Have I mentioned that work has been crazy busy of late? One of the digitization projects that has been coasting for ... well a long while ... has been bumped up to top priority, and with the stepped up timeline come a whole lot of staff who need to be trained to do (part of) what I do.
Last night, we went out to see Jann Arden in concert. I enjoyed the music (especially the songs off her new album, even if I don't think that "Free" was the best choice for a title) but really, truly wanted to take the teeny folding chairs we perched on and launch them into the sun.
This evening, as the wind and rain rattles the house -- enough of a worry that I brought out the candles and lanterns "just in case" -- I have been getting stuff done that got snugged in between the stuff I was supposed to be doing this month. Sigh. I was also watching CBS detective dramas (Criminal Minds and CSI NY) that were distractingly entertaining this week.
Speaking of distractingly entertaining....
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
18 November 2009
16 September 2009
Two Great Things
Quite by accident today, I found two great pop culture things on the internet. One is relatively new -- discovered through Darren Barefoot's blog -- and one goes back a long way -- discovered by searching for "The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll" on archive.org.
The former is a series of video essays collectively called The Evolution of the Modern Blockbuster. This series is fantastic for anyone who was paying attention in the 80s. It contrasts two summers: the peak of Reagan's America in 1984 and the building unease with consumer culture and subsequent rise of Generation X's distaste for Boomer ideologies in 1989. Each segment is about 8 minutes long and is very much worth your time -- if only for the nostalgia factor.
The latter is my New Favourite Thing, a radio program called Crap from the Past (I kid you not). Basically, it is made for me -- pop songs that span the full spectrum of classic to oh-my-god-where-did-you-find-that?? It runs on public radio in St. Paul, Minnesota and the archive has shows all the way back to 1992, pretty much 52 shows a year. That's a lot. However, I fell in love with it immediately when I opened the show for September 4th and found a playlist that included Barenaked Ladies, Styx, Harlequin, Chris DeBurgh, Howard Jones, and Big Pig (the song featured is Breakaway but I think I was one of about a dozen people across North America that once owned the whole album).
Each show is about 90 minutes and is split into three parts. I listened to several shows at work today and apparently, it was exactly what I needed because I got a lot of really tedious work done.
The former is a series of video essays collectively called The Evolution of the Modern Blockbuster. This series is fantastic for anyone who was paying attention in the 80s. It contrasts two summers: the peak of Reagan's America in 1984 and the building unease with consumer culture and subsequent rise of Generation X's distaste for Boomer ideologies in 1989. Each segment is about 8 minutes long and is very much worth your time -- if only for the nostalgia factor.
The latter is my New Favourite Thing, a radio program called Crap from the Past (I kid you not). Basically, it is made for me -- pop songs that span the full spectrum of classic to oh-my-god-where-did-you-find-that?? It runs on public radio in St. Paul, Minnesota and the archive has shows all the way back to 1992, pretty much 52 shows a year. That's a lot. However, I fell in love with it immediately when I opened the show for September 4th and found a playlist that included Barenaked Ladies, Styx, Harlequin, Chris DeBurgh, Howard Jones, and Big Pig (the song featured is Breakaway but I think I was one of about a dozen people across North America that once owned the whole album).
Each show is about 90 minutes and is split into three parts. I listened to several shows at work today and apparently, it was exactly what I needed because I got a lot of really tedious work done.
23 April 2009
Wait, it's Thursday already?
(Oh heck. It was Thursday when I started writing this; it's just past midnight now, so it is officially Friday.)
This has been one busy week - and continues to be. Work has been full of tasks that are heavy on the time they take and the physical side but light on the brain function required. Today I had my usual hour-long webinar class on Photoshop CS4 (totally free -- offered by Creative Techs in Seattle) but prior to that I had an interview for another job in the library. The position is at a much higher level and is in public services but with a tech and training slant. I should know by the weekend, or possibly early next week whether or not I am the successful candidate. If not, I still have my current job so it's all good.
Tonight Iam off to see got to see The Killers in concert -- so exciting! The last concert I went to was Blue Man Group and really, I don't think that counts as a rock concert. We also took our niece for her first ever concert (she's 16) and she seemed to be pretty excited about it all. The opening act was Wild Light -- kind of a Killers/Coldplay hybrid -- unremarkable for the most part though they did have one song I enjoyed. Of course that was the one they didn't name. Sigh. The Killers started strong, worked in some newer songs in the middle, then ended with three of my favourite tunes: Read My Mind (I love this song soooo much; I listen to it almost daily), Mister Brightside, and All These Things That I've Done (that's the one that goes, "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier" -- I can't separate that from Justin Timberlake, though, thanks to Southland.) They also came back for an encore with Bones, Jenny Was a Friend of Mine, and When You Were Young, complete with pyrotechnics. A few times I just closed my eyes and smiled, feeling the pounding bass course through my whole body. Worth. Every. Dime.
Tomorrow, I will be moving as much of the 5 yards of dirt we had delivered today from our driveway to the raised beds. Saturday we are off to Nanaimo, in search of garden ornaments for zombification, and Sunday is Hubby's birthday so we are celebrating with food, friends and family.
This has been one busy week - and continues to be. Work has been full of tasks that are heavy on the time they take and the physical side but light on the brain function required. Today I had my usual hour-long webinar class on Photoshop CS4 (totally free -- offered by Creative Techs in Seattle) but prior to that I had an interview for another job in the library. The position is at a much higher level and is in public services but with a tech and training slant. I should know by the weekend, or possibly early next week whether or not I am the successful candidate. If not, I still have my current job so it's all good.
