Jump Up, Jump Down

Shocking fact: I don't have a good picture of R jumping. I was trying to show Clark a good picture of the man's signature and I couldn't find one on my hard drive. As Allison pointed out, I could have just googled for a picture, but the point, in my mind, is I don't have one. On the other hand, Clark is my best buddy and tried to show me the difference between different kinds of guns. It was almost sweet in a way.

Insanity is Fun

My English paper has changed again. The topic hasn't changed, but the formatting has, but the formatting change allows me to do what I've always wanted to do: Beat people over the head with the idea that the Kinks are gods by comparing Kinks songs to other bands songs and going "See?? See?? Told you they were the same." In essence, I've lost my mind. I'm now going to go through and edit what I have for basic readability and then watch an episode of Buzzcocks to calm down. Which doesn't actually make sense, but will be done anyway. Just a quick update to prove I'm alive. Ta

Love

I'm in love.






Not really, I'm just super excited about something I just read on the AV Club site. According to their Newswire the Raconteurs are releasing their new album next week. That's right folks, no publicity, no singles, no videos, nothing, just a release. And, to top it off, here's a quote from their press release:

The band have done no interviews or advertisements for this record before this announcement. The purpose: to get the album to the fans as soon as possible and as we promised. We wanted to get this record to fans, the press, radio, etc., all at the EXACT SAME TIME so that no one has an upper hand on anyone else regarding it’s availability, reception or perception

Thus, I'm in love.
Meanwhile We Are Scientists have announced the American release date for their new album which is May 13th. Almost exactly two months later the UK release (which is today by the by.) Not in love with them. On the other hand, Rilo Kiley is coming to the 9:30 club in June and on a weekend, so their high up on my love list.
Finally, I got into a good dorm and got a really, really, really good grade on my Western Civ midterm. Overall, life is good.

These Days

The past 24 hours have been exceedingly stressful/weird for me. The English paper I had due yesterday changed topics on me yesterday, so I was up until midnight writing about why the Kinks are rock gods and then I spent another half hour sending off the not completed draft to my English prof and getting ready for bed. I decided that despite the fact that I wasn't done, it would best to stop were I did because I couldn't create coherent sentences. It was Allison's idea to send off this incomplete thing, which I thought was a good enough idea to do. (All apologies for the incoherence that just transpired. I may be awake, but my brain hasn't started working yet.)
I also met my roommate for next year. She's a nice enough person, a bit excentric, but I suppose social graces aren't something I should be the judge of. My main concern is that we both are the type to go to bed early and that she has a really good lottery number. Everything else is irrelevant, especially if she ends up transferring to another school like she thinks she might. Honestly I'm just glad I have someone to room with for next year.
My brain is mush. I can't wait for this week to be over.
Well now that I've checked in, I'll be off.

Reality Shows Make Me Happy (Along With Some Other Things)

After being forced to walk the dogs an hour earlier than I wanted to (I know it's incredibly petty, but it's the principle dammit!) by my father (who I plan to avoid eye contact with until Sunday) I watched the season finale of Project Runway. I've always (read: since this summer) been a fan of Bravo produced reality shows (the hair cutting one was amazing, love Top Chef and am super excited about the new one about dancing) and since I really haven't had much to do this break (other than write a five to seven page paper, history reading, and study for a math test) I got wrapped up in the show (damn you marathons!). I recorded the season finale and watched after my forced march. It was brilliant and Victoria Beckham was a guest judge and obviously grew up in London. (Actually she grew up in Hertfordshire which is a county incredibly close to London, so basically the same thing.) The point of this whole thing though is the following quote from the AV Club's review of the episode:

"Even though we've all heard her before, it's still very unsettling to hear Victoria Beckham speak. Honestly, high-pitched croaking sounds would be more reasonable coming from her than an actual human voice"

It's sad and made me laugh so hard because in it's own mean way is true, though Project Runway had this amazing way of making her look human, I was impressed.
So I'm going to link you to a couple other things that are making me happy at the moment as well as some really obvious information. All in a neat little list.

