But this year… This year I actually have a source of income (small as it may be), and yet I don’t want to go. First of all it’s because I’m only interested in The Strokes of all the twelve bands, and only somewhat interested. (I’ve never heard of over half those bands, which probably goes to show how little I listen to KROQ nowadays.)

Secondly, I realized… I’m just different. There is a palpable change in my personality, oh my gosh! I’m getting old, I change less and less every year, compared to the years in my childhood, so it’s fascinating to me when I notice a change.

From the 2004 line-up, the bands I wanted to see and my current opinion: The Strokes – meh; Bad Religion – nope; Yeah Yeah Yeahs – maybe; Velvet Revolver – ew no; Yellowcard – nope; New Found Glory – nope; Modest Mouse – maybe; and The Killers – yeah right.

2005: Hot Hot Heat – nope; Interpol – nope; Jimmy Eat World – I only really liked Bleed American their self-titled album; The Killers!! – (exclamation points from original entry, hahaha!) nope; My Chemical Romance – no way in hell; MXPX – I don’t even remember who this band is; Queens otSA – maybe, but I haven’t listened to anything but Songs for the Deaf; Alkaline Trio – nope; The Bravery – nope.

Anyway. I didn’t say much in this entry. My music tastes have changed, big woop. But a slight change from 2004, I might be willing now to go see a live musical performance. I’ve seen Celtic Woman a number of times, “dragged” there by my brother, and if I got a seat far back enough from the stage maybe the volume won’t hurt my ears.

The only rock band I have any interest in seeing perform live though is Muse. I think they’re in L.A. this summer? I keep seeing ads on Facebook for tickets. But no one else I know is into Muse, so I’d be going alone, which would never happen.

But last week Al Yankovic released a parody, Perform This Way. I read his account of the whole ordeal, jumping through hoops to end up getting turned down. (And ultimately okayed.) I gave his song a listen and actually ended up liking it!

Weird Al’s explanation that he planned to donate all sales to the Human Rights Campaign because the original “was such an earnest human rights anthem” also got me more intrigued in Lady Gaga’s song. ‘An anthem?’ I thought. ‘I don’t remember hearing that in the lyrics.’ (That I totally didn’t listen to.)

In a weird coincidence, this week on Glee they performed Born This Way. I really enjoyed their rendition of it too. (It was such a fun episode! And yay, Kurt’s back!!)

I couldn’t figure out where the disconnect came for me. Usually I don’t like songs on first hearing them (Selena Gomez? *grin*) (mostly because I have to be in the right mood to listen to different types of music, but that’s not important) but I never completely write them off and consider them a waste of my time.

Today I went back to view the performance at the Grammy’s, the only time I had ever heard Gaga singing the song. I have to say, I don’t know if it was done on purpose, but the sound mixing was horrible. I could barely hear Gaga’s voice. The times I did hear her though, she didn’t sound all that great. I have seen other live performances of hers, and she’d never sounded that bad to me. But then that might be because she wasn’t dancing around the stage so much like at the Grammy’s. She had more energy to devote to singing.

Finally, finally, I watched her music video with her studio recording, and it sounded like Lady Gaga to me. Yay! Don’t know that I’ll buy the song though. But Weird Al’s and Glee’s versions are definitely on my to-buy list!

My mom grew up during the 60s and 70s, seemingly the golden age of musical creativity. Motown, The Beatles, you name it, practically every musical act was or had a hit. I don’t remember who were her favorites as a kid, but now she’s a fan of Janis Ian (first and foremost!) and other female folk artists. She also enjoys doo-wop and jazz, and my brother has turned her on to Celtic Woman.

My journey through music is chronicled on my personal site, and although it hasn’t been updated for over a year, and I’ll likely add to it after this entry is done, there isn’t much that’s new. Right now the top five musical artists on my Last.fm profile are The Cardigans, Maria Mena, The Divine Comedy, Lisa Loeb, and the Submarines. Lately I’ve also been listening to Muse (thanks to a certain artist) and to movie soundtracks (yay, Neil Gaiman!).

