Category Archives: media madness

Music, sweet music…

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Around and around and around it goes…I first saw this list on Byzantium’s Shores. A little digging, and I learned that the list is Blender magazine’s Fifty Worst Songs (read more about it here

Here is a list of the Worst Fifty Songs of All Time, and you have to bold the ones you like. So, time for a few potentially embarrassing admissions. Remember, I like the bold ones.

***songs I don’t actively dislike in italics***

1. We Built This City … Starship
2. Achy Breaky Heart … Billy Ray Cyrus
3. Everybody Have Fun Tonight … Wang Chung
4. Rollin’ … Limp Bizkit
5. Ice Ice Baby … Vanilla Ice I know it’s a shitty song. I know he ripped off Queen. I know Vanilla Ice is lame, lame, lame…I know. 😉
6. The Heart of Rock & Roll … Huey Lewis and the News
7. Don’t Worry, Be Happy … Bobby McFerrin
8. Party All the Time … Eddie Murphy
9. American Life … Madonna
10. Ebony and Ivory … Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder
11. Invisible … Clay Aiken
12. Kokomo … The Beach Boys
13. Illegal Alien … Genesis…to be fair, I don’t know this song at all…but I don’t dislike it. 😉
14. From a Distance … Bette Midler
15. I’ll Be There for You … The Rembrandts Yeah, it was overplayed, but still catchy and fun.
16. What’s Up? … 4 Non Blondes
17. Pumps and a Bump … Hammer
18. You’re the Inspiration … Chicago
19. Broken Wings … Mr. Mister
20. Dancing on the Ceiling … Lionel Richie
21. Two Princes … Spin Doctors
22. Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American) … Toby Keith

I must interrupt this meme for a rant…I completely agree with whomever put this song on the list. Not only do I not mind country music, but I actually kind of like Toby Keith. And I’d have to add Alan Jackson’s “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning.” ugh. blah. And even more obnoxious than the Toby Keith song was “Have You Forgotten” by Darrell Worley, which in addition to its general obnoxiousness, rhymes “Bin Laden” with “Forgotten”.[/rant]

23. Sunglasses at Night … Corey Hart
24. Superman … Five for Fighting
25. I’ll Be Missing You … Puff Daddy featuring Faith Evans and 112
26. The End … The Doors
27. The Final Countdown … Europe
28. Your Body Is a Wonderland … John Mayer…(I liked this song until someone told me it was about Jennifer Love Hewitt. I haven’t been able to get that image out of my head since.)
29. Breakfast at Tiffany’s … Deep Blue Something
30. Greatest Love of All … Whitney Houston I learned this in sign language when I was in Girl Scouts. Yes, this story has no point.
31. Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm … Crash Test Dummies
32. Will 2K … Will Smith I don’t own it or anything, but I thought this one was fun.
33. Barbie Girl … Aqua
34. Longer … Dan Fogelberg I know it reminds my dear roommie of the condom commercial…I don’t care. I think it’s sweet.
35. Shiny Happy People … R.E.M.
36. Make Em Say Uhh! … Master P featuring Silkk, Fiend, Mia-X and Mystikal
37. Rico Suave … Gerardo
38. Cotton Eyed Joe … Rednex
39. She Bangs … Ricky Martin
40. I Wanna Sex You Up … Color Me Badd
41. We Didn’t Start the Fire … Billy Joel
42. The Sound of Silence … Simon & Garfunkel
43. Follow Me … Uncle Kracker
44. I’ll Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) … Meat Loaf
45. Mesmerize … Ja Rule featuring Ashanti
46. Hangin’ Tough … New Kids on the Block…I have never danced on a bar with a stripper pole while this song was playing. Ahem…
47. The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You … Bryan Adams
48. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da … The Beatles
49. I’m Too Sexy … Right Said Fred
50. My Heart Will Go On … Celine Dion