• Alex Turner and Miles Kane's collabo. Watch the video and listen to that beautiful orchestration. According to previous articles I've read the whole album they've recorded is orchestrated, so we all know I'm going to buy it. But yeah, absolutely brilliant and set in Russia thus making it that much better. That and the fact that they look like Help! era Beatles
• Useless information time: Going to a concert can make you deaf. I don't need research to tell me that. I don't need no fucking survey telling me I might go deaf if I go to clubs a lot. I know I'll be deaf before I'm thirty if I do that. I also already knew that from the loud ringing in my ears after going to concerts and not being able to hear people. :shakes head in a disgust:

Burger night! Real home made burger night! I'll be off now...

How Wonderful It Is to be Bored

1. How long ago did you join LJ?
I joined in 2004 but didn't start "participating" until 2005.

2. How did you find out about LJ?
Umm...the internet?

3. If someone introduced you to LJ, is s/he still on your friends list?
I joined because of someone, but they are no longer on my friends list

4. Have you introduced anyone to LJ?
No

5. Is your LJ public or friends only, and why?
Public, unless it's very, very private in which case it's friends only, but that's a rare occurrence

Name five...
1. ... things you can't live without.
Music, food, internet, water, and music

2. ... of the best moments in your life.
Five? I don't think I have five best moments. Let's see...first Kaiser Chiefs concert, Killers concert, getting into UMW, seeing Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova at the 9:30 club, and...any time I watch NMTB (that last ones bollocks by the by)

3. ... celebrities you can't stand.
Pete Wentz, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Preston, and Pete Doherty (that was a lot easier than the previous question, which scares me)

4. ... books you enjoy(ed) reading.
HHGG (all five of them, but only counting as one), Discworld series (again, counting as one entity), Vile Bodies, Metroland, and Thank You For Smoking

5. ... items in your purse/backpack/on your desk.
My wallet, pens, pencils, chapstick, and throat lozenages

1. What smell reminds you of your childhood?
Ummm...exhaust fumes? Dunno really

2. Would you ever consider getting laser eye surgery?
Yes, but only if I could afford it and the doctor could assure me that my eyes wouldn't get worse after the procedure

3. What food do you love now, that took you a long time to develop a taste for?
Huh. Dunno.

4. Do you have sensitive skin? Is there any material that you don't like touching your skin?
Yes and no. My mom thinks I have sensitive skin because I did when I was little, but I'm not entirely convinced that I do now. Then again I hate the smell of strong perfumes so I'll never know. As for any materials I don't like touch my skin, I would say wool because it's so itchy

5. Whose speaking voice is your favourite to listen to?
David Tennant, Ricky, anyone with a British/Australian accent :drools:

Cancellation

In the past few months I've rarely concerned myself with the deeds and don'ts of the music industry. I've had more important things to deal with, mainly doing well in my classes and trying not to have a melt down. In fact it would take something pretty horrendous (or KC doing anything) for me to get worked up enough to write about. Well, Vampire Weekend has done just that.
As frequent readers of the blog will know, my big thing (besides CDs being released at the same time on both sides of the Atlantic) is how frequently a band tours the States. Most of the bands I focus on mainly tour Europe and Europe. They make few and infrequent excursions to the American continent (and I do mean the whole thing) and make very little effort to build up any kind of fan base over here (and then they complain about it.) This is true even with certain American bands who feel that building up a fan base in Europe is more important than building one in their home country. So when bands cancel American tours (even if said tours are really just three dates) to work on their next album it annoys me a little. As I've stated before I can deal with "fake" medical reasons for cancelling tours, but the example I'm about to present to you just makes my blood boil.
Vampire Weekend has cancelled three gigs so they can play on SNL. Some might argue that it's an excellent idea, that playing on a nationally broadcasted show is a brilliant way to get their music across to everyone, that I'm just being a stick in the mud. Yeah, explain that to the people who thought they were going to get to see the band live and in person. Seeing a band on a crap TV show were they perform two songs does not make up for a live performance were they might play, oh, maybe all of their songs and you don't have to pretend to enjoy the comedic stylings of the SNL troupe. Sure, they've rescheduled for June, which means that the money those fans spent on tickets hasn't gone to waste, but cancelling three tour dates for a cumulative eight or ten minutes on a show that a relatively small number of people watch. (I can't actually substantiate that last statement because I've no clue how to find viewer numbers. If somebody can point me in the right direction, that would be very much appreciated.)
So what's the bottom line folks? Tour before television. Tour, tour, tour, tour, tour. And then tour some more, preferably in the US/North America.
On a lighter and more vain note NME will be launching an American version of it's "highly influential" (there exact words are "the world's most influential") awards show this April. The article goes on to say that the show has helped launch the careers of many important acts such as The Killers, Pete Doherty, Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs and My Chemical Romance (yeah, they really said MCR.) The whole thing is just so obscenely vain it's actually funny in a way. Sadly I don't know enough about popular or current musical acts to help skew the voting, but god I wish I did.
Finally, the Young Knives recently bit off the hand that feeds them as well as everyone who reads DiS and makes comments. Also Take That won best single at the NME awards and the Kaiser Chiefs came away with nought to show for their existence this year. The world continues to turn on its axis and I continue to hoard episodes of NMTB in my secret lair.
Ta!

More Fangirling

So I'm home for a week, which means that if I'm not really careful, I'll use up all my means of entertainment today and be bored the rest of the week. Hence why I'm updating my journal.
One of the things that I like about LiveJournal, other than the easy access to DW fanfiction/smut, the ability to show off my insane side through little pictures called avatars or icons. I currently have 270, of which I can only use 15 at any given time. Granted most of the icons are just taking up space on my hard drive, but some things are just to hard to get rid of. (Note to self: Icon folder needs pruning.) Today I added two more of which I'm going to show you one. The one I'm going to show you is related to this post and more specifically the bits that come after the capslock section. Now onto the icon:

For niceness and fear of retaliation the icon that I posted was created by mediocrechick over at LJ.
Of course the downside of making that particular icon my default over at LJ means that I might spend more time smiling at staring at the upper left hand corner of my screen than is really necessary. Oh well.
That's it for me. Toodles.

Ramblings in the Media Lab

What would happen if you add trumpets to a Kaiser Chiefs album? Other than my head exploding, God only knows, but according to "rumours" that exact thing is going to be happening. Yes my friends, my favourite producer (otherwise known as the gorgeous Mark Ronson) and my favourite band may be joining forces to explode my mind sometime in the future. I'm both giddy and terrified.
In other music related news I'm going to be writing an essay in my English class about why a 1960's style British Invasion will never/can never happen again. So that means my pop obsession has made it's way over into English. Somehow I doubt it will make it's way to history, but British history can cover that subject. Now all I need to do is convince everyone in the music department that pop is a valid form of music and my take over will be complete. Mwhahahahaha.
I scanned something today for my voice lesson. Now Prof. Tavenier can't complain about how she doesn't have a copy of my English art song. Granted she can feel free to complain about everything else, but I have a copy dammit.

Etymology

I was listening to the Proclaimers "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" and I heard a word that I didn't recognize. I assumed I had misheard the word and so I looked up the lyrics. Here's the verse and more specifically the couplet I'm referring to:
And if I haver yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's havering to you
Thoroughly confused I headed over to dictionary.com to find out what haver means. The first definition says that haver means to equivocate or to vacillate. Given the context of the song the definition didn't make sense, so I scrolled down. After the Hebrew definition (friend; comrade; companion) which I knew couldn't be the correct one, I found the definition of haver, according to Scottish slang. (You see, the Proclaimers are two Scottish brothers, so it would make sense that they would use Scottish slang.)
Haver: To maunder; to talk foolishly; to chatter
So there you have it. This is what I do when I'm bored; look up strange words in songs that I'm listening to.