Tonight I
Tomorrow, I will be moving as much of the 5 yards of dirt we had delivered today from our driveway to the raised beds. Saturday we are off to Nanaimo, in search of garden ornaments for zombification, and Sunday is Hubby's birthday so we are celebrating with food, friends and family.
27 February 2009
Music that Shaped my World...
This list started life as one of those memes on Facebook,
Except that it really made me think and it took me three days to write it so I figured I would post it here, too. I'm adding "buy me" links to Amazon.ca where possible for your convenience and/or reference.
1. Shaun Cassidy - Da Doo Ron Ron (vinyl) - first album I ever asked for. I played this on our console stereo with my giant headphones on until you could see through the vinyl. It was pure, sugary pop right off the pages of Teen Beat/Tiger Beat (back when those magazines existed, damn I feel old). [out of print; closest available is Shaun Cassidy's Greatest Hits
]
2. Beach Boys - Concert (1964) (vinyl) - one my Dad got for me in hopes that I would stop listening to Shaun Cassidy. It actually worked for a while and these live recordings are some of my favourite versions of their songs. It also has the clean-cut image of them on the front in their matching wide-striped shirts which is quite the contrast to the shaggy 70s beach-bums version illustrated on the Endless Summer compilation I later received. [Concert/Live In London
; Endless Summer
]
3. The Who - Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy (vinyl) - first album I ever decided I had to get because I liked a guy who liked the band (sadly, this stalkerish habit was repeated frequently through school and into university) - It's a compilation album which made a great introduction to the band (everything from My Generation to Pinball Wizard to Boris the Spider). In the end, my attachment to the album far outlasted any attachment I had to the guy. [Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy
]
4. Styx - Paradise Theatre (vinyl) - Though I have since replaced this on CD, the vinyl was magical. The album art showed the fictional theatre in its prime on the front and in decay on the back, the gatefold inside showed the band members in all their late-70s glory as if it were the playbill of the theatre lobby. The vinyl featured a rainbowy laser-etched print of the theatre logo (the two mermaid like women) that was visible when you held it up to the light just so. Like coloured vinyl, this was a bit of a gimmick but to the 11 year old me, this was pure awesome. [Paradise Theatre
]
5. Beatles - 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 (vinyl). These two double albums were my introduction to the Beatles and, while they are no substitution for the actual catalog of Beatles albums, they truly showcase the Beatles' range of musical styles. If you made me pick my favourite Beatles album right now it would be the White Album, but you could do worse than to start your collection with this pair of albums.[1962-1966
; 1967-1970
]
6. Michael Jackson - Thriller (cassette) - yes, yes. But at the time, it was awesome. I think this was the first album I bought with my own cash. It featured Vincent Price and Paul McCartney plus it was ridiculously danceable. I still love the title track but the rest of it... well, it hasn't exactly held up for me.[Thriller
]
7. Pet Shop Boys - Please (cassette) - my initiation into British synth-pop and the beginning of a decade long obsession with the genre and with the PSB in particular. The Brits infuse their pop with bitterness, sarcasm, wit, and anger and the Pet Shop Boys mastered this. Opportunities? Suburbia? Brillianlty angry at Thatcher's England. I've thinned out my collection over the years but for a long time I collected every album, single and remix I could lay hands on.[Please
]
8. Gowan - Strange Animal (cassette) - When I first saw Gowan's video for A Criminal Mind, I was blown away by not only the combo of live action and animation, but also by the music and Gowan's voice. I would rewind and listen to Criminal Mind over and over and over (or rather I would flip over the cassette and fast-forward to the right spot, then flip it back and listen again since my first "personal stereo" was some knock-off brand by K-Mart that only had three buttons.... but I digress). The rest of the album ranged from precocious to goofy, but that song.... it resonated so strongly for me. At some point, I managed to see him in concert at the Royal Theatre and I was even more in awe. Lawrence "you can call me Larry" Gowan is a classically trained pianist who is absolutely amazing to watch on stage (yes, I would like to see him perform with Styx, actually). He is one of my favourite Canadians and remains a staple in the CanCon portion of my collection. [Out of print, as is his best of, but there is a dvd compilation which I've also added to my wishlist! Gowan: Live in Concert
]
9. Weird Al Yankovic - Dare to be Stupid (cassette) - this wasn't the first novelty album I owned, or the first Weird Al album I'd listened to, but it was the first of his that I listened to front to back to the point of knowing every word to every track. My favourite track was "One More Minute," with lines like "I'd rather jump into a swimming pool filled with double edged razor blades, than spend one more minute with you" it was the perfect screw you song whenever I was feeling jilted. [Dare To Be Stupid
]
10. Kate Bush - The Whole Story (cassette) - I never realized who Kate Bush was until I saw the haunting video for Experiment IV (a favourite on Much Music even as it was banned in her own country on Top of the Pops) that prompted me to rush out and buy this album. Even though it is a best of compilation, I actually prefer it to most of her other albums which I find to be uneven. It was one of the few cassettes I took with me to England in 1987 so it is also tied up with many memories of my time there. [Whole Story
]
11. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (cd) - I bought this from an overstock bin and loved it immediately. The type of rap on this album, heavy with samples, was still too fresh to be mainstream. Now it's seen as groundbreaking and it has recently been remastered and re-released. It's one of those albums that needs to be listened to in order to get the most out of it, but that didn't stop me from putting Hey Ladies on nearly every mix tape I made for a year. [Pauls Boutique
]
12. Madonna - Erotica (cd) while I can barely look at her or listen to her music now, I used to be a huge fan. Erotica came out the same time as her book Sex (which I also owned for some time) and the two are intertwined in my mind at the peak of my fandom for her. The other huge thing? The video for Bad Girl (directed by David Fincher and featuring Christopher Walken as an angel of death) was my favourite thing ever for months. [Erotica