When country wasn’t cool

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So on my really, really long-ass drive to work this morning (the roads sucked. it took me like an hour.), I was listening to Shredd & Ragan going on and on about, uh, whatever it is they go on and on about. (they lost me when they started talking to the guy from FHM about Teri Hatcher and Desperate Housewives and how comparing it to Sex and the City is bullshit because “that show was all about ‘oh, is he gonna call?’ and this one is just about a bunch of hot chicks getting it on.” Um, yeah. Whatever. It makes me wonder why I’m ever entertained by these guys. But I digress…)

Before all this blather, one of them mentioned Tim McGraw (why Tim McGraw? Who knows…), making a point of the fact that one of the biggest stars in country music doesn’t write his own songs.

Well, duh.

Whatever your opinion of it is, this is a fairly common phenomenon in Nashville. And only slightly less common in regular pop. There are a few talented singer-songwriters in Nashville who are currently making it work (Brad Paisley is one), but for the most part, it’s discouraged. The Dixie Chicks wrote little of their debut album, but not because of lack of talent or ability. I remember seeing an interview with them where they told about how they wanted to record their own songs, but were gently steered toward the “professional” songwriters. (One thing that made me really respect the Chicks…they won an award for “Wide Open Spaces,” which they did not write. They made the songwriter get on stage with them and handed the award to her. Very cool.)

The country singers like Tim McGraw are making a career out of performance…and if you’re a *good* performer, is that necessarily a bad thing? The really successful ones usually get involved in production and have a creative say in their work, rather than being just mindless singing corporate robots.

The guys argued for a few minutes, one of them making an Ashlee Simpson comparison, causing the others to disagree. “But dude, she sucks AND she doesn’t write.” They brought up Frank Sinatra.

So while I have greater creative respect for someone who writes his or her own songs, I can enjoy a good vocal performance (something you find in country music that’s found much less in pop music) purely on the merit of the performance. Martina McBride comes to mind. This is one of the things that really attracted me to new country…women who can actually sing, with power and soul, rather than being little disposable pop-tart clones.

So what do you all think?

Tuesday, Tuesday

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The thing about Mondays off is that it makes Tuesday feel like Monday…ah, well…

My cheerleading class at the Y started up again Friday night. I have seven girls in the class this time, five of them repeats from the last session. (They like me! They really like me! Ahem…) I went home and watched About Schmidt, which I enjoyed very much. People who have seen this film…what did you think of the ending? R and I had a conversation about it, and we are in agreement. I thought it was positive, hopeful.

I had all kinds of plans for Saturday morning. I was going to go and get that estimate on the dent in my hood! I was going to clean the floors! I was going to read the Dead of Winter contest entries! What did I do? I watched Fillmore (loved it), fiddled with my blog, took a shower.

Um. Hmm…

I got to meet another friend of R’s this weekend, Mark O. I really enjoyed meeting him and look forward to seeing him again. 🙂 We just hung out at R’s place on Saturday night. Adam came over, and the boys frequently became engrossed in deep comic book/superhero conversations.

“Okay, guys, I’m really afraid Erin’s going to leave me,” R interrupted at one point. 😉

Last night, R and I went to see The Aviator. I knew next to nothing about Howard Hughes going in. (Er, he was that crazy recluse guy, right? That’s about all I knew.) Also, I believe the only Scorsese film I’d seen up to now was Goodfellas. (Oh, wait, I was wrong. Cape Fear, too.) But anyway, I really enjoyed it. I thought Leo did a fantastic job with the lead role. Cate Blanchett was absolutely brilliant as Katharine Hepburn. And it really didn’t *seem* like a 3-hour movie. 😉

(side note…R has been threatening to “tie me to a chair and make me watch his entire Scorsese collection.” I told him that tying me to a chair was unnecessary…heehee)

And now I’m back at work. Blaaaaaaaaagh. Next Friday is my last day here. Now, that’s a little terrifying…keep good thoughts for me, eh?