Mum once told me that she rarely ever likes every single song on an album. No matter how much she likes the artist, there is always at least one song that she won’t listen to. (So when she says that she thinks Vanessa Carlton’s Be Not Nobody album is the best she’s ever heard, and there is not one bad song on it, this is very high praise, coming from her.) Basically, she is picky with her music.

When I told her that I usually like all the music I buy, she thought I was lucky. I thought, although I didn’t tell her, that maybe it just meant my standards weren’t as high. Normally it takes me a couple listens to actually hear the music, and not just a wall of mindless sound. I didn’t know whether I was readjusting my brain to accept the music, lowering my standards, or what. (When I hear a tune I like, I immediately know I like it, no adjustment period or subsequent listens required.)

By this point I began to think that either my taste in music really sucked compared to my mom’s and that I had a tin ear, or that my tastes differed from hers.

In regards to my top five, my mom has had positive comments about each of them (except for Lisa Loeb, but she never complained, which is pretty good). The Cardigans, she likes the bassoon they used in songs. Maria Mena, she sings like Janis Ian. (Which I thought was, whoa! my mom is comparing Maria to her music idol! But she does think Maria Mena needs work in the songwriting department. Sigh.) The Divine Comedy, he uses cornet instead of trumpet, being British and all. (My mom’s instrument of choice is the cornet.) And he reminds her of Jim Morrison. (Although I don’t know if that’s positive or just neutral commentary.) The Submarines, she thinks the female singer sounds similar to Nina Persson, of The Cardigans. She also thinks they’ve got a great sound.

With all that said and done, I thought I was pretty safe in loading up my playlist for a long drive with The Divine Comedy, The Cardigans, and Maria Mena. (They’re in my top three for a reason!) After we’d listened to Casanova, Absent Friends, Regeneration, and Super Extra Gravity, however, my mom complained about my music selection and wanted to put on Janis Ian, saying, “Can’t we listen to something more tuneful?”

This really stung, because to her the tune is the be all and end all of music. She’s commented about modern classical music, telling me there’s a trend now where music written with a recognizable tune is perceived as bad and that she doesn’t understand that philosophy at all!

When she first started reciting her mantra of “no tune, no music,” I agreed with her. It made so much sense as to why I liked songs from the ’60s, all those Motown songs, more so than contemporary pop played on the radio, which sounded like mindless noise to my ears.

Now, although I agree that there’s truth to Mum’s mantra, I also think that a song doesn’t necessarily need a recognizable tune to be listenable.

Recently, I saw this commercial on tv. I don’t remember what product it was selling, but it had a retro ’50s theme to it. At first I couldn’t tell what made it so ’50s, and not just a kitschy, modern take. Then it hit me. There was a jingle! This jingle had a recognizable tune! Is that what my mother has been going on about all along? This outdated, old relic of music composition?

I had to wonder, if I thought this catchy, tuneful piece of music was old, then what did I think of modern music? Not much music nowadays is so melodic as in the ’50s and ’60s, but I don’t consider that a drawback. On the contrary, of the modern music that I do like, despite it not having Mum’s oh-so-necessary recognizable tune, I find it interesting, something new and different, something that can keep my attention.

For example, I think Daughter Darling, Natalie Walker, and Starsailor are great musical artists. I absolutely love their music, how atmospheric and emotive they are. Mum probably thinks they’re tuneless and boring, and for the most part I can’t hum their songs from memory (ah hah! no recognizable tune!), and yet I enjoy the thoughts and feelings their music evokes in me.

So I had to reconsider my view of music. Just because there’s no tune to identify the song by doesn’t mean that there’s no merit to the song. Music has either advanced and progressed beyond tunes and they’re experimenting with music with no obvious structure, or, according to Mum, all the good music has been written so there are no ideas anymore and now everyone is not even trying and they’re just writing crap. I’ve decided to go with the former, and just enjoy what I enjoy!

Next up … I can’t remember the order. ._. I’ll just go with Burt’s Bees Beeswax lip balm.

I saw this ad in a Vanity Fair issue (I bought it for a class, but I can’t recall which one) decrying lip balms for using petroleum-based ingredients, and to make sure what you put on your lips is all-natural and not refined rotted dinosaur remains. I don’t remember what product the ad was for. But it definitely hit a mark.