]
13. Beautiful South - Welcome to the Beautiful South (cd) - Song for Whoever and Woman in the Wall are both so wickedly sarcastic and yet sound like twinkly europop that I couldn't not like them. I feel like the Beautiful South are some bastard stepchild of The Smiths and Tracey Ullman, a combination that really works for me. I stupidly lent this album to a "friend" who moved away with it; I really should replace it. [Welcome To The Beautiful South
]
14. Depeche Mode - Violator (cd) - Personal Jesus and Enjoy the Silence were anthems for an entire summer that peaked with my getting a spare ticket to see them perform in Vancouver. I still think Clean is one of the most hauntingly erotic songs ever written even though it's not really about sex. I have quite a bit of Depeche Mode in my collection, but this album is probably still my favourite as an album. During one memorable house party, I reworked the lyrics to Personal Jesus, coming up with "My own personal freezer, somewhere to keep my beer, somewhere that's near..." [Violator
]
15. Garth Brooks - Ropin the Wind (cd) - while not my first country album (uh, that would be Dolly Parton 9 to 5) this was the one that got me into my Country Music Phase, complete with line dancing. Sigh. Still, Brooks weaves some wonderful tales on this album and I still quote from "We Bury the Hatchet." [Ropin The Wind
]
16. Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks (cassette) - All I knew about Dylan for most of my life was the "Everybody must get stoned" song (Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35). That changed in 3rd year university when I took a course with the remarkable Dr. Stephen Scobie. One of the assignments was to examine and dissect the lyrics of a Dylan song so I found myself in the Music section of the library listening to as many of Dylan's albums as I could find. While I chose to examine a track from another album, I fell in love with Blood on the Tracks. Tangled up in Blue, Simple Twist of Fate, and Shelter from the Storm are truly poetic. [Blood On The Tracks
]
17. 2 Unlimited - Get Ready For This (cd) - Oh, early nineties dance. Energetic, repetitive, ridiculous. This whole album is now relegated to hockey arenas, cheer leading movies, and comedies that mock others, but for at least one summer, this was my soundtrack. And you know what? I still can't resist it. It's worth noting that we also used it for comedic effect in our fringe play as we promoted the faux tourist attraction, Lawnland (that deserves its own post, I think). [Get Ready for This
]
18. kd lang - ingenue (cd) - this album absolutely captivated me on several levels at a time in my life where everything was up for discussion. It was the summer following my graduation from University, I was living in a house on Fernwood and spending what money I had going out drinking and dancing but these were songs I could just wrap myself up in during the daylight hours, forgetting that I was broke and needed a regular job. [Ingenue
]
19. Barenaked Ladies - Stunt (cd) - I've been a fan of BNL from the beginning; they are Canadian dorks who made it big and Stunt was their biggest stab at global domination. One Week is an impossible to sing-along-to bounce fest and from there the album rolls through songs that show the band's full range. I think a big part of why this one mattered to me is that it made me go back and buy their other albums (only one of which I'd previously owned on cassette).[Stunt
]
20. Crystal Method - Vegas (cd) - maybe it was the opening monologue from the Dark Crystal that drew me in but it was ultimately the bass-laden club-friendly beat that made me wanna crank this album and hit the accellerator (not the best combo, but whatcha gonna do?). This stayed in our van until the CD-changer kicked the bucketand then I moved most of it to my mp3 player. [Vegas
]
21. Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous (cd) - I would never have heard about Rilo Kiley were it not for the Livejournal music-sharing group Audacity of which I was, for some time, an active member. Having heard "It's a Hit" I was willing to give the album a shot and it turned out to be one of my favourite purchases. Like many of my other faves, the songs here are lyrically playful and full of things that are a bit twisted (Accidental Deth is gloriously gloomy) folded into slightly twee alt-folk arrangements. [More Adventurous
]
22. Gwen Stefani - Love Angel Music Baby (cd) - despite the ridiculousness of the Hirajuku girls clinging to Gwen in every video, I loved everything about this album and it was one that the whole family listened to (I'm sure it's how my daughter learned how to spell bananas, right along side hearing "the bad s word"). We also had all of No Doubt's albums and this seemed a fair progression for lead singer Stefani and the songs had that lush layered sound that I crave. [Love, Angel, Music, Baby
]
23.William Shatner - Has Been - (cd) stop laughing, this is the album that made me a Shatner fan. If you've never listened to it, just find a copy of "That's Me Trying" which is basically a letter to his daughter whom he hasn't seen in years. It breaks my heart. It might help that the album is a collaboration with Ben Folds (I should own more of his music...) and features guest vocals by Aimee Mann and Joe Jackson but Shatner is a performer and this is an album of performance art. [Has Been
]
24.Killers - Hot Fuss (cd) - in the midst of a folk-rock renaissance doing battle with bootylicious hip-hop, The Killers reached out through the top 40 radio and shook me. They were (are) songs I can sing along with; songs with melody, harmony, crashing chords and so much body. It took me a while to buy this album, which is why it appears later in the list, but it stands up and I am very much looking forward to seeing them in concert in April. [Hot Fuss
]
25. Kanye West - College Dropout/Late Registration (cds) - I really can't separate these two albums since I bought them back to back. It started when we heard the song Jesus Walks on the trailer for Jarhead; I knew I needed that song. Not long after that, Kanye West stood up at the Grammy's and said, in response to the mishandling of the floods in New Orleans, "George Bush does not care about black people!" -- we literally went out the next weekend and bought both albums because we wanted to make sure we contributed to his staying in the public eye. [College Dropout
; Late Registration
]
Think of 25 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of, they musically shaped your world. They stood up, they lasted, they mattered. They still matter, in some way (even if only in memory).
Except that it really made me think and it took me three days to write it so I figured I would post it here, too. I'm adding "buy me" links to Amazon.ca where possible for your convenience and/or reference.
1. Shaun Cassidy - Da Doo Ron Ron (vinyl) - first album I ever asked for. I played this on our console stereo with my giant headphones on until you could see through the vinyl. It was pure, sugary pop right off the pages of Teen Beat/Tiger Beat (back when those magazines existed, damn I feel old). [out of print; closest available is Shaun Cassidy's Greatest Hits
]2. Beach Boys - Concert (1964) (vinyl) - one my Dad got for me in hopes that I would stop listening to Shaun Cassidy. It actually worked for a while and these live recordings are some of my favourite versions of their songs. It also has the clean-cut image of them on the front in their matching wide-striped shirts which is quite the contrast to the shaggy 70s beach-bums version illustrated on the Endless Summer compilation I later received. [Concert/Live In London
; Endless Summer]3. The Who - Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy (vinyl) - first album I ever decided I had to get because I liked a guy who liked the band (sadly, this stalkerish habit was repeated frequently through school and into university) - It's a compilation album which made a great introduction to the band (everything from My Generation to Pinball Wizard to Boris the Spider). In the end, my attachment to the album far outlasted any attachment I had to the guy. [Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy
]4. Styx - Paradise Theatre (vinyl) - Though I have since replaced this on CD, the vinyl was magical. The album art showed the fictional theatre in its prime on the front and in decay on the back, the gatefold inside showed the band members in all their late-70s glory as if it were the playbill of the theatre lobby. The vinyl featured a rainbowy laser-etched print of the theatre logo (the two mermaid like women) that was visible when you held it up to the light just so. Like coloured vinyl, this was a bit of a gimmick but to the 11 year old me, this was pure awesome. [Paradise Theatre
]5. Beatles - 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 (vinyl). These two double albums were my introduction to the Beatles and, while they are no substitution for the actual catalog of Beatles albums, they truly showcase the Beatles' range of musical styles. If you made me pick my favourite Beatles album right now it would be the White Album, but you could do worse than to start your collection with this pair of albums.[1962-1966
; 1967-1970]6. Michael Jackson - Thriller (cassette) - yes, yes. But at the time, it was awesome. I think this was the first album I bought with my own cash. It featured Vincent Price and Paul McCartney plus it was ridiculously danceable. I still love the title track but the rest of it... well, it hasn't exactly held up for me.[Thriller
]7. Pet Shop Boys - Please (cassette) - my initiation into British synth-pop and the beginning of a decade long obsession with the genre and with the PSB in particular. The Brits infuse their pop with bitterness, sarcasm, wit, and anger and the Pet Shop Boys mastered this. Opportunities? Suburbia? Brillianlty angry at Thatcher's England. I've thinned out my collection over the years but for a long time I collected every album, single and remix I could lay hands on.[Please
]8. Gowan - Strange Animal (cassette) - When I first saw Gowan's video for A Criminal Mind, I was blown away by not only the combo of live action and animation, but also by the music and Gowan's voice. I would rewind and listen to Criminal Mind over and over and over (or rather I would flip over the cassette and fast-forward to the right spot, then flip it back and listen again since my first "personal stereo" was some knock-off brand by K-Mart that only had three buttons.... but I digress). The rest of the album ranged from precocious to goofy, but that song.... it resonated so strongly for me. At some point, I managed to see him in concert at the Royal Theatre and I was even more in awe. Lawrence "you can call me Larry" Gowan is a classically trained pianist who is absolutely amazing to watch on stage (yes, I would like to see him perform with Styx, actually). He is one of my favourite Canadians and remains a staple in the CanCon portion of my collection. [Out of print, as is his best of, but there is a dvd compilation which I've also added to my wishlist! Gowan: Live in Concert
]9. Weird Al Yankovic - Dare to be Stupid (cassette) - this wasn't the first novelty album I owned, or the first Weird Al album I'd listened to, but it was the first of his that I listened to front to back to the point of knowing every word to every track. My favourite track was "One More Minute," with lines like "I'd rather jump into a swimming pool filled with double edged razor blades, than spend one more minute with you" it was the perfect screw you song whenever I was feeling jilted. [Dare To Be Stupid
]10. Kate Bush - The Whole Story (cassette) - I never realized who Kate Bush was until I saw the haunting video for Experiment IV (a favourite on Much Music even as it was banned in her own country on Top of the Pops) that prompted me to rush out and buy this album. Even though it is a best of compilation, I actually prefer it to most of her other albums which I find to be uneven. It was one of the few cassettes I took with me to England in 1987 so it is also tied up with many memories of my time there. [Whole Story
]11. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (cd) - I bought this from an overstock bin and loved it immediately. The type of rap on this album, heavy with samples, was still too fresh to be mainstream. Now it's seen as groundbreaking and it has recently been remastered and re-released. It's one of those albums that needs to be listened to in order to get the most out of it, but that didn't stop me from putting Hey Ladies on nearly every mix tape I made for a year. [Pauls Boutique
]12. Madonna - Erotica (cd) while I can barely look at her or listen to her music now, I used to be a huge fan. Erotica came out the same time as her book Sex (which I also owned for some time) and the two are intertwined in my mind at the peak of my fandom for her. The other huge thing? The video for Bad Girl (directed by David Fincher and featuring Christopher Walken as an angel of death) was my favourite thing ever for months. [Erotica
]13. Beautiful South - Welcome to the Beautiful South (cd) - Song for Whoever and Woman in the Wall are both so wickedly sarcastic and yet sound like twinkly europop that I couldn't not like them. I feel like the Beautiful South are some bastard stepchild of The Smiths and Tracey Ullman, a combination that really works for me. I stupidly lent this album to a "friend" who moved away with it; I really should replace it. [Welcome To The Beautiful South
]14. Depeche Mode - Violator (cd) - Personal Jesus and Enjoy the Silence were anthems for an entire summer that peaked with my getting a spare ticket to see them perform in Vancouver. I still think Clean is one of the most hauntingly erotic songs ever written even though it's not really about sex. I have quite a bit of Depeche Mode in my collection, but this album is probably still my favourite as an album. During one memorable house party, I reworked the lyrics to Personal Jesus, coming up with "My own personal freezer, somewhere to keep my beer, somewhere that's near..." [Violator
]15. Garth Brooks - Ropin the Wind (cd) - while not my first country album (uh, that would be Dolly Parton 9 to 5) this was the one that got me into my Country Music Phase, complete with line dancing. Sigh. Still, Brooks weaves some wonderful tales on this album and I still quote from "We Bury the Hatchet." [Ropin The Wind
]16. Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks (cassette) - All I knew about Dylan for most of my life was the "Everybody must get stoned" song (Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35). That changed in 3rd year university when I took a course with the remarkable Dr. Stephen Scobie. One of the assignments was to examine and dissect the lyrics of a Dylan song so I found myself in the Music section of the library listening to as many of Dylan's albums as I could find. While I chose to examine a track from another album, I fell in love with Blood on the Tracks. Tangled up in Blue, Simple Twist of Fate, and Shelter from the Storm are truly poetic. [Blood On The Tracks
]17. 2 Unlimited - Get Ready For This (cd) - Oh, early nineties dance. Energetic, repetitive, ridiculous. This whole album is now relegated to hockey arenas, cheer leading movies, and comedies that mock others, but for at least one summer, this was my soundtrack. And you know what? I still can't resist it. It's worth noting that we also used it for comedic effect in our fringe play as we promoted the faux tourist attraction, Lawnland (that deserves its own post, I think). [Get Ready for This
]18. kd lang - ingenue (cd) - this album absolutely captivated me on several levels at a time in my life where everything was up for discussion. It was the summer following my graduation from University, I was living in a house on Fernwood and spending what money I had going out drinking and dancing but these were songs I could just wrap myself up in during the daylight hours, forgetting that I was broke and needed a regular job. [Ingenue
]19. Barenaked Ladies - Stunt (cd) - I've been a fan of BNL from the beginning; they are Canadian dorks who made it big and Stunt was their biggest stab at global domination. One Week is an impossible to sing-along-to bounce fest and from there the album rolls through songs that show the band's full range. I think a big part of why this one mattered to me is that it made me go back and buy their other albums (only one of which I'd previously owned on cassette).[Stunt
]20. Crystal Method - Vegas (cd) - maybe it was the opening monologue from the Dark Crystal that drew me in but it was ultimately the bass-laden club-friendly beat that made me wanna crank this album and hit the accellerator (not the best combo, but whatcha gonna do?). This stayed in our van until the CD-changer kicked the bucketand then I moved most of it to my mp3 player. [Vegas
]21. Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous (cd) - I would never have heard about Rilo Kiley were it not for the Livejournal music-sharing group Audacity of which I was, for some time, an active member. Having heard "It's a Hit" I was willing to give the album a shot and it turned out to be one of my favourite purchases. Like many of my other faves, the songs here are lyrically playful and full of things that are a bit twisted (Accidental Deth is gloriously gloomy) folded into slightly twee alt-folk arrangements. [More Adventurous
]22. Gwen Stefani - Love Angel Music Baby (cd) - despite the ridiculousness of the Hirajuku girls clinging to Gwen in every video, I loved everything about this album and it was one that the whole family listened to (I'm sure it's how my daughter learned how to spell bananas, right along side hearing "the bad s word"). We also had all of No Doubt's albums and this seemed a fair progression for lead singer Stefani and the songs had that lush layered sound that I crave. [Love, Angel, Music, Baby
]23.William Shatner - Has Been - (cd) stop laughing, this is the album that made me a Shatner fan. If you've never listened to it, just find a copy of "That's Me Trying" which is basically a letter to his daughter whom he hasn't seen in years. It breaks my heart. It might help that the album is a collaboration with Ben Folds (I should own more of his music...) and features guest vocals by Aimee Mann and Joe Jackson but Shatner is a performer and this is an album of performance art. [Has Been
]24.Killers - Hot Fuss (cd) - in the midst of a folk-rock renaissance doing battle with bootylicious hip-hop, The Killers reached out through the top 40 radio and shook me. They were (are) songs I can sing along with; songs with melody, harmony, crashing chords and so much body. It took me a while to buy this album, which is why it appears later in the list, but it stands up and I am very much looking forward to seeing them in concert in April. [Hot Fuss
]25. Kanye West - College Dropout/Late Registration (cds) - I really can't separate these two albums since I bought them back to back. It started when we heard the song Jesus Walks on the trailer for Jarhead; I knew I needed that song. Not long after that, Kanye West stood up at the Grammy's and said, in response to the mishandling of the floods in New Orleans, "George Bush does not care about black people!" -- we literally went out the next weekend and bought both albums because we wanted to make sure we contributed to his staying in the public eye. [College Dropout
; Late Registration]
25 February 2009
Sad song, decent video
The one problem with William Shatner's album Has Been is the lack of music videos. Thankfully, people have taken the situation into their own hands... here's a nice machinima* video for my favourite track off the album, "That's Me Trying"
Like it? Buy the album -- it's pretty much all that good.
*machinima is apparently the term for this Sims-like animation. Now you know, too.
is the lack of music videos. Thankfully, people have taken the situation into their own hands... here's a nice machinima* video for my favourite track off the album, "That's Me Trying"Like it? Buy the album
-- it's pretty much all that good.*machinima is apparently the term for this Sims-like animation. Now you know, too.
13 October 2008
02 August 2008
Hair and Music
Thanks to my black-dyed hair, getting colour on my head other than black took a lot of effort but my hairdresser persevered and so I have chunks of a nice orangey-red mingled in among the black. She also re-did the roots so that things would blend ... hooray! It took almost three hours start to finish... but I think it was worth it.
After finishing my hair, we went into town and grabbed some lunch then wandered to Centennial Square to take in some of the Victoria Electronic Music Festival. Unfortunately, it did not live up to our expectations... so we left after an hour. (Part of the problem was that Kiddo wanted to be there but wished "whoever was making the music so thumpy and jumpy would stop." I tried to explain that the thumping and jumping was pretty much at the core of electronic music, but she wasn't buying it.)
After finishing my hair, we went into town and grabbed some lunch then wandered to Centennial Square to take in some of the Victoria Electronic Music Festival. Unfortunately, it did not live up to our expectations... so we left after an hour. (Part of the problem was that Kiddo wanted to be there but wished "whoever was making the music so thumpy and jumpy would stop." I tried to explain that the thumping and jumping was pretty much at the core of electronic music, but she wasn't buying it.)
14 July 2008
Regrets...
This video is wonderful on several levels. Found via BoingBoing and well worth seeing (more than once):
It was created by searching Google for "my biggest regret" and using some of those words to illustrate the artist's song.
It was created by searching Google for "my biggest regret" and using some of those words to illustrate the artist's song.
06 May 2008
Donkey Rhubarb?
Yes, those two words do go together, if only in the title of this Aphex Twin track that I found via Nerd Litter (a blog I'll be re-visiting). The video features some disturbing bright-coloured teddy bears with grinning idiot human faces.... and yet, I couldn't stop watching it....
29 April 2008
One of those days....
Today has been... one of those days. Nothing major wrong, just a bucketful of little annoyances and my head isn't in the right space to deal with them.
Anyway, I have been listening to the most wonderful mashup that fixed my mood: it's called Haunted Bela and it mixes the narration from the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland with Bauhaus's "Bela Lugosi's Dead."
There's a link to the song and more info at BoingBoing (the original link which is crossed through seems to be the live one, not the mirror).
Anyway, I have been listening to the most wonderful mashup that fixed my mood: it's called Haunted Bela and it mixes the narration from the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland with Bauhaus's "Bela Lugosi's Dead."
There's a link to the song and more info at BoingBoing (the original link which is crossed through seems to be the live one, not the mirror).
10 March 2008
Looking South of the 49th Parallel and raising an eyebrow.
Why? Several things... these among them:
Barack Obama has a Twitter feed. His latest note this morning says, "In Columbus,MS & wondering how somebody who's in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who's in first place." This makes me giggle as well as raise my brow because... well, this time the Democratic race seems to be split by age. Elder Boomers and the party elite still seem to be behind Hilary but that Obama bandwagon is overflowing with GenX and GenY types. Maybe I'm wrong there... if so, could you point me to some stats?
The LAist is concerned about Satan's Ice Cream Truck, or rather, the tune that one particular truck plays. The article provides the audio (albeit very rough and slightly garbled) and it sounds familiar to me... but I have never taken a Music Appreciation class so I can't quite put my finger on it.... Any music scholars in the audience care to take a stab at it?
New reports suggest many Americans are drinking drugs; trace amounts of a cocktail of pharmaceuticals (and likely a few illicit drugs, too) are showing up in water supplies across the states. When I first saw the teaser for the news last night, "What's in your water?" I told the TV it was urine. Unfortunately, I wasn't really far off:
Eww.
Barack Obama has a Twitter feed. His latest note this morning says, "In Columbus,MS & wondering how somebody who's in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who's in first place." This makes me giggle as well as raise my brow because... well, this time the Democratic race seems to be split by age. Elder Boomers and the party elite still seem to be behind Hilary but that Obama bandwagon is overflowing with GenX and GenY types. Maybe I'm wrong there... if so, could you point me to some stats?
The LAist is concerned about Satan's Ice Cream Truck, or rather, the tune that one particular truck plays. The article provides the audio (albeit very rough and slightly garbled) and it sounds familiar to me... but I have never taken a Music Appreciation class so I can't quite put my finger on it.... Any music scholars in the audience care to take a stab at it?
New reports suggest many Americans are drinking drugs; trace amounts of a cocktail of pharmaceuticals (and likely a few illicit drugs, too) are showing up in water supplies across the states. When I first saw the teaser for the news last night, "What's in your water?" I told the TV it was urine. Unfortunately, I wasn't really far off:
So how do the drugs get into the water? Well, people take the pills, pass out what they don't absorb and flush the toilet. Wastewater is treated before it is discharged and often treated again at drinking water treatment plants but most treatments do not remove all drug residues.
Eww.
09 January 2008
Therapy has a volume level
... and mine seems to be around 11.
My ears are still ringing from the succession of loud, obnoxious music I cranked during the bus ride home, probably loud enough to disturb fellow commuters. I had a busy, frustrating day at work (interesting, at least, but I broke my brain in three places) and I required some very loud tunes to drown out the rest of the world and refocus. Luckily, my mp3 player dished out in rapid succession, Metallica's Enter Sandman; Bloodhound Gang's Bad Touch, Outkast's Hey Ya, LCD Soundsystem's North American Scum and Boney M's Rasputin. Awesome.
(**I can't believe I found YouTube links for all of those songs!)
Today, we began the real work on our latest digitization project which involves a number of resources dealing with Victoria's early history (ca. 1855 - ca. 1910). Included in the project are 5 hand-coloured maps of parts of Vancouver Island. Below is a shot of one of our attempts to photograph one of the maps:
We spent almost the whole day trying to get a usable image of that one map from the equipment we have into the computers we have on hand. Not as simple as I had anticipated. Most of the other documents should be straightforward aside from one diary/scrapbook (1874-1907) which is too large to fit on the book scanner (which puts less pressure on the spine), too delicate for our flatbed scanner, and may not lend itself to being easily photographed.
I came home to find that Canada Post, after under-charging me and my asking if the under-charging was correct, decided after the fact that in fact I had paid insufficient postage, thus returning the package I had sent to an etsy buyer on Saturday. I have emailed the buyer with my apologies and I will re-send the package tomorrow.
Happily, it's not all stress and grumpiness in my world. Last night I finished binding the 4oth and final Coffee Haiku book, so now I have to find some buyers! I also made some pendants from some of the "gemstones" (i.e. polished rocks) I bought at the Scratch Patch on Sunday. Today, along with the returned mail there was also a package from Sally Ride Science containing a complimentary copy of the curriculum guide in which my photo appears: Living Green (my photo is on page 29).
Last, but definitely not least, the grad student with whom I will be working for the next month on the above project is easy to work with. When he used the word "grok" in context and without calling attention to it, I knew we'd get along just fine.
My ears are still ringing from the succession of loud, obnoxious music I cranked during the bus ride home, probably loud enough to disturb fellow commuters. I had a busy, frustrating day at work (interesting, at least, but I broke my brain in three places) and I required some very loud tunes to drown out the rest of the world and refocus. Luckily, my mp3 player dished out in rapid succession, Metallica's Enter Sandman; Bloodhound Gang's Bad Touch, Outkast's Hey Ya, LCD Soundsystem's North American Scum and Boney M's Rasputin. Awesome.
(**I can't believe I found YouTube links for all of those songs!)
Today, we began the real work on our latest digitization project which involves a number of resources dealing with Victoria's early history (ca. 1855 - ca. 1910). Included in the project are 5 hand-coloured maps of parts of Vancouver Island. Below is a shot of one of our attempts to photograph one of the maps:
We spent almost the whole day trying to get a usable image of that one map from the equipment we have into the computers we have on hand. Not as simple as I had anticipated. Most of the other documents should be straightforward aside from one diary/scrapbook (1874-1907) which is too large to fit on the book scanner (which puts less pressure on the spine), too delicate for our flatbed scanner, and may not lend itself to being easily photographed.
I came home to find that Canada Post, after under-charging me and my asking if the under-charging was correct, decided after the fact that in fact I had paid insufficient postage, thus returning the package I had sent to an etsy buyer on Saturday. I have emailed the buyer with my apologies and I will re-send the package tomorrow.
Happily, it's not all stress and grumpiness in my world. Last night I finished binding the 4oth and final Coffee Haiku book, so now I have to find some buyers! I also made some pendants from some of the "gemstones" (i.e. polished rocks) I bought at the Scratch Patch on Sunday. Today, along with the returned mail there was also a package from Sally Ride Science containing a complimentary copy of the curriculum guide in which my photo appears: Living Green (my photo is on page 29).
Last, but definitely not least, the grad student with whom I will be working for the next month on the above project is easy to work with. When he used the word "grok" in context and without calling attention to it, I knew we'd get along just fine.
17 December 2007
Hey, DJ!
You know, if I had buckets of money one of the side jobs I'd probably try just for the heck of it would be to DJ at a club. No, really. I used to love being on the dance-floor and realizing that the song had changed but I hadn't noticed because the DJ had run them together so smoothly. That sort of beat-mixing really rocks my world (literally and figuratively). Now, it's been a long time since I have been to a club (now I would just be one of those sad 30something people that my 20something self used to snicker about) but I still listen to a lot of music.
Once in a while, I will crank my mp3 player to "ridiculously loud" (one setting below "you must really want to go deaf") and just lose myself in the beat. Usually this is on the bus and sometimes leads to me looking quite crazy as I forget that people can see me while I lipsync along or bob my head, tap my fingers or otherwise groove to the rhythm; it looks especially odd when my headphones are "invisible" under my long hair. Still, I don't much care, being a sad 30something anyway.
When I was a teen, two of my friends set up their own "canned music" business. They would pile all their equipment (a mixer, two turntables, a cassette deck, and a brand new thing called a CD player, plus various speakers, amps and cables) plus a fairly huge music collection into the back of a very big Volare station wagon and haul everything to a local rec centre for all ages dances on Friday nights. Usually, I had nothing better to do but tag along, so I learned a lot about mixing from them.
Later, another friend actually had a regular gig at a club (on an off night like Wednesday) and I went a few times, but I never liked the way he mixed tracks -- they often crashed into each other in the aural equivalent of a fender bender -- and I always thought I could do better. Instead, I expressed myself with mixtapes and later mixCDs. Of course I didn't use a mixer for either format, but I did try to make sure the songs flowed from one to the next.
Now, though, it's just me and my mp3 player... and when it is on shuffle, I don't have any control over how well (or how poorly) the tracks will mesh... but once in a while... I get that perfect blend... and I'm all smiles for the rest of the day.
Once in a while, I will crank my mp3 player to "ridiculously loud" (one setting below "you must really want to go deaf") and just lose myself in the beat. Usually this is on the bus and sometimes leads to me looking quite crazy as I forget that people can see me while I lipsync along or bob my head, tap my fingers or otherwise groove to the rhythm; it looks especially odd when my headphones are "invisible" under my long hair. Still, I don't much care, being a sad 30something anyway.
When I was a teen, two of my friends set up their own "canned music" business. They would pile all their equipment (a mixer, two turntables, a cassette deck, and a brand new thing called a CD player, plus various speakers, amps and cables) plus a fairly huge music collection into the back of a very big Volare station wagon and haul everything to a local rec centre for all ages dances on Friday nights. Usually, I had nothing better to do but tag along, so I learned a lot about mixing from them.
Later, another friend actually had a regular gig at a club (on an off night like Wednesday) and I went a few times, but I never liked the way he mixed tracks -- they often crashed into each other in the aural equivalent of a fender bender -- and I always thought I could do better. Instead, I expressed myself with mixtapes and later mixCDs. Of course I didn't use a mixer for either format, but I did try to make sure the songs flowed from one to the next.
Now, though, it's just me and my mp3 player... and when it is on shuffle, I don't have any control over how well (or how poorly) the tracks will mesh... but once in a while... I get that perfect blend... and I'm all smiles for the rest of the day.
21 June 2007
Summer Rain and Summer Concert
First day of summer and the smell of fresh rain greeted me.... after some clearing through the day, it seems to be ending the same way. I don't mind as it was getting too warm for me (mid 20s... too difficult to sleep, yes I am a sissy). When I arrived at work this morning, crews were tearing down the walls on the southwest corner of the library... very odd.
The construction and renovations are now going on all around the existing building, making it difficult to avoid all the noise that accompanies such activity. To compensate, I find myself more often wearing headphones. Last.fm was not working for me today, alas, so I dug through my drawer of CDs and pulled out an 80s compilation and found myself bopping merrily along to 88 Lines about 44 Women. I enjoyed it so much, I replayed the track. Twice. :)
Hubby met me for lunch and stuck around to work from the library this afternoon; he even joined me for "walkies" around the ring in lieu of afternoon coffee.
After work, we grabbed some sushi from Fujiya, gathered kiddo, had a quick dinner, and went back to her school for her summer concert. She was, as always, cute -- even though she was in the back row. Unfortunately, we were too far back and my photos ended up blurry. Sigh. Hubby did manage to get some video... but at least now we know to get there earlier next year.
.
The construction and renovations are now going on all around the existing building, making it difficult to avoid all the noise that accompanies such activity. To compensate, I find myself more often wearing headphones. Last.fm was not working for me today, alas, so I dug through my drawer of CDs and pulled out an 80s compilation and found myself bopping merrily along to 88 Lines about 44 Women. I enjoyed it so much, I replayed the track. Twice. :)
Hubby met me for lunch and stuck around to work from the library this afternoon; he even joined me for "walkies" around the ring in lieu of afternoon coffee.
After work, we grabbed some sushi from Fujiya, gathered kiddo, had a quick dinner, and went back to her school for her summer concert. She was, as always, cute -- even though she was in the back row. Unfortunately, we were too far back and my photos ended up blurry. Sigh. Hubby did manage to get some video... but at least now we know to get there earlier next year.
.
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