On a completely different note, in English class today we were discussing our research topics. Of course mine center around British culture and I happen to know that the Brits are absolute nutters for soccer and so one of my classmates asked me if I was British. I politely replied no, just somewhat obsessed. :)

More Oscar Nonsense

Unabashedly ripped from Filter Magazine's online blog

Score one for indie rockers. At last night's Academy Awards presentation, the stars of Once - The Frames' Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - brought tears with their symphony-backed performance of the film's central song "Falling Slowly" and were awarded the film industry's highest honor: an Oscar for Best Song.

If you want to see the acceptance speeches given by Mr. Hansard and Ms. Irglova (not Ms. Marketa as I called her last night), head on over to Filter Blog.

I'm So Sorry About This

ONCE WON BEST SONG, ONCE WON BEST SONG, ONCE WON BEST SONG, ONCE WON BEST SONG, ONCE WON BEST SONG, ONCE WON BEST SONG, ONCE WON BEST SONG, ONCE WON BEST SONG, ONCE WON BEST SONG, ONCE WON BEST SONG, ONCE WON BEST SONG, ONCE WON BEST SONG, HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ONCE WON BEST SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Beat that Enchanted.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just this in, a little quote from Mr. Hansard and Ms. Marketa (and further proving that somethings going on between them):
Glen: Let's have them kiss (the statuettes)
Marketa: But they're both guys
Glen: It's Hollywood!

Brotherly Love

In case you needed any evidence that a) I like the Kinks a bit too much and b) the Brothers Davies originated the brotherly hatred and are still the best, look no further than this article as reported by Billboard. Gotta love that brotherly love.

It's Not Fair

Everyday, usually in the morning, I check NME.com for news. Usually there isn't anything too interesting and I move on quickly. The format to NME.com is something like this: Left hand column is the highlights of the news from the last 24 hours and anything new that's particularly interesting. The right hand column is devoted to pictures from the magazine, awards, and other various things involving music. It's a fairly good set-up, nothing to complain about. Except of course when they feature pictures like this. Then I have to cover up half the screen with my hand and somehow make it seem like I'm not the biggest weirdo roaming the earth. When I saw that picture this morning I took one look and hit the back button on my browser it was that sexy traumatic. I guess there are just some things I can't handle. Like pictures of Ricky Wilson.
On a completely different subject, I've finished the first season of Torchwood and just rewatched the eleventh episode of season 3 Doctor Who. Essentially what this means is that a) I have to find a more productive way to waste my time or b) find a new show to watch on YouTube. Or c) rewatch NMTB and The IT Crowd. I suspect I will be going with option c. Also, on a Torchwood related note, as much as I didn't want Owen to die, I didn't want him to come back and be a complete jackass. So yeah, I want Owen to die this week.
Well that's it for me kiddies. I think I'm going to watch some IT Crowd.

Brits, A Proper Nash Review, and Why Colds Suck Ass

The Brit Awards (also referred to as the British version of the Grammys) are tomorrow (or Thursday, I can't remember which) and it seems that whoever runs the ceremony has decided to shorten the list in the category of best single. As some readers might remember, the Kaiser Chiefs were one of the groups originally nominated for this award. As of today, that is no longer true. So what does the band do in reaction? Have their lead singer open his big mouth. "I am just a bit annoyed" is the least offensive part of the quotes used from Mr. Wilson's interview with BBC 6Music earlier today. Bashing the singles that did get nominated was something else he did. Now it's been a long time since I've criticized a group or individual, but there are time when keeping one's gob shut, especially when one is being interviewed, would be a very good idea. If one doesn't do that, then one will be ridiculed in this blog, it's practically my job. On the other hand the only good song on the now shortened list is "Valerie" by Mark Ronson. The other songs, as far as I know or can tell, are shite. Still, it's just not good manners to bash. So remember that next time Richard. >_<
I'm going to admit something. I've been trying to write a review of Made of Bricks for hours and I can't do it. Let's just say my main issue with the album is that, much like Mel Brooks, Miss Nash doesn't know how to end things. Mel Brooks can't end a movie well and Kate Nash doesn't know when to end a song. Otherwise the album is pure gold.
You know why cold suck ass? They suck ass because they suck all the life out of you and make playing the clarinet harder than it already is when you don't practice as often as you should. It also makes life generally difficult because the instinct to stay curled up in ball is often overridden by the need for food, which is hard to get because it's far away and you just want to stay curled up in a ball. Colds also suck because they make your nose all congested and so you have to blow your nose all the time which is, in and of itself, a pain in the ass. Generally colds just suck a big one and should go away. Stupid rhinovirus.

A Kinky Update

I wrote this in my seminar blog, in response to the fact that I got to grill the new class and got my seminar blog praised to high heaven
Crap it's been a long time since I wrote in this blog. I guess since I'm not taking the class anymore there's really no need, but I feel inspired. This past week I got the chance to peek in on this semesters Rock/Soul/Prog class and there have been a plethora (well I say plethora) of articles having to do with my Rock gods, the Kinks, so I felt I should write. Besides I'm incredibly bored and can't find this episode of Torchwood I've been looking for. So, onto the Kinks!
As I've previously mentioned in this blog, I blame the Kinks for the present state of British rock music. When I say blame, I don't mean in a bad way. I mean, they're the reason Brit-pop existed and hence the reason my favourite band exists. And a whole bunch of other bands as well, including anyone who can claim Blur, Oasis, the Pretenders, the Jam, Pulp, Supergrass, or the Madness as an influence. Well, my view was all but confirmed in a book that recently read called The Kinks: A Very English Band. As you can guess it's a biography of the band from their very beginnings till around 2002. (Technically the band is still together, despite the fact that the Brothers Davies all but hate each other and none of the other band members know what the hell is going on.) My thesis that you can connect the Kinks to Kaiser Chiefs through Blur and the Jam can now commence!
Another one of my postulates, that Ray Davies is an incredibly bitter man, was also confirmed in none too certain terms. Not only is Mr. Davies incredibly bitter over everything ever, he's also slightly paranoid, something of a nutter, obsessed with concept albums (see the Kinks back catalogue starting with The Village Green Preservation Society), and is very controlling of all of his artistic output. If you've every wanted to read a biography of Ray Davies couched in a history of the Kinks, I would highly recommend The Kinks: A Very English Band by Neville Marten and Jeff Hudson. Heck, if you've ever wanted the full back story on the Kinks, I would suggest that book.
Now onto the articles I was talking about earlier. Both we written by Jason Heller who is a staff writer at the AV Club. The first article is Mr. Heller's perspective on the Kinks and what they mean to him. When I read it, I was absolutely thrilled to finally know that there was someone else out there who thought as highly of the band as I did. The second article is a "primer" on the Kinks and includes most of the vital tracks that anyone new to the band should listen to before diving into the full back catalogue. My only addendum would be "Dandy," "Dedicated Follower of Fashion," "Mr. Pleasant," "Starstruck," "Apeman," and "Better Things." (I had to keep adding songs as I looked at the best of albums I have. I only meant to add three originally.) Of course most intro courses focus on the band's earlier material because it's the most accessible in the Kink's back catalogue. As mentioned before, after Village Preservation Society Ray got rather obsessed with writing concept albums and rock operas and really started hating the idea of writing "hits" or "singles." If you like what you here, then maybe you can venture into the more obscure albums.
So there you have it. My update on all things Kinks. I