Now that NaBloPoMo is over and I’m fully entrenched in the last week of classes and final exams at school, I think posting here might become scarce for a couple of weeks. Just today, for example, my inbox has been exploding with frantic last-minute emails from my 120 students who all have a paper due tomorrow. This has been super fun, but I won’t say too much about it because I don’t want you all to be jealous.
Nonetheless, I wanted to pop over here and remind you to send me your address if you want to be included on my Winter Holiday Mix CD Mailing List of Excellence! You can reach me at zemblangrammar at gmail dot com. The mix is shaping up to be pretty cool this year, so I hope you are all going to enjoy it!
Also, there may be some changes afoot here at Zemblan Grammar. If you would like to be kept abreast of any developments, make sure I have your email address. Either shoot me a note or leave a comment with your email address included in the appropriate field.
I thoroughly enjoyed the latest movie from the Twilight series, New Moon. If you know me at all, you know my deep and abiding love for both vampire stories and stories set in high schools, so this series forms a great combination. I’m not going to sit here and tell you why it isn’t lame for me to be into this stuff, though. If you’re not into the Twilight books and movies, catch up with me again tomorrow — I’ll still be slogging away at the keyboard for National Blog Posting Month!
OK then. Now that it’s just us fans left hanging around, I can tell you what I loved about the movie! Some spoilers ahead if you haven’t read the book. If you have read the book, nothing I tell you will surprise you, so feel free to proceed.
Edited to Add: Please move along if you have no interest in seeing the movie. Thanks.
I really was/am not a fan of Jacob in the books. The way he’s written, he just seems to me to be annoying and not even very cute. In the movies, on the other hand, I kind of love Jacob. Taylor Lautner made him much more likeable in the first movie, even with that annoying wig on. (Luckily in New Moon he goes to his own naturally short hair.) He just seems to be such an easy-wheeling kind of guy, and the scenes between Jacob and Bella had great chemistry.
JACOB: Wait, why am I wearing this shirt? BELLA: Good question.
The rest of the werewolf pack added their own certain something to the film, if you know what I am saying, Ladies, and I think that you do.
Oh, indeed. That is better.
As in Twilight, I also really enjoyed the other high-school characters when they were around. The awkward date with Mike and Jacob was done really well, and Jessica was hilarious in her scenes once again.
Subtle, guys. Subtle.
For me, the biggest improvement made in New Moon was the near absence of Bella’s voice-over narration. I hated that element in Twilight. It felt as if we had to sit and listen to Kristen Stewart read out the whole entire novel in all its silly prose. This time the filmmakers made the wise decision to limit that, and to give it some additional structural purpose above and beyond just voice-over narration (we hear Bella reading emails she has sent to Alice and see them being bounced back to her, unopened).
The makeup and special effects were also much better this time around. I think they had a bigger budget and it showed. The sparkling was more readable on screen and the vampires actually looked creepily supernatural as opposed to just weirdly pale like they did in Twilight (where paleness seemed to be the rule for all the characters anyway, making it not even really that weird).
My only problem with the movie was that this time around they opted to film in British Columbia instead of in Oregon — and while sure, most viewers can’t tell the difference, it means that I can’t anoyingly nudge people while watching the film and be all “HEY THAT’S IN OREGON YOU KNOW. I USED TO LIVE THERE. IT REALLY IS THAT PRETTY.”
While I’m thinking of things that could be described as “pretty,” here is a picture of Robert Pattinson.
Oh, who, me?
I realized I didn’t have one in this review and thought to myself, “TRAVESTY.” So there it is — no need to thank me!
I quite like the soundtrack, too. While I think they really missed an opportunity by not including Blitzen Trapper’s “Furr” (C’mon! It’s a Pacific Northwest band, singing a sad song about a were-dog looking for love. Seriously.), they did include a lot of great artists, such as Thom Yorke, Lykke Li, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Bon Iver, and more. It’s pretty all right.
Here’s the big single, Death Cab for Cutie’s “Meet Me on the Equinox.” The first time I heard this video it was on MTV’s morning show, where they actually play videos, called “AMTV.” I looked up from my breakfast at the first sounds of Ben Gibbard’s voice, and Reader, you had better believe I squeed like a 12-year-old girl when I saw that not only was it a new DCFC song but it was from the New Moon sountrack. That pretty much made my morning. Here you go:
[Sorry about the stupid ad you have to watch there. Also, the video is not available on YouTube due to copyright stuff, so if you’re outside the US and unable to see this MTV-based embed, um, I don’t know what to tell you! Sorry! ]
So here’s the official announcement, folks! I am making another Winter/Year’s End/Holiday mix CD this year, and I’d love to send it to you!