2004 Media Wrap-up, part 2

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edited, therefore reposting

Watching. 🙂

Movies seen in the theater:
(some of these may have been late 2003…I’m getting confused…)

Mona Lisa Smile
Something’s Gotta Give
Love, Actually
Return of the King
Cold Mountain
Saved!
Big Fish
Mean Girls
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Hero
The Village
National Treasure
Sideways

Movies seen on video (for the first time, that is…):

Casablanca
Dr. Strangelove
The Philadelphia Story
The Graduate
Annie Hall
Happiness
The Music Man (Matthew Broderick version)
Godspell
Rushmore
Lost in Translation
This is Spinal Tap
Waiting for Guffman
A Mighty Wind
Best in Show
Smoke Signals
Waking the Dead
Fight Club
The Fisher King
The Specials
The Tall Guy
Emma
Trainspotting
The Big Lebowski
A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)
Everyone Says I Love You
Hannah and Her Sisters

Movies that I still want to see:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Garden State
The Incredibles
Shrek 2
I Heart Huckabees
Fahrenheit 9/11
The Passion of the Christ
Ray
Finding Neverland
Closer
Kinsey
The Aviator
Being Julia
Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason
Dodgeball
Meet the Fockers
The Life Aquatic

Old movies still on my to-see list:

All About Eve
The Godfather
Apocalypse Now
Blade Runner
Schindler’s List
Psycho
A Clockwork Orange
Vertigo
The Manchurian Candidate
Hamlet (Mel Gibson version)

2004 Media Wrap-up, part 1

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I’ve been doing a lot of reading and viewing this year, and I wanted to at least briefly reflect on what I’ve read and seen. I’ll probably forget some things, but here goes…

Reading:
(in no particular order)

The Man in the Ceiling, Jules Feiffer
Cat’s Cradle
Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
Calculating God, Robert J. Sawyer
The Toy Collector, James Gunn
Birdsong, Rumi poems translated by Coleman Barks
The Love Poems of Rumi, translated by Deepak Chopra
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred D. Taylor
The Outsiders, SE Hinton
Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, Marcus J. Borg
Coraline
Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
Blankets, Craig Thomspon
Why I Hate Saturn
You Are Here
I Die at Midnight, Kyle Baker
Ten Poems to Change Your Life, Roger Housden
The Well of Lost Plots
Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde
From a Buick 8
Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower, Stephen King
America: The Audiobook, Jon Stewart
Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them (audiobook), Al Franken
Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris
An Acceptable Time, Madeline L’Engle
Oryx and Crake
Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood
If the Buddha Dated, Charlotte Kasl
True Story Swear to God: Chances Are…, Tom Beland
Slightly Settled, Wendy Markham
Dearly Beloved, Wendy Corsi Staub
How to Be Good, Nick Hornby
The Poisonwood Bible
Pigs in Heaven, Barbara Kingsolver
Angels & Demons
The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
Speak, Laura Halse Anderson
Waltzing the Cat, Pam Houston
Back Roads, Tawni O’Dell
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Tom Stoppard
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds,
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
Holes, Louis Sachar
Messenger, Lois Lowry
My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult
Dave Barry Slept Here, Dave Barry
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, ZZ Packer
The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
The Princess Bride, William Goldman
Written on the Body, Jeannette Winterson
The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster

Not too shabby of a list, I think. I’ve been introduced to a lot of new stuff, wrapped up some stuff that’s been going on for a *long* time (*cough* Dark Tower *cough*), picked up a couple of classics, read some things by some favorite authors, discovered some new favorite authors and enjoyed some timeless YA lit. All in all, a good year for reading. 🙂

Here are some of the things still on my “to read” list:

The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
Sense and Sensibility
Pride and Prejudice
Persuasion, Jane Austen
The Edible Woman
Cat’s Eye, Margaret Atwood
The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros
High Fidelity
About a Boy, Nick Hornby
Sammy’s Hill, Kristin Gore
Kiss Her Goodbye, Wendy Corsi Staub
The Plot Against America, Philip Roth
100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Virgin Suicides, Jeffrey Euginedes

Smart TV watchers of the world, unite!