I decided, since I needed more lip balm, to try a natural one, i.e. Burt’s Bees Beeswax. I saw it at Target, right next to Chapstick. The Burt’s was about a quarter more than the Chapstick, so I was questioning the au naturale ideas in my head, especially since there were three Chapsticks in one package, and only one of the Burt’s — pay less for triple the product? Very tempting. But I decided to not be cheap and try the Burt’s at least once.

I have to say I’m disappointed. The Burt’s gives my lips this cold tingly feeling , which I do not want. (Apparently other customers like it though…)

Hmm … it appears that it was a good thing I waited to write this up, because the info on the Skin Deep: Cosmetics Safety Database changed since I last looked at it. Chapstick lip balm now looks more harmful than Burt’s Bees Beeswax lip balm. Huh. (And oh hay look, white petrolatum in the Chapstick!!1)

Well, natural lip balms at places like Lush cost too much for me (and I never like having to touch lip balm to apply it — don’t they advise not touching your face because of the bacteria on your hands?), and Chapstick seems out (unless I can find this Chapstick all natural version), so I don’t know what to go for next. But that won’t be for a while. I can count all the lip balms I’ve had in my life on one hand; most of them were freebies.

Next item, 3Musketeers Mint. I saw commercials for this starting Christmas of last year? 3Musketeers is probably my favorite candy bar. It doesn’t mean I absolutely love it, but most of the time I’d accept eating one, which is better than what I can say about other bars. So when I saw the mint, I wanted to try it.

I found it in the checkout line at Albertson’s here, so of course I grabbed it. When I got home, I realized it’s smaller than the normal 3Musketeers bar, and it’s packaged with two bars, half the size of a regular one. Slight disappointment there, but maybe mint costs more or something, I’d forgive them for that.

When I bit into it though, it wasn’t that great. Maybe my expectations were too high. I think I expected something like a York Peppermint Patty. But the 3Musketeers Mint isn’t as sweet. It’s okay. I probably won’t buy it again. But I’d accept it if someone offered it to me. *grin*

The really rad thing about it though, the main reason why I’m talking about it at all, is the packaging. XD First, 3Musketeers Mint wrapping in normal lighting. It’s got that normal metallic look that the 3Musketeers bar has, right? Then, 3Musketeers Mint wrapping while backlit. Whoa! Transparent wrapper! XD It’s not a good quality photo, because in real life the nutrition facts can be read while backlit. mreh.

Now, I read Wil Wheaton’s post about Scarlett Johansson’s album a while ago … whenever it was first posted. I had no idea what type of music she’d done, but I know generally I don’t share Wil’s taste in music. (I’m more pop and mainstream, although I enjoy rock and a bit of indie music.)

Her album really surprised me though. I thought she’d be doing the normal pop album. I never expected the music that I heard. (I’m no music guru, so I have no idea what style or genre it is or anything.) There are a few songs on there I don’t enjoy, but for the most part, I would buy the album if it cost me $10 or so. (Hm, maybe I should buy the mp3s on Amazon.)

It’s got a nice atmosphere to the music. Not something I’d want to listen to every day like The Cardigans, but in the right mood it would be the best music. Like Lily Chou-Chou! *grins*

So I finished reading Garth Nix’s Across the Wall … a long while ago. I loved it! I read someone’s comment that it’s not as good as the Old Kingdom Trilogy. Well of course. The Old Kingdom spans over three books, you really get to get into the world and into the characters and into the stories.

Across the Wall is a collection of short stories. Short stories are, well short. There’s no time for development and evolution. It’s just a quick event that introduces a new idea and makes you (well, me at least) think about the world differently. I thought Garth Nix was incredibly imaginative with these stories. (I love short stories, by the way. Got introduced to them properly by Neil Gaiman. Read some of Roald Dahl’s adult short stories. I need to own them!)

Garth Nix was so good that I want to read The Once and Future King. I never thought I’d pick that up. Daddy owns a copy (an ooold copy). I never was interested in King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. But Garth Nix has piqued my interest … as any good author should do.

Those are my reviews. The first two were written June 6th; I’m finishing this June 17th.

