The personal and profound ideas that leap out of my brain.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Movie soundtrack for my life.
The rules: 1. Put your music player of choice on shuffle 2. Scene one = first song played, scene two = second, so on. 3. No cheating/skipping 4. Pass it on
Opening Credits: PDA, Interpol Waking Up: Worried Now, Sloan An Ordinary Day: Eyesight To The Blind (The Hawker), The Who The First Date: Friendship, Sloan Falling in Love: Seven Nation Army, White Stripes The Rumble: Walk, Idiot, Walk, The Hives The Break-up: Like A King/I'll Rise, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals Getting Back : Glass Ceiling, Metric Life's Okay: Humble Me, Norah Jones The Mental Breakdown: The Nurse, White Stripes Cruising: Ball & Biscuit, White Stripes The Flashback: The Infinite Pet, Spoon The Party: Love in the Plaster, The Hives Everybody Dance Now: Gimmie Some Salt, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Sex Scene: Last Living Souls, Gorillaz Regretting: In The Cold, Cold Night, White Stripes The Long Night Alone: In The Morning of the Magicians, Flaming Lips A Death: Flashdance II, Matthew Good Band End Credits: Undo, Bjork
On a related note: Why can't I sleep at night anymore?
I just had the scariest dream I've ever had in my life. Check that. This wasn't a scary dream. This was a full-blown nightmare. I haven't had one of those since I was twelve.
I am WIDE a-fuckin'-wake.
What causes nightmares? I am going to research this in an effort to make myself stop my stomach from feeling like it's on a rollercoaster.
***UPDATE***
According to Wikipedia, a small demon slipped in through my keyhole and sat on my chest. I don't feel a lot better yet.
Things are going on in my life, I swear (ie/ just about everyone I know not only meeting, but hanging out with Sarah Polley aka "Polley, Darling!") and the Lizard came to visit... and... I don't know. I think I found a dollar on the sidewalk or something.
Thing is, I'm flippin' tired. I'm on the rising crest of a ten-day workathon in order to get Thanksgiving weekend off, so that takes up a lot of my time. The rest seems to be taken up sleeping or staying awake until ungodly hours. Well, I know it's a few days into fall, but I just finished the last book that I'm going to finish on my summer reading list. I was... ambitious. I failed. Sob. Sob sob. Here's an updated list.
# The Hours - Michael Cunningham ---->DONE # Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf ---->DONE # The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown ---->DONE # Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal - Christopher Moore ---->DONE # To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee ---->DONE # In Cold Blood - Truman Capote # The Pleasure of My Company - Steve Martin # Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood # The Hard Goodbye - Frank Miller # The Facts Behind Helsinki Roccamatios - Yann Martel # Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett ---->DONE # The Wars - Timothy Findley ---->DONE # V For Vendetta - Alan Moore & David Lloyd ---->DONE # Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden # Faust - Goethe ---->DONE # The World According to Garp - John Irving ---->DONE
Ten out of sixteen's not bad. On reflection I think that I never really planned to get around to a few of them. Reviews to follow.
Another list! I found a nifty little feature on the ol' Pod! Here are the Top 25 songs I listen to on my wundergadget!
1. "Anthems for a Seventeen-Year Old Girl" from You Forgot It In People - Broken Social Scene (92 plays) 2. "Kid A" from Kid A - Radiohead (73 plays) 3. "Bukowski" from Good News For People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse (71 plays) 4. "The View" from Good News For People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse (64 plays) 5. "Maps" from Fever to Tell - Yeah Yeah Yeahs (64 plays) 6. "Tick" from Fever to Tell - Yeah Yeah Yeahs (62 plays) 7. "Friend of the Night" from Mr. Beast - Mogwai (59 plays) 8. "The Engine Driver" from Picaresque - The Decemberists (58 plays) 9. "I'll Believe in Anything" from Apologies to the Queen Mary - Wolf Parade (57 plays) 10. "Words So Leisured" from Franz Ferdinand (Bonus Disc) - Franz Ferdinand (56 plays) 11. "Stella Was A Diver and She Was Always Down" from Turn on the Bright Lights - Interpol (54 plays) 12. "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" from Apologies to the Queen Mary - Wolf Parade (54 plays) 13. "Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)" from Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene (53 plays) 14. "Parting Gift" from Extraordinary Machine - Fiona Apple (50 plays) 15. "The Cold Part" from The Moon & Antarctica - Modest Mouse (50 plays) 16. "Finish Your Collapse and Stay For Breakfast" from Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene (49 plays) 17. "Jezebel" from Woman King EP - Iron & Wine (48 plays) 18. "Upward Over the Mountain" from The Creek Drank the Cradle - Iron & Wine (47 plays) 19. "Pink Moon" from Pink Moon - Nick Drake (47 plays) 20. "Twilight" from Pretty in Black - The Raveonettes (45 plays) 21. "7/4 (Shoreline)" from Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene (44 plays) 22. "Marching Bands of Manhattan" from Plans - Death Cab for Cutie (44 plays) 23. "A Different City" from The Moon & Antarctica - Modest Mouse (44 plays) 24. "Though I Hear You Calling, I Will Not Answer" from Blue Orchid Single - The White Stripes (44 plays) 25. "New Slang" from Oh, Inverted World - The Shins (43 plays)
Inspired by this feller, who I saw waiting for a bus the other day, and would have given a ride to, had I not been almost late for work, I'm going to make an attempt at my Top 10 albums. I may only get to 7. Stick around and see!
These are in no particular order and are numbered only so I don't have to keep going back and saying "ok, so that's four- no six!"
1) Fever To Tell - Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
I read a review that called this album "Oversexed and overjoyed" which seems appropriate. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs (besides having the best name in rock and roll) have put together a killer album brimming with ridiculous highs and dizzying lows, all the while boasting three incredibly unique musical talents. That, and the songwriting is just incredible.
Highlights: Date With The Night, Tick, Maps, Y Control
2) Knives Don't Have Your Back - Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton
A new one I know, but I find myself unable to put it aside. Take all the cutting intelligence, sparkle, and sex of Metric and coat the whole thing in an elegant melancholy. Ohh, it's lovely.
Highlights: Our Hell, Crowd Surf Off a Cliff, Reading in Bed, Winning
3) Iron & Wine - Woman King EP
Beautiful, elegant, and surprisingly angry. The whole album lasts less than half an hour, but it feels like an eternity that went by too quickly. Sam Beam's lyrics seem to have an endless depth and richness to them which makes repeated listens akin to re-reading a favourite book. Plus: Distortion!
Highlights: Woman King, Jezebel, Evening on the Ground (Lilith's Song)
4) Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Though it's unfortunate that the title song will be remembered by most as "that song from that car commercial!" Nick Drake's short and sweet Pink Moon album is gorgeous, quirky, existential mood music at it's best. Is there anyone else who could get away with a one minute and twenty-three second instrumental song on an album that's only twenty-eight minutes long to begin with? It fits, and I guess that's what's important.
Highlights: Pink Moon, Road, Horn, Know
5) Son House - Original Delta Blues
This isn't exactly an According to Hoyle album, but then Son House doesn't have any real albums to speak of; more of a series of recordings. So this is kind of a "Best Of" I suppose, but it still packs a mighty punch. Son House is the blues. He's dark, angry, and surprisingly sexy. Not to mention that voice. Just TRY and fuck with this man.
Highlights: Death Letter Blues, John The Revelator, Grinnin' In Your Face, Levee Camp Moan
6) Sigur Ros - ( ) Untitled #1
Again, not exactly a real album, but a single instead. Still, this short offering packs more of an emotional wallop than a full length Sigur Ros album, which (though I enjoy them mightily) I sometimes can't help but tune out. The three tracks which accompany Untitled #1 from the Parentheses album perfectly add to an already stunning track, expanding on the original without diluting it. Plus the fourth track was my theme music when I played Edmond in King Lear!
Highlights: Untitled #1, Untitled 9A, Untitled 9B
7) The White Stripes - Elephant
It's a classic. This is the gold standard that rock and roll will have to live up to in our generation. Aside from the hard rocking that goes on in many of the tracks, there is a palpable insecurity to Jack's lyrics which makes this much more than a fuzzed-out rock blitz. The beast has a heart. Plus Meg sings!
Highlights: Seven Nation Army, Black Math, In the Cold Cold Night, You've Got Her in Your Pocket, Little Acorns, Hypnotize, The Air Near My Fingers
8) The White Stripes - De Stijl
And in the end I couldn't pick just one. This album could have made the cut based solely on the meaty cover of Son House's "Death Letter Blues," but the whole album celebrates the band's influences in a uniquely Stripes way.
Highlights: You're Pretty Good Looking (For a Girl), Hello Operator, Little Bird, Apple Blossom, Death Letter, Why Can't You Be Nicer To Me?, Your Southern Can is Mine
And, as an added bonus:
9) You Say Party! We Say Die! - Hit the Floor!
I can't listen to this album without coming out in a better mood. In fact, it seems designed to perform that specific action. The opening overture is apocalyptic and seems to agree that yes, the world does suck and is crumbling. But the rest of the album says "We may as well have some fun while we're still here." Catchy and intrisically danceable.
Highlights: Cold Hands! Hot Bodies, Stockholm Syndrome Part 2, The Gap (Between the Rich and the Poor), Midnight Snack, He!She!You!Me!They!We!Us!OK!
10) Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
I was kind of impartial to this album at first, until I discovered the joys of listening to it really really loudly. The sound is so rich and full and it deserves the full attention of your speakers. Plus, the more I think about it the more each track is spectacular in its own way.
Highlights: Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day), 7/4 (Shoreline), Fire Eye'd Boy, Superconnected, Bandwitch
Runners Up! (Will possibly make the list next time)
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys Funeral - Arcade Fire Architecture - Amy Campbell Strong Bad Sings & Other Type Hits - The Brothers Chaps Picaresque - The Decemberists The Dresden Dolls - The Dresden Dolls Live at Town Hall - Eels with Strings Veni Vidi Viscious - The Hives Van Lear Rose - Loretta Lynn Good News For People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse Come Away With Me - Norah Jones Kid A - Radiohead Pretty In Black - The Raveonettes Chutes Too Narrow - The Shins Navy Blues - Sloan So Jealous - Tegan & Sara The Eraser - Thom Yorke Little Earthquakes - Tori Amos The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground The White Stripes - The White Stripes Tommy - The Who
Way way back in October '05 (or what may easily be referred to as the "Pre-Enlightenment Era") I made a short list of the modern goddesses of Rock and Roll. Here is an updated list (once again in no particular order):
I just saw these fine folks perform a smashing set!
I wish I'd had the fortitude of mind to bring my camera, but I was coming right from work and I'm part dolt on my uncle's side, so I forgot. Here's a picture someone else took.... from a different show. I tell you, if I didn't only have eyes for Jenny I might have been tempted to chat up Ms. Krista Loewen (aka the bespectacled gal playing those keyboards)...... I never would have been able to. She's way too cool.
They were a very accessable band, nice enough to take a request. Jenny wanted to hear "Midnight Snack" so before the show I asked Krista if they were going to play it. She said it wasn't on the setlist, but that they would work it in if we yelled out for it. So Jenny and I set about making comments such as "Say, look at the time! Just a little past 12. Hmm, I'm a bit peckish! I could go for a bite." I think they got a kick out of it, as it seemed like a good part of that song was directed at us. (Of course everyone says that, but we were pretty close so when a person with a bass guitar and a maniacal glint in his eye says "Whatcha doin' tonight? Whatcha doin' tonight?" You have to reply "I don't know, I ain't got no midnight snack!" like you mean it!)
They're playing tomorrow in Barrie and a few people are going. I'd love to, but I don't think I can afford it. However I'd be able to get a few pictures if I went... But I would have to go into debt.... but there'd be pictures.... and possibly videos.... but I have no money.... What to do.....
Lola Johnson: What if you die some day? Garrison Keillor: I will die. Lola Johnson: Don't you want people to remember you? Garrison Keillor: I don't want them to be told to remember me.
I will spend my day in my own quiet way and CNN is officially barred from my home for at least 24 hours.
I wish I didn't hurt and want to sleep so much because I want to rant and rave about how great the Metric show was, how I got to touch various parts of Emily Haines, how it was lots of fun setting up the stage/lights/speakers/instruments and hanging out with Kayla. We put a sign on Metric's bus door that read "If you're bored you can come and hang out with us! (We're nice people) Heart Kayla & Andrew." Nothing really came of that. But hanging out with the roadie crew (of two) has its benefits. ie/ Emily Haines' setlist which currently resides in my wallet and will be going somewhere very safe very soon.
Here is a clip from "Poster of a Girl" taken from about 5 feet away! Woot! And as predicted, YouTube fucked up the timing. Does anyone know how to fix that?