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I just caught a whiff of this articleon Arrested Development over at Seriously Random.

Like lots of smart, funny, innovative television shows, Arrested Development is suffering in the ratings. It probably won’t be back for a third season. And why? That’s what the author of the article is trying to figure out:

Why does it always have to be this way? Why, in a television world where viewers are forever decrying a lack of quality choices (a mostly untrue assumption), do the innovative, risk-taking, aggressively brilliant shows go unwatched?

Oh, that’s easy: The rest of the country has no taste. Forget this notion of red and blue states. That’s not the country we live in. We live in a land mass divided into two groups — those who watch “According to Jim” and those who watch “Arrested Development.” That’s infinitely more frightening than anything politicians could dream up.

Amen, brother. Amen.

Jealous of your cigarette

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Like my roommie, I, too, fell in love this weekend. Or maybe it would be more correct to say “in lust.”

But not with a tree.

No, I fell in lust with Canadian musician Hawksley Workman.

R took me to see him at Club Infinity Friday night. He’s a big fan. I’ve just been recently introduced to his music. I think my favorite of his CDs is (last night we were) the delicious wolves, featuring my favorite of his songs, striptease.

After he finished performing it live, I turned around and looked at R and said, “Oh. My. God.”

He just smiled, as if to say “Yep, I told you.”

The man positively exudes sensuality. Sex permeates his being. I’m not even remotely exaggerating.

We made a few friends at the show. To our left was the superexcited blonde girl from Burlington. Before the show started, she bounded onto the floor and plunked herself into place. She and R made some small talk about Hawksley and favorite songs, and “what do you think he’s going to open with” etc. I mentioned that this was my first time seeing him.

“Ohmygod! You’re going to LOVE HIM! I can’t wait to see your face after the show!! I’ve seen him 17 times!! He totally knows me. I’ve had my picture taken with him!”

Okay, yes…Jen and I have been this person (sort of) on occasion. But imagine us in this state to the 27TH POWER. I told Jen that the girl kind of reminded me of Shan K, but on CRACK. Wow. 🙂

To our right were a couple of guys, one of whom apparently makes a living filming concerts. He was trying desperately to hook up with a girl standing in front of him who was clearly not interested. It was painful…

Oh, and standing in front of us was a group of high-school looking kids, one of whom I swear I taught last year. Ack!

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and have definitely become a fan. 😉

Saturday night, R and I (and his friend John) went to see Sideways, which I really enjoyed. My only problem is that it’s difficult for me to look at Thomas Hayden Church and not see Lowell from Wings. 😉 No, seriously…it was very good. I recommend it.

On Sunday, Jen and I put up our Christmas tree and decorated it, with the help of my little. Yay for Christmas trees and big bay windows. If only there was a fireplace…sigh…

I’m probably forgetting something, but that’ll do for now…

Baby, it’s cold outside

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So I woke up this morning not at all bothered by the snow. I’ve even been humming “Let it snow” to myself since I got to work. Go figure. Ask me how I feel about snow in March… 😉

I’ve been getting in the Christmas spirit by listening to holiday music. Last weekend, on my drive back to Buffalo, I called Jen from the road to tell her the Christmas music was making me weepy. That cheesy Bryan Adams song. Dan Fogelberg. And, of course, Band Aid. I commented to R that I like happy Christmas music, which of course, started me making lists in my head.

My top 5 Christmas hymns;

1. O Holy Night
2. Angels We Have Heard on High
3. The King of Glory (frequently heard during Advent)
4. I Saw Three Ships
5. What Child is This?