Once again, I make no promises about cool, hip content. It’ll likely wind up being a combination of new things I’ve been listening to this year and old favorites that have somehow worked their way into my heart again.
If you’d like to receive a copy, please email me your mailing address — don’t leave it in the comments here, silly! Send it to me at zemblangrammar at gmail dot com. I promise I will only use it for the purpose of mailing you a CD and I will not sign you up to receive dirty catalogues or anything. If you want to Fredrick’s of Hollywood to come to your mailbox, you’ll have to sign up for that yourself.
I’ll figure out exactly which bomb-ass tracks to include and get everything copied and mailed out sometime in December, just in time for whatever non-specific holiday, festival, or Saturday you might be celebrating. Or not celebrating. I am equal opportunity and non-denominational like that.
It doesn’t matter where you live. I’m happy to send things overseas, but it may take the package a bit longer to reach you if you live far away fromNew Wye, which is in North America.
This was so fun last year — I reslly enjoyed getting to send everyone a little something and I hope you all enjoyed it, too. Let me know if you’re in this year and I will add you to my list!
So here’s the official announcement, folks! I am making another Winter/Year’s End/Holiday Mix CD this year, and I’d love to send it to you!
Once again, I make no promises about cool, hip content. It’ll likely wind up being a combination of new things I’ve been listening to this year and old favorites that have somehow worked their way into my heart again. Here are the liner notes from last year’s mix if you’re curious to see what sort of things might wind up on there.
If you’d like to receive a copy, please email me your mailing address — don’t leave it in the comments here, silly! Send it to me at zemblangrammar at gmail dot com. I promise I will only use it for the purpose of mailing you a CD and I will not sign you up to receive dirty catalogues or anything. If you want to Fredrick’s of Hollywood to come to your mailbox, you’ll have to sign up for that yourself.
I’ll figure out exactly which bomb-ass tracks to include and get everything copied and mailed out sometime in December, just in time for whatever non-specific holiday, festival, or Saturday you might be celebrating. Or not celebrating. I am equal opportunity and non-denominational like that.
It doesn’t matter where you live. I’m happy to send things overseas, but it may take the package a bit longer to reach you if you live far away from New Wye, which is in North America.
This was so fun last year — I really enjoyed getting to send everyone a little something and I hope you all enjoyed it, too. Let me know if you’re in this year and I will add you to my list!
Maintenance and Prevention, aka “Please Take My Money.”
MacBook. I spent the entire morning sitting around waiting for the FedEx man to bring me my magical delivery – my MacBook was on its way back from being repaired. I couldn’t believe how fast they had gotten it done. After warning me the repairs would take longer than 7 days, they were sending it back a mere 5 days later. Apparently, however, Apple saved time by not entering my apartment number into the address form, so there was a whole to-do with the FedEx people having to call me to find out where I live and then taking an extra two hours to bring me my dang package. The happy part, though, is that now I have my baby back and it is as good as new! Except better than new, actually, because when it was new it was empty and now it is (still) filled with all my precious, uncorrupted data. Two hundred ninety-four smackeroos.
H1N1. I soent the afternoon at the flu shot clinic waiting to be sprayed in the nostril with the live vaccine. Since I have never had a flu vaccine before (really!), they made me wait around for 10 minutes afterward to make sure that if I went into anaphilactic shock I would be near someone with an epi-pen. It was all very anti-climactic, luckily. And it was free.
Car Door. Remember that one time when it snowed here in New Wye and it was all pristine and glorious and beautiful (but, weirdly, not actually that cold)? And my car door froze shut and when I tried to open it I ripped the handle off? That was eleven months ago and I just today got it fixed. One hundred and twenty-five smackeroos, my friends. It’s not good not to know your own strength.
Dog. The dog had to go get his yearly vaccinations today (it was Vaccine Day for the Vague Family). One hundred and thirty smackeroos there.
Another Dog. On the walk back home from the vet, little Eegs and I were followed by a big Alaskan husky-type dog. I think he wanted to play with Egon, but the little dude was having none of it. I noticed a leash dangling from the dog’s neck and I even thought I could hear someone in the distance yelling “Marty! Marrrrr-teeee!” [SIDEBAR: who names a dog Marty? Everyone knows proper dog names are, for example, Egon.] I decided to be a good neighbor, so I scooped up my dog under one arm and gathered up the big husky’s leash and started walking him around the neighborhood looking for his owner. Turned out to be a nice girl from the apartments next to mine, who was a bit teary-eyed and very grateful. I hate that I am such a softy for dogs, because her reaction on seeing her dog had me almost start crying! Sheesh! Glad I found her, though.
Car Again. When I picked up my car from the body shop, the man in charge informed me that my interior door handle was about to break off, too (funny, no snow storm involved there, just wear and tear) and he thought it could “go at any time,” so he had already ordered me a new one. How nice! Only twelve smackeroos for that repair, for some reason. Oh, and when I went to the grocery store later, sure enough the door handle broke off. Now I have to roll down the window and reach through to open the door from outside to let myself out of the car. Good thing I have power windows, which makes this so easy. You know, when the car is RUNNING. Jesus H.
Grading Papers. After finally being done with all this shite, I spent the remainder of the evening until 15 minutes ago grading freshman papers. Life is fine, I tell you.
Mix CDs. YES, friends, MIX CDs ARE HAPPENING FOR 2009! I have yet to figure out what to put on it, but if you want a copy, get to emailing me! Even if I might already have your address, please send it to zemblangrammar at gmail dot com so I don’t have to sift through last year’s list to find it. More on this later!
MacBook. I spent the entire morning sitting around waiting for the FedEx man to bring me my magical delivery – my MacBook was on its way back from being repaired. I couldn’t believe how fast they had gotten it done. After warning me the repairs would take longer than 7 days, they were sending it back a mere 5 days later. Apparently, however, Apple saved time by not entering my apartment number into the address form, so there was a whole to-do with the FedEx people having to call me to find out where I live and then taking an extra two hours to bring me my dang package. The happy part, though, is that now I have my baby back and it is as good as new! Except better than new, actually, because when it was new it was empty and now it is (still) filled with all my precious, uncorrupted data. Two hundred ninety-four smackeroos.
H1N1. I spent the afternoon at the flu shot clinic waiting to be sprayed in the nostril with the live vaccine. Since I have never had a flu vaccine before (really!), they made me wait around for 10 minutes afterward to make sure that if I went into anaphylactic shock I would be near someone with an epi-pen. It was all very anti-climactic, luckily. And it was free.
Car Door. Remember that one time when it snowed here in New Wye and it was all pristine and glorious and beautiful (but, weirdly, not actually that cold)? And my car door froze shut and when I tried to open it I ripped the handle off? That was eleven months ago and I just today got it fixed. One hundred twenty-five smackeroos, my friends. It’s not good not to know your own strength.
Dog. The dog had to go get his yearly vaccinations today (it was Vaccine Day for the Vague Family). One hundred and thirty smackeroos there.
Another Dog. On the walk back home from the vet, little Eegs and I were followed by a big Alaskan husky-type dog. I think he wanted to play with Egon, but the little dude was having none of it. I noticed a leash dangling from the dog’s neck and I even thought I could hear someone in the distance yelling “Marty! Marrrrr-teeee!” [SIDEBAR: who names a dog “Marty”? Everyone knows proper dog names are, for example, “Egon.”] I decided to be a good neighbor, so I scooped up my dog under one arm and gathered up the big husky’s leash and started walking him around the neighborhood looking for his owner. Turned out to be a nice girl from the apartments next to mine, who was a bit teary-eyed and very grateful. I hate that I am such a softy for dogs, because her reaction on seeing her dog had me almost start crying! Sheesh! Glad I found her, though.
Car Again. When I picked up my car from the body shop, the man in charge informed me that my interior door handle was about to break off, too (funny, no snow storm involved there, just wear and tear) and he thought it could “go at any time,” so he had already ordered me a new one. How nice! Only twelve smackeroos for that repair, for some reason. Oh, and when I went to the grocery store later, sure enough the door handle broke off. Now I have to roll down the window and reach through to open the door from outside to let myself out of the car. Good thing I have power windows, which makes this so easy. You know, when the car is RUNNING. Jesus H.
Grading Papers. After finally being done with all this shite, I spent the remainder of the evening until 15 minutes ago grading freshman papers. Life is fine, I tell you.
Oh, but wait! Here’s a FUN ONE:
Mix CDs. YES, friends, MIX CDs ARE HAPPENING FOR 2009! I have yet to figure out what to put on it, but if you want a copy, get to emailing me! Even if I might already have your address, please send it to zemblangrammar at gmail dot com so I don’t have to sift through last year’s list to find it. More on this later!
P.S. Someone please stop me from saying “smackeroos.” What planet am I on tonight? Must be all the grading-necessitated caffeine.
I went on a long but relatively easy hike this morning with Golightly and her boyfriend, and we spotted many a lovely nature-like thing. Here are some photographs for you to enjoy:
Gentle leaves, gentle leaves, please array a path for me. The woods are blowing thick and fast around.
Annan water, you loom so deep and wide.
I’m made of bones of the branches, the boughs, and the browbeating light.
And all the while whispering arbors provide cover / What previous witnessed ardors of our lovers / Our heroine here falls prey to her abductor!
If you see any wounded fawns in the woods, just don’t piss off their mothers.
[Ed. Note For the Pop-Culture Impaired: these are song lyrics.]
I’ve been running and otherwise working out at the gym a ton lately, and for me they key to success is super-motivating music. You know, the kind of songs that get you to kick it up not just one notch but maybe two whole notches just so you can get your booty shakin’ even more.
I have a tendency to enjoy semi-bad top-forty hip hop in these situations, but I’m also into anything with a strong driving beat – bonus points if it has uncomplicated lyrics that have anything to do with racing, running, dancing, walking 500 miles and then 500 more, shaking it, moving, or getting up offa that thing. I am nothing if not literal in my running music needs – no artistic metaphors for me; nothing that provokes too much thought! I like for my mind to wander around on its own, only dropping in by the music when I need to be told to be the one who’d walk a thousand miles to fall down next to this treadmill.
My running playlist has about 100 songs on it which I rotate around every now and then, but here are my current favorites (note: some are better for walking/warming up pace, some are better for a lighter run, some are better for ripping shit up – you get the picture):
1. Paper Planes – M.I.A.
2. Get up offa That Thing – James Brown
3. Poker Face – Lady Gaga
4. Heartless – Kanye West
5. Live Your Life – T.I. (featuring Rihanna)
6. I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) – The Proclaimers
7. Sports & Wine – Ben Folds
8. Stronger – Kanye West
9. Don’t Stop the Music – Rihanna [This one is KILLER – Ed.]
10. Way I Are – Timbaland (featuring Keri Hilson & D.O.E.)
11. Let it Rock – Kevin Rudolph and Lil Wayne
12. Disturbia – Rihanna
13. Just Dance – Lady Gaga
14. The Distance – Cake
15. Today is the Day – Apollo Sunshine [If you’ve never heard this one go here – it’s perfect for running! – Ed.]
16. Hey Mama – Black Eyed Peas
17. Gold for Bread – Blitzen Trapper
18. No Sleep Tonight – The Faders
19. Survivor – Destiny’s Child [Good for when you feel like you’re going to die. – Ed.]
20. Iko Iko – The Dixie Cups
21. Bad Things – Jace Everett
22. I Want You Back – The Jackson 5
23. Still Dre – Dr. Dre
24. L’Ami Cahouette – Serge Gainsbourg
25. She Bangs the Drums – The Stone Roses
So, do you have any suggestions for what I should add to my playlist?
Tomorrow I am off on a whirlwind week of adventures, guests, and travel and I am quite full of busy anticipation. I’m going to see The Decemberists play in The Big City, host a couple of out-of-town friends here in New Wye, and then fly off to California for my grandmother’s memorial. That last item is not something I’m exactly looking forward to, you know, who enjoys a funeral, and all, but I nonetheless have to get ready for it. Practically the moment I get back to New Wye I’ve got to start teaching the first of my two summer courses. Fine. Not the exact moment I get back, but at 8:00 the next morning. Which, to my jet-lagged body, will feel like 6:00 am. Um, yeah. That’ll be nice.
What this has meant is that this week I’ve had to get all the course prep-work done (dealing with book-order problems on not one but two texts I need, making the syllabus, planning lessons, yada yada), pack for two trips (City Overnighter and California Weekend + Funeral = weird packing combinations), and make my house guest-ready.
Oh and another thing: starting tomorrow morning, I’m responsible for my own pets plus Egon’s little friend, Diego the Chihuahua. My friend B., Diego’s human, is traveling out of the country for a while and her dog will be staying with me while I’m here. While I’m away, he and Eegs will be boarded together. This will be the first time for him to be boarded while I’m away, and thinking about that has been yet another source of stress leading up to the trips.
As you can imagine, I’m feeling pretty cranked up lately. I tried to take a nap this afternoon, but I couldn’t. I was feeling too weird and anxious, so I decided to get up and work out instead, which actually helped. Now I am going to try to relax a bit, do my nails, and get myself in the right mindset to have a pleasant and delightful trip to the city with some of my best friends to see The Decemberists. (SO. MUCH. YAY.) I may not be posting for a while here, but you can always follow my mundanities on twitter if you miss me too much.
A few people wanted to see my thoughts about the songs on that CD I made, and at some point I even promised to reveal to you the horrible and embarrassing truths about it all (including, but not limited to, the reason I subjected all you kind people to that Timbaland song).
One of my favorite things about sharing music with friends has always been those times when we sit down and play each other our favorite things and talk about why we came to love them and sing out the best lines and verses and just generally share the love. If someone recommends a band to me, I am only 10% as likely to get interested in it if I don’t get to hang out, listen, talk, and sing about it. So consider this post a transcript of all the things I would say to you about these songs if we were riding down the highway smoking clove cigarettes with the windows down and I was feeling confessional and I also had some new songs I just HAD to tell you about.
Really, do check it out. I have spent the better part of the evening and the better part of a bottle of pinot grigio typing out my asinine thoughts about songs. Let’s pretend it’s not complete nosense! Heh. Heh. Heh heh heh heh?
I forget who originally suggested that I do a post discussing the songs I put on my Winter 2008 Mix, but after I mentioned it a few folks requested that I do, and I am happy to oblige. One of my favorite things about sharing music with friends has always been those times when we sit down and play each other our favorite things and talk about why we came to love them and sing out the best lines and verses and just generally share the love. If someone recommends a band to me, I am only 10% as likely to get interested in it if I don’t get to hang out, listen, talk, and sing about it. So consider this post a transcript of all the things I would say to you about these songs if we were riding down the highway smoking clove cigarettes with the windows down and I was feeling confessional and I also had some new songs I just HAD to tell you about.
And again, if you haven’t got it already, is the album art for the mix made by Jair:
Click on the image to get to the full, CD-sized pic.
Also, please to be indulgent: I started this post, like, a GOOD WHILE ago and have had perhaps too much wine to be writing and publishing things on the internet. Sentiment and typing errors are sure to abound.
1. “Long Division” – Death Cab for Cutie
It’s no secret that I love Death Cab for Cutie, and this song is no exception. It is, however, an exception to the pattern I’d gotten in for a very, very long time where I was letting Plans (the previous album) play over and over again for months and months on end, reveling in the heartbreaking songs, most of which are about the loss of a loved one. That album came out right around the time that one of my best friends passed away, so its perfect fit into my life was at once wonderful and sad and hard to escape. This song, on the other hand, deals again with sometimes sad subject matter, but does so in a more teeth-grittingly determined and rocking way. It was my Death Cab for Cutie antidote to the Death Cab for Cutie overdose I was happily suffering for so long.
2. “Supermassive Black Hole” – Muse
Horribly embarrassing confession time: I don’t really know anything about this band, because, well, do you know where I got this song? The…the, ah, the…Twilight soundtrack. There, I said it. It’s in a really good scene, okay? What? WHAT? Oh FINE then.
3. “Bad Things” – Jace Everett
After what I just confessed w/r/t Track 2 there above, I’m not quite as embarrassed to tell you why I love this song: It’s the completely fucking awesome theme song to True Blood, that sexy vampire show on HBO that all the kids are watching these days. If we’re being honest, it’s kind of a terrible show. The best thing about it, in fact, is the opening credits sequence. Here’s the video for you to please enjoy.
Now wasn’t that excellent? This is a really great song for listening to in the dark of night while drinking whiskey and possibly also throwing shoes at the wall. Y’all know how I love to do that.
4. “Inside of Love” – Nicole Atkins
This tune is a cover of the Nada Surf song, and while I really like theirs, this is the version I fell in love with. I have to credit my friends Suomichris and Sho (frequently of the comments’ section here) with introducing me to Nicole Atkins. I love her voice: it’s perfect for belting it out in the car. Use caution, however: the kind of unbridled belting this song will provoke should only be done in solitude. Be prepared, also, for other drivers to give you the stink eye at intersections.
5. “Furr” – Blitzen Trapper
I got this Blitzen Trapper album on the recommendation of my friend Brandon at Another Portland Blog, and his post about the album spells out one big reason why I like it – those “timeworn Northwestern clichés” help both feed and perpetuate my current jones for the Northwest. “Furr” is maybe my favorite song of the entire year. It’s sad and sweet and wonderful, and the following lines, which suggest the sad longing for the freedom of past lives, make my heart almost break every single time:
And now my fur has turned to skin.
And I’ve been quickly ushered in
to a world that I confess I do not know.
But I still dream of running careless through the snow,
Through the howling winds that blow
across the ancient distant floe
and fill our bodies up like water till we know.
6. “Remember November” – Juliana Hatfield
This song was immediately one of my favorites from Juliana Hatfield’s new album, How to Walk Away. I loved the longing in this song right off the bat (it seems that’s one of my themes right now), and I was drawn to it with the idea of winter and the year’s end in mind — but I loved it even more when something else occurred to me. I already have one song tied to the 2008 presidential election (the Stevie Wonder), but as I thought of this one, I realized much of it could also apply to my thoughts about politics this year (not to mention my boyfriend Barack). Give it a listen with that in mind: “A reason to keep trying,” and so on. Indoodly.
7. “The Engine Driver” – The Decemberists
Any winter mix requires a Decemberists song, as they are the perfect band to play when nestled cozily indoors, under a blanket, safe from the freezing fog, cup of coffee in hand. This isn’t a particularly new or germane song, but you’ll have to forgive me here. I really just started listening to The Decemberists in earnest about a year or two ago, so all of a sudden I had all of their albums at once and I just started with one and listened to it for months and then finally shifted to another and so on. At some point I got hooked on this song, in part because it reminds me of Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman” and in part because I love the way these guys create characters. He is a writer, a writer of fiction, who has written pages upon pages trying to rid you from his bones. Who can deny that? I ASK YOU.
8. “Acid Tongue” – Jenny Lewis
I love love love Rilo Kiley and Jenny Lewis both, so I was thrilled to get her newest solo album a few months back. As I listened to it for the first time in the car, this song (the vocal harmonies in the chorus especially) sent shivers rocketing down my spine. And then I listened to it again and again and again and the same thing kept happening. Those raw vibrating chords just DO that to me, man. This is another one whose lyrics, upon closer inspection, had me nodding my head in agreement the whole way through:
To be lonely is a habit
Like smoking or taking drugs
And I’ve quit them both
But man, was it rough
Now I am tired
It just made me tired
Let’s build ourselves a fire
Let’s build ourselves a fire
9. “Jolene” – Dolly Parton
We all know this tune, and man can Dolly sing the everloving hell out of it! I grew up in the same part of the country as Dolly did, about 90 miles up the road (Dollywood, in fact, was the glamorous destination of so many of our school trips), and I’ve always had a soft spot for her. “9 to 5” is a karaoke favorite of mine, and I even love her newer songs (“Travelin’ Thru,” and the fact that she wrote it especially for Transamerica, impresses me a lot). This song, though, “Jolene,” is just wonderful. The sad, staunch, desperate, determination; the clever use of the conventions of love poetry to address a romantic rival — it’s all sheer genius. Love.
10. “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” – Stevie Wonder
Did you catch that raw, righteous scream in the first second of this song? Well go back and listen to it. One of the best screams in American music, I think.
Moving on, though: Stevie Wonder, Musical Genius has long been one of my all-time top-five artists, and this song is brilliant. It was always one of my favorites of his, but this year it achieved a new significance when it became an anthem of the Obama campaign. Watching Stevie perform at the DNC was amazing, and when, during the televised election night celebration in Grant Park, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” was played again, the whole room full of people at our election party erupted into song. I’ll always remember us laughing and clapping and cheering, crowded into my friend S’s living room, singing this song together.
Oh, indeed. The emergency is this: everyone who has received a mix from me in the last two years has, I am sorry to say, been subjected to this song. I JUST CAN’T HELP MYSELF. I love this song. It has the perfect beat for strutting up and down the street like you are on a fucking catwalk — the catwalk of OWNING the SHIT out of EVERYTHING AROUND YOU. Trust me, just try it. You just go WALK up and down that street! DO IT.
And there is a bonus: this song has possibly the worst lyrics of all time. EXAMPLE:
Baby it’s all right now you ain’t gotta flaunt for me
If we go Dutch you can still touch my love; it’s free.
[Shudder.]
I KNOW. I CAN’T HELP MYSELF.
12. “Under the Blacklight” – Rilo Kiley
This Rilo Kiley album was greatly anticipated by me and practically everyone else I know. While it’s still not great enough to rival More Adventurous, it’s pretty damn solid. This song, the title track, quickly became the indispensable anthem of the album (and the semester) for me. Even more than a year after the release, I still love to listen to this on repeat a few times in a row. Like the Nicole Atkins track, it’s best listened to in solitude, ’cause you’re basically not going to be able to stop yourself from singing along at embarrassing levels.
(Weirdly, I just noticed that almost inevitably, where Rilo Kiley and Jenny Lewis are concerned, the title track WILL ALWAYS BE my favorite track. No avoiding it yet.)
13. “No Outlet” – Juliana Hatfield
I should maybe mention w/r/t Juliana Hatfield that I have loved her forever, ever since high school. She was my first (rock) concert. Hello, 1992, you still sound great to me. This track is from her first album, Hey Babe, which is so completely good through and through that I could honestly have chosen any song from it and it would have been just as irrestistible as this one is. This one, of course, seems to fit perfectly into the unplanned theme of longing and frustration that this mix entails. (And hey, who doesn’t love self-analysis via mixtape?) Favorite part of this song: the unexpectedly angry and earnest coda.
14. “A Cause des Garçons” – Yelle
Oh hey! Time for another embarrassing confession! Do you know where I first heard this song? On MTV’s masterpiece of reality television, The Hills. Oh, indeed. But at least the song is French, and we all know that the French are irreproachable in all things related to art and culture. I have nothing more to say about this, but, um, look! Over there! Shiny! Poppy! Dancey! French! FRANÇAIS!
15. “We’re Not Alone” – Dinosaur Jr.
I may have to get sad on you for a minute here: Dinosaur Jr. has been my favorite band ever since my late, great friend and ex-bf, G., played them for me on the bus back from a band trip freshman year in high school. As he and I dated, split, lost and regained touch, and then grew closer over the dozen or so years we knew each other, this band was always our thing. We really, really, really love/d this band. When I saw the original lineup reunite for a tour in 2005 (after their own years of rocky separation and after my friend had passed away), it broke my heart a little bit to think that the coming back together of our lives and the coming back together of our favorite music had just barely missed each other in the darkness. He would’ve loved seeing it, would’ve loved to know they were back together in the studio again, too. Would’ve loved this new song, “We’re Not Alone.” When I listen to this, it’s incredibly bittersweet to think about all the things that have happened in the last 3 years that my friend would have so loved to see, how happy — how boisterously, ebulliently happy — he would be.
16. “Die Zeit Heilt Alle Wunder” – Wir Sind Helden
I always say you don’t have to speak or understand German to like this band, but this song is an exception. It’s a freaking great song to just listen to, I would think (I can’t make myself not understand German to test this theory, though), but if you do understand it, it’s just that much more effing brilliant. EXAMPLE:
The title, in German, is Die zeit heilt alle Wunder.
The title, in English, is Time Heals all Wonders.
See, it’s almost like Die Zeit heilt alle Wunden,
which means Time Heals all Wounds,
except it’s not.
I won’t go through the whole thing, but if you imagine taking the “time heals” philosophy (and attendant set of metaphors) that normally apply to wounds and applying it instead to your sense of wonder, you’ll get the picture. Brilliant. Sad. Funny. Love.
17. “Pata Pata” – Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba was an amazingly talented South African singer (you may have heard of her but you may not), and this was her biggest hit song. I’ve loved it for ever and have subjected my mixtape recipients to it for ages and ages. Then, on November 9, 2008, Miriam Makeba fell ill at a concert while performing “Pata Pata” and died shortly after. Despite the sad circumstances (DOG, why do so many songs here turn out to be about DEATH? I swear I didn’t plan that.), it’s still such a wonderful, invigorating song that I can’t resist it. You certainly don’t need to understand Xhosa to love this one, do you? I don’t.
18. “My Eyes” – Felicia Day & Neil Patrick Harris
I’m glad I’ve got so many Dr.-Horrible-lovin’ peeps out there, otherwise I would’ve felt like a giant dork putting a song from a musical on a mixtape. I mean, what am I, some kind of high school theater (oops sorry I mean theatre) nerd? Ha ha ha ha HA.
Er, sorry, theatre people. I love, you; I really do.
BUT MOVING ON. You know I’m a major fan of the Joss Whedon shows, Buffy and Angel in particular, and that I really, really love Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, which “aired” on the internet tubes this summer. “My Eyes” is by far my favorite song in the picture. It’s the cheesy, emotional love-pair duet, complete with a scene where they each sing passionately to each other without knowing it because they’re on opposite sides of a split screen. I KNOW*. In spite of the fact that this would normally be highly mockable, I love every second of it! It’s Horrible! And Penny! And, and, THEY SHOULD BE TOGETHER! OMG! (Except in the case where Horrible and *I* are together, which supersedes and Horrible-and-Penny star-crossed destinies, of COURSE.)
[*For examples of why I mock this, plz to see Mamma Mia, if you think you can stand to. Bring your barf bag.]
19. “Done With Love” – The Whispertown 2000
The Whispertown 2000 is a relatively new band to me, but I really fell in love with this album. I like the raw and intimate feeling a lot of their songs have, and this one in particular. The resignation behind “tell everyone I’m done; tell everyone I’m done; tell everyone I’m done” just socks it right to my gut.
20. “Follow the Lights” – Ryan Adams
I do love me some Ryan Adams, which I think is no secret. I’ve talked to a few of you about how none of his later albums ever measured up to the awesomeness of Heartbreaker, but I do contend that each one of those albums (Rock N Roll excepted; please never listen to that album if you can avoid it) has at least one track that rivals Heartbreaker‘s goodness. “Follow the Lights” is one of those songs. Like so many of his tunes, it pulls me in to a state of reflective longing and makes me want to alternately take a long drive to the armpit of nowhere, take deep pulls off a bottle of Tennessee Whiskey, scribble in a notebook, slow dance, and sulk in the dark.
ALSO: Did any of you guys also hear he’s retiring? Did you hear that it’s because he’s permanently losing his hearing? I heard that on the campus radio (dubious source). The retirement bit I have corroborated via other news sources, but not the permanent hearing loss bit. Either way, it’s a loss. Ryan Adams is one talented, prolific-ass motherfucker.
21. “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” – Iron & Wine
Question: What the holy Hell do these lyrics mean? Sam Beam, dude, you are as ever inscrutable.
Also: I kind of love that “American mouth” sometimes sounds like “arrogant mouth” when he sings it.
But moving on! I love this song in ways I don’t even know yet how to describe. Intensely. I bought this Iron and Wine album pretty shortly after it was released in late 2007, but (as is typical for me), it took me a while to get acquainted with the songs closer to the end of the album. Once this one found its way into the rotation, it was never too long between plays. Like “Acid Tongue,” this is a song that sends deep chills of pleasure to every corner of my body when I listen to it. That crescendo in the second verse fucking gets me every time.
There’s no doubt that the semester is in full swing by now, y’all. I’m not sure how long I was on campus today — ten hours? Eleven hours? Something like that. By the time I got home, I decided that if I had been obligated not only to teach three classes but also to attend a fucking bone dry job candidate lecture and then go to the gym (where my workout buddy Golightly and I have lately been doing an extra-long, super-sized, gruelingly sweat-soaked workout), then I was fully entitled to a stiff drink. Believe me, I attended to that with a quickness. Mmmm, quickness. Tastes like bourbon.
In other news, television is a-fixin’ to come back, including (but not limited to!) the long-awaited return of Lost, the regular-network premiere of the new season of Friday Night Lights, and (OMG YOU GUYS!) the return of Battlestar Galactica! I KNOW! IT IS TOO MUCH TO HANDLE RIGHT NOW.
I fully expect to have a lot to say about all of this, especially why you should be watching FNL. Seriously, you should be. Best show on television. I’m also thinking about writing some brief liner notes for that CD I made, including the embarrassing truths about why I love some of those songs, profuse apologies for the crappy songs I couldn’t stop myself from including, etc. All of this business will appear on the recently neglected media blog, so stay tuned.
Raveling Out 