The remark I made earlier about gas … well the Monday before I saw gas was $4.33. I thought of filling up, but meh I was lazy and as I always do when I’m lazy, I thought I’d wait to see if the price would go down. The next day, Tuesday, I drove by the station again and the price was $4.44. I was so gobsmacked that I didn’t even consider buying gas.

I guess I should have though. I ended up buying four gallons on the 13th to make it home to L.A. where gas is guaranteed to be at least five cents cheaper (oh big whoop, five cents…) and had to pay $4.69 per gallon. Augh.

That ends my collection of little reviews and thoughts.

Mum told me that Gypsy Rose Lee came to the filming of the movie and cried when she saw Natalie Wood on stage, because she had the walk down perfect.

In other news, N bought Aly & AJ’s album Insomniatic. (From Wal-Mart. Hulk smash!!) Wheee! It’s a great album. :D Whenever I listen to Potential Breakup Song today I get weepy. It’s just … so good. *wipes away tear*

Over the weekend I just worked on my art journal. Not much interesting there. It rained. Lots. eep. I’m glad I didn’t have to be anywhere in it. ^_^

Oh, but I did take C to Circuit City to see if they had the Wii in. grr.

I have no idea how people can drive so frickin close when they’re going so frickin fast when there’s lots of water that’s spraying up into a mist behind cars. *twitch twitch* I stayed behind this RV and van that were going 45 on the 101. ^^;; I also wasn’t feeling completely awake while I was driving.

It’s so weird, in L.A. when I thought I saw rain, it wasn’t really rain, it was more like a drizzle compared to what I’ve seen at the community college I went to in Ventura County, and here. And yet people in L.A. still don’t know how to drive in it. O_o

Hm. Today I woke up at 8:45 and left at 9:30 to get my pictorial space project printed and my art journal bound. Still not done with it, I just wanted it bound. I just pretty much have to write some stuff and print some stuff and glue stuff in. Oh yeah, I have to make the folders though. meep.

Before I left, I was watching music channels (it turns out the California station here doesn’t play KTLA morning news after 9, whyyyy?). Um, heard a band I want to look into on Steven’s Untitled Rock Show, Over It. On VH1 Classic they were having a special with Twisted Sister about their new Christmas album. It’s funny how good metal can sound if there’s a tune behind it. XD;;; I saw the music video for “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” and I didn’t think it was disgusting. (I am not a fan of metal or the like.)

But I don’t think I want to hear their version of “White Christmas.” I just can’t hear any version other than Bing Crosby’s. (I’ve also come to really love the movie Holiday Inn. XD) Same goes for “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Erm, with Judy Garland replacing Bing Crosby. *blink*

Background information: I’m using N’s speakers connected to my laptop. (Even more background info that’s unnecessary: First he bought a Panasonic stereo system with radio/cassette/CD playback. C owns it now. Then he bought … I think his 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound system, I’m not sure if it’s made by Yamaha. Then he bought the speakers I’m using now; they’re Harmon/Kardon “Soundsticks II” and they’re really good. Then he bought his “Darth Vader” stereo speakers made by JBL, which he’s using right now and why he’s letting me use his Harmon/Kardon.)

Considering how much of a music snob N is (“You encode your mp3s using 192 kbps?” “IPod isn’t bought for its sound quality.”) and how much research he puts into buying anything (especially speakers), I’m really surprised that I hear a sizzle in these speakers. o_o (But I’ve got him beat in my car stereo! XD I have to brag. He spends his mucho bucks on all the fancy music equipment but I get a better sound in my car than he does in his. *rocks out*)

It’s making me worry. *shifty eyes* Did I break his speakers?

I’m hoping it’s just that one song, although I heard a tiny bit of sizzle while listening to Bowling for Soup’s “Girl All the Bad Guys Want.” I mostly heard it during the chorus and random parts of “Bottom of a Bottle” though. Who knows, maybe it’s just the desk I’m using that’s vibrating? It is made of metal and glass (borrowing from AJ :D). But I put towels underneath the speakers (I’m copying N, haha), so that really shouldn’t be the problem.

Or maybe N set some equalizer settings a certain way that doesn’t suit the song. He listens to pop, and while I listen to pop too I listen to some rock-ish songs. I don’t even know how to adjust the equalizer if it is that. ._.

But really the oddest thing is that I could hear the sizzle better with my head tilted, and that’s how I found out about it.

I was listening to Aly & AJ’s song “Not This Year” on their album Acoustic Hearts of Christmas. It just made me really sad and I felt like crying. ^^;; The song is about one Christmas they had after their Grandmother (? I don’t really remember) passed away and they just weren’t in the mood for celebrating.

Then there was that moment at Thanksgiving … weird. I don’t know. I’d just never given it a thought before. I just took it at face value that she isn’t around (in flesh and blood) any more. But now it’s like, oh yeah, she’s not here.

Eh, it’s probably because I’ve been thinking about other sad things, and it all just culminated with that song.

Another song on that CD that I enjoy (don’t get me wrong, I think “Not This Year” is a really good song, maybe perhaps the best song [to me] on the album) is “Let It Snow.” It’s so different! I’ve never heard a version of the song like this one. XD They use bongos and some guitar-ish instrument on it, and it kinda sounds like it’s taking place on a tropical island. And they’re singing about snow. I love it! XD

So Something Positive (a totally PG-13 rated comic) introduced me to Tom Smith’s song, “A Boy and His Frog.” It’s actually pretty high up on my Last.fm Top Tracks list, tied for second. *laugh* Right after all the KROQ-y songs.

When I first heard it, it really didn’t have much of an effect on me. Kermit sings about not having Jim Henson anymore. Okay.

Bit of background here. I watched Sesame Street some (I’ll have to ask my mom exactly how much, because I really don’t remember watching it, but I can remember quite a bit of stuff from it); I watched Muppet Babies lots (and realized when I was older that the characters were based on the Muppets, which came before *snrk*); and for some reason we owned (still own?) The Muppet Movie tape (in what I consider the “Disney tape box”). I also remember watching Fraggle Rock, although I don’t it was that big with my brothers and me. My brothers liked to watch The Muppet Show when it re-ran (on what? according to Wikipedia it wasn’t on Nick at Nite, but…), but I guess I’m not a fan of variety shows. I liked the parts with the Muppets, mostly the behind-the-scenes stuff, but was bored by the rest of it.

I never realized until I was older (maybe when we got The Muppet Movie tape) that they were all tied in together by this one guy, Jim Henson. That would explain the “Jim Henson’s” part of Muppet Babies. *grin*

All this happened after 1990 of course, the year that Jim Henson died. So I never experienced the “loss of my childhood” or anything like that. (No, that day was when my mom told me my grandfather planned to shoot someone.) Therefore, I can’t really rely on past feelings when I hear about anything related with Jim Henson. It was all just some fun stuff to watch.

I think the song means something to me now. I don’t know why. Nothing really changed. But it’s a touching song, and I guess I can understand the feeling behind it.

Well today I read Randy’s (the writer of Something Positive) latest S*P strip about Carroll Spinney (voice of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch; ya learn something new every day) getting old and eventually dying. I absolutely found the strip funny, possibly because I’m used to my childhood dying by now? I don’t know. Also I’m not that attached to Big Bird or Oscar the Grouch (see above regarding Sesame Street) even though I still enjoy them. But that’s not why I mention it.

Randy also posted a link to the clip where Big Bird finds out what it means when Mr. Hooper is dead. That aired the year before I was born, so it again doesn’t affect me. It’s sad yes, I feel for everyone yes, but do I feel a personal sense of loss? No. Although I found out about the character Mr. Hooper. ahaha. *shifty eyes*

I don’t really know what the point of this post is. I’ve said, this doesn’t really touch me, and why, and yet I don’t want to be perceived as cold. (Does anyone want to know what I was into as a kid? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! And Home Alone. I’ve always felt for McCauley Culkin. And Power Rangers. The first two or so seasons. And Rugrats. I was a Nickelodeon kid. Oddly, all my childhood faves ended badly. Or are ending badly. So I guess I still can’t really feel a sense of loss!)

I spend too much time writing in here. (One hour, woo!)

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