My (current) top 5 non-traditional-type Christmas songs:

1. Love on Layaway (I am fully aware of the cheese factor, but I can’t help it…makes me want to sing and dance)
2. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings (Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan)
3. Happy Xmas (War is Over)
4. Sleigh Ride
5. Wonderful Christmastime

A couple of my favorite Christmas CDs

1. Collin Raye, the Gift

A very traditional offering…I absolutely adore this man’s voice, and in my opinion, his rendition of ‘O Holy Night’ cannot be beat. I get chills every time I hear it. I’m still bitter that the Christmas concert I had tickets to several years ago was cancelled. The show was rescheduled, but it wasn’t a *Christmas* concert. Grrr…

2. Martina McBride, White Christmas

Again, very traditional. Her voice is amazing.

Speaking of Christmas, I need to get shopping. Ack!

So, what kind of Christmas songs do you like? Favorite songs or CDs? Share with me… 🙂

A better day

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In a much better mood today, thanks. 🙂

Sometimes, dating and romance can be so hard and confusing and uncertain…big questions, serious talks. Blah blah blah…

I met R’s parents last night. We had dinner with them at Caffe Aroma in Williamsville (I’d eaten there once before). We had a slightly pretentious but friendly waiter, and all of the food was delicious. (I had this bowl of outstanding soup…a lemony-chicken broth with little homemade noodles. Yum!) R’s parents were fun and interesting and very, very sweet.

I taped Lost (so don’t tell me!), but I watched The West Wing. Still feeling pleased with the way this season is going. The characters are very much behaving (and talking) like themselves again. Good job, writing team.

Finished season 1 of Six Feet Under this past weekend, and am two episodes into season 2. I’m loving the show more and more. The writing is outstanding, and the performances are brilliant. Even the secondary characters (Keith, Gabe, Billy…) are brilliant. (I always *knew* I would like this show, by the way…I just have to thank R for giving me access to the DVDs. 😉 )

My class is winding down. Strange, isn’t it? Today is our last *actual* class, because I have individual conferences scheduled with them next week. Their final portfolios are due when we meet on the 14th, and then we’re done…I will be teaching again next semenster (phew!), but I’m not sure what yet…on the one hand, it would be nice to teach 101 again. I have a lot of the “homework” done, I’d be able to iron out little details of things I’d like to do differently, but it would also be exciting to teach 102, the intro literature course. We’ll see…I imagine it’ll come down to where their needs are. I should probably know next week.

As much as I don’t want to, I should be getting some work done…

OH! And one more thing…my word count for November ended up at 18,146. My goal is now to keep up a similar pace, and finish the darn thing. And then do more things. 🙂

But it’s somethin’ that comes and goes…

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At times – I do believe I am strong
So someone tell me why, why, why
Do I, I, I
feel
stupid?

(Matchbox Twenty, Mad Season)

*extended post…this is the mix CD I would have made today, if I could have made a mix CD today.*

Mad Season Matchbox Twenty
Life Less Ordinary Carbon Leaf
And So It Goes Billy Joel
Give a Little Bit Supertramp/Goo
Love Me Do The Beatles
The Tide is High Blondie
When It’s Love Van Halen
Elephant Love Medley Moulin Rouge
What is Love? Haddaway
I Want You to Want Me Cheap Trick
The Waiting Tom Petty
God Only Knows The Beach Boys
Rosy and Grey Lowest of the Low
To Make You Feel My Love Bob Dylan/Garth Brooks

This list probably would be longer if I had my own CD collection in front of me. 😉

How many other people out there do this? I have, for as long as I can remember…searched for songs to express a mood, an emotion. I’ve made countless CDs about missing someone, about falling in love, about getting my heart broken, about getting over the broken heart, about friendship, about loss…they used to be tapes, of course, but I’ve made the technological leap to CDs. Sometimes the tapes/CDs were just for me. Sometimes they were made to express my feelings to someone else. But always, at least for me, there’s something cathartic, something powerful and true about finding the perfect song, the perfect lyric, to express how I’m feeling at that moment in time.