grossed $463 million.

“I’ve seen the film 241 times since then,” Welsh claimed. “You know, just to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

Image By Julie Hepp

Dr. Patrick Reeves, medical researcher at Johns Hopkins University, has been collecting data on MDD for the last decade.

“The first major epidemic hit in 1999 when the film was released in theaters,” he explained. “The trend went global with various international releases. Almost all cases, however, were cured with time. Every once in a while, there will be an outbreak or two with a special edition DVD release or a cable airing.”

Close friend Dave Vernon doesn’t share Welsh’s obsession for the film.

“I mean, I thought the film had an interesting premise,” Vernon said. “But I read some basic scholarship on philosophy and logical reasoning and I’m as sure as I am of anything that we don’t live in a computer.”

Lately, however, Welsh’s MDD has begun to interfere with his life. His behavior has become somewhat reckless.

“I told him how I felt about the film,” Vernon said. “And he took me up to the roof. He was going to jump thirty feet to the next building to prove that the Matrix was real. I barely talked him out of it.”

Ex-girlfriend Linda Batstone also complained of Welsh’s behavior.

“On our first date, he tried to convince me that he didn’t need a condom,” she said. “He just needed to not believe in pregnancy or herpes. He said, ‘Stop trying to avoid getting pregnant, and avoid getting pregnant.’”

When asked his opinions regarding the sequels, Welsh just shook his head and furrowed his brow before responding.
“They didn’t make any sequels to the Matrix,” he said with a menacing frown. “They didn’t! They didn’t! They didn’t!”

Noah Burd is a freshman biology major who took the red pill earlier today and feels pretty shitty now. E-mail him at nburd1@ithaca.edu.

The wenty two-year old Ithaca resident and IC student Jeff Connelly has drawn up elaborate drinking game rules for far too many movies, several friends said upon leaving his Prospect Street apartment in collective disgust early Friday night.

Image By Bryan Cipolla

Connelly disillusioned several of his friends Friday when he unveiled his new rules for a Schindler’s List drinking game, promising, as always, that it would get everyone “completely fucked up.”

“We thought we made it clear to Jeff that we were just pre-gaming at his place before going out,” friend Matt Judge said after the event. “Then he pulls some fucked up shit like that. What the hell is wrong with him? I just told my girlfriend he’s one of my friends. She probably thinks I’m a psycho now.”

“It’s really pretty sobering when you look at the meticulously typed sheet of rules he made up for the film,” roommate Ken Thomas said as he read over Connelly’s work, titled “Schindler’s List of Drinking Rules.”

The list included taking a drink of beer for every new train arriving at the concentration camps, as well as taking a shot for every certain number of people murdered in the film.

“I know it can get a little complicated,” Connelly explained to a group of disturbed friends Friday. “But just follow my lead and I assure you, you’ll get so fucked up.”

“I think he has a real problem,” Thomas added. “We need to have an intervention or something. Honestly, I wouldn’t care if he were just an alcoholic, but this is a whole new level.”

Thomas says at first, he was merely amused by Connelly’s affinity for making movie drinking rules, as he watched Connelly come up with guidelines for classics such as Back To The Future and Forrest Gump last spring. Thomas, however, grew more suspicious when Connelly began making rules for less conventional films such as Reign of Fire and The Matrix Reloaded.

“No normal person would ever sit down to watch those movies, let alone make drinking games out of them,” Thomas added.

Connelly now estimates he has laid out rules for over 120 feature length films, though he seems unaware of the consequences his obsession has had on his social life. Friends and roommates have slowly drifted away from him, and ex-girlfriend Kelly Evans cites the drinking games as the main reason for ending their relationship two months ago.

“He was always working on a new set of movie rules,” Evans said. “Even when he asked to see me, all he wanted to do was play his drinking game for Fever Pitch. He thought it was appropriate since it was a chick flick.”

Some of Connelly’s friends speculate his problem stemmed from their own support of his hobby months ago.

“Last semester, I remember we all had a great time watching Pulp Fiction and Jurassic Park while following his rules,” casual friend Anne Proctor said. “But then it became something he was doing every week, whether he had friends to join him or not. I think we got him hooked by supporting him too much in the beginning.”

As Thomas tries to round up friends to execute an intervention, Connelly has drawn up rules for the movie Up!, and is looking to watch his new DVD of the film this weekend with whoever wants to keep him company.

“Come on down and get fucked up,” Connelly said. “Who’d go to a party to drink when you could just do it sitting around watching a movie?”
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Chris Giblin is a junior TV-R major who’s drinking whenever the Doc says “Great Scott!” E-mail hm at cgiblin1@ithaca.edu.

Tonight, when you lie in bed and reflect on your day, try and figure out how many times you lied. You told your friend you ate dinner already, told your professor that you did the reading assignment, and you told your mother that you stayed in on Friday night. Now imagine a world where no one lies, ever.

This is the basis of the new film The Invention of Lying starring, co-written, co-directed, and co-produced by Ricky Gervais. Gervais’ character, Mark Bellison, is from a world like this and is a victim of brutal honesty everywhere he goes until one day, in order to keep himself from being evicted, he tells the world’s first lie. He uses this newfound skill to turn his life around in a comical manner, resurrecting his career and getting closer and closer to the woman of his dreams, Anna McDoogles, played by Jennifer Garner.

Gervais and Garner are great in the film, along with the rest of the cast, which includes plenty of subtle cameos by actors like Jason Bateman and Edward Norton. And although characters played by big names Tina Fey and Jonah Hill aren’t huge parts of the film, they make the story complete and keep the movie rounded. The Invention of Lying manages to include numerous comical scenes with smaller characters that keep the laughs coming while still focusing on the difficulties in Bellison’s life and his new ability to con others through lying.

The story is well put together and engaging. It manages to touch on the little things that people might lie about in everyday life, like a homeless man’s plea for money. They also going as far to flirt with the idea of religion. The writers did a remarkable job at creating a friendly parody of God; their references are funny without being offensive. The story gives an explanation of “the big man in the sky” and simplifies the idea of religion but doesn’t discount God. The little lies throughout the film help the viewer remember that this isn’t our world, and they make the bigger lies more believable by keeping the audience in this fantasy mindset. The writers, through these inventive lies, keep the whole idea of the story afloat and the entire movie comical without losing the viewer in any specific, drawn out side story.

The plot was very clever without becoming pointless. Even small, quick jokes tended to relate themselves to the narrative. The ending (without giving anything away) works well with the rest of the movie; it’s not too over-the-top but still gives the viewer a sense of closure.

Colleen Cunha is a freshman cinema and photography major. E-mail her at ccunha1@ithaca.edu

It is a truth universally known that a specific fandom of all backgrounds will dress up at some point as their favorite characters­–mostly from science fiction or anime shows, movies or video games. When you think of these people who dare to call themselves fanboys or fangirls, you imagine people who pretty much devote their lives and financial assets to accessorize their hobbies, whether it’s with computer wallpaper, extensive DVDs collections, assorted merchandise or, most impressively, costumes emulating their favorite character.

Maria Aghazarian recently attended Otakon, a fan convention focsing on anime culture, in Baltimore. She says that the materials for the costume she made cost about $50, which is at the very low end of the cost range. The admission was about $50, and the hotel Aghazarian stayed in over the four day and night period was $170 per person for seven people. She budgeted around $200 for spending money. That’s almost $500 put down for her fangirl hobby. A friend of Aghazarian dressed up as Angemon from Digimon and had to pay $50 for the feathers alone to make the wings for his costume.

Many people think of nothing more then their costume designs. They’re constantly drawing and re-drawing little details and will work for years on a dream cosplay (short for “costume roleplay”). Some even post their sketches and designs on popular websites, such as DeviantART.com, and update regularly to show their progress, including fabric and embellishment choice. It can come to the point where sometimes the cosplay takes over the designer’s life and becomes a new identity.

Obsession like this is clearly life-consuming but it can be beneficial. The positive feedback from other convention goers and online users can really boost self-confidence. Similarly, going out to conventions has led to strong friendships and a community where people feel accepted.

I attended Comic-Con 2008 in New York with some friends. We attended a discussion with my friends where we met the lead singer of the Japanese band T.M. Revolution. There was an assortment of people there from those dressed in everyday clothes to a group of ten people dressed in full stormtrooper suits from Star Wars. When we were walking to the con, we saw people walking in their full costume to and from the convention center. There were many people dressed as characters from different anime shows, popular films, and TV shows. Our one-day experience cost about $30, plus the train fee from Philadelphia, which was about $77 each, putting our individual expenses over $100, not to mention extra spending money.

At the Con, there were two levels of activities to see. The first was check-in. Even though we pre-registered, my friends and I still had to wait in a very long line to get into the convention. While waiting, we chatted with to convention goers who all had different levels of enthusiasm and devotion to their specific shows, films, or games. Each person came for something different.

When we finally got in, we saw the lower level. The most interesting part was the show floor, which had the latest news about new comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, toys, movies, and television. There were also many different panel rooms and autograph sessions with the creators and stars of popular shows. Many fans gather in discussion rooms to converse about specific shows. At some conventions, actors and actresses from popular shows come in to discuss the newest season. I was fortunate enough to see Stan Lee, the original co-creator of classic comic books such as Spiderman, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, and Daredevil.

While there, my friends and I explored many different tables. From action figures to shirts to other fun merchandise, it was hard to escape empty handed (I fell prey to a Doctor Who shirt). I thought the best part of the convention was looking at the books of artwork from different comics that featured not only the finished copies, but also the rough character conceptions. The artists were there to sign and talk about their work.

What I noticed about most of the costumes at Comic-Con was the level of commitment that people put into them. Most were extremely elaborate. Depending on how much effort someone wants devote, it may take from a couple of days to a year to plan and build their creation. Since some people don’t believe in just buying a pre-made Halloween costume, fans purchase and collect all kinds of material from fabric stores, thrift shops, and other random venders to create their character.

Fangirls and fanboys thrive on knowing that their obsession for what they love is not secluded. The community of a convention like Okaton or Comic Con is what brings all of us geeks together–celebrating that common bond of loving the same films, television, music, art animes and specific culture that makes up the fanboy/fangirl scene.

Julie Hepp is a sophomore English major. E-mail her at jhepp1@ithaca.edu.

While reality TV has never been known for its ability to be deep and soul-searching, Oxygen’s new series, Addicted To Beauty, really takes the cake—or Botox, if you will. The series follows the staff of Changes Spa and Plastic Surgery in La Jolla, Calif.

What is supposed to be a reality TV show is thrown off by a cast of some of the most horrifically fake people ever put on cable, and not just personality-wise.

Combined, the cast has had nose jobs, breast implants, cheek implants, chin implants, teeth bonded, neck liposuction, waist liposuction, eye lifts, eye shaping, laser hair removal, laser vein therapy, breast lifts and Botox injected into every place imaginable. The owner of the spa even had the bottoms of her feet injected with Restylane, which supposedly gives her extra padding when she walks. This doesn’t include all the fake tans administered in every show.

The staff freely admits that most people from La Jolla are “addicted to beauty” and refer to Botox as a gateway drug—once you start to get rid of little things, you begin seeing what other little things you can tweak.

Beyond their physical alterations, the staff are hardly endearing. They are all perfect caricatures—the aging woman trying to look twenty again, two men who are milking the flaming gay stereotype for all it’s worth (and apparently it’s not too much), and a few younger women who are determined to be cutthroat business people.

The show features endless displays of cattiness from all sectors. If Gary the receptionist isn’t straightening his hair, he’s avoiding being fired by claiming he has ADHD—though he doesn’t know exactly what that entails. One employee helped another by spraying on a coating of tan and even adding some muscle definition, only to write the words “I love Dianne” on his back. A tearful, staged conversation about a divorce came to an abrupt end upon the discovery of a new laugh line which was instantly filled in by a bewildered—if entirely willing—Dr. Lee. With needles-a-plenty, this show is not for the squeamish.

Despite all that, Addicted to Beauty is oddly mesmerizing, like a car crash. More a cautionary tale than a reality TV show, it leaves you with a clear moral: she who starts getting Botox is she who will soon look like Godzilla.

Addicted To Beauty airs Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. on Oxygen.

It’s a familiar story: childhood friends grow up together in a small town and begin creating music. Trumansburg, New York’s Kites In Space kept their childhood friendship alive and didn’t fight their shifting musical tastes as their early high school influences fell to the background. The result was their extremely strong and diversified self-titled indie rock album.

The band took these raw materials into band member Chris Ploss’ empty house during the summer of ’08 to record Kites In Space’s self-titled debut: a passionate, melody-driven, indie-folk rock album with dashes of synth/prog elements.

Album opener “Walk It Off” sets the tone immediately with an upbeat, dance-y rhythm. Echoing vocals encourage the listener to sing along while handclaps and piano keep the beat steady. The song’s stripped down ending appropriately leads into the more melancholy “Ghost In The Radio.”

The album shifts with the track, “Cords Wrapped Too Tight,” showcasing the vocals of Katelyn Glanton. A plodding, stomp-clap rhythm drives the track, incorporating chimes and guitar for an airy, haunting, feel.

“Don’t Own the Drugs” is a standout track. The lyrics, written by band member Steve Burton, epitomize a sense of youth, with exuberant imagery culminating in the mantra, “We turn our heads off/ And put our pistols to the sky!”

According to vocalist Ben Bartishevich, the term simply means good times all around.

The following track, “Manifest Destiny,” begins with droning, spacious synth tones that are accompanied by quick, steady drumming. Monotone vocals bitterly singing of America’s insatiable desire for a manifest destiny beyond that of our conquest of the West.

“Eulogy” is a bitter, reflexive track incorporating an organ, apt for the subject matter dealing with the absurdity in the way some people cope with lost loved ones.

“Born Out Of The Hustle” comes full-circle, closing the album out with a solid rock song incorporating electric and acoustic guitar, layered vocals, and a microKORG.

The album is a motley mix of songs, many of which started being written by separate member of the band, only to find cohesion in the production of the album. The loftiness of the empty house that it was recorded in can be felt, giving the diversified songs a unifying element.

Their album can be found for free at both kitesinspace.com and sixteensixteen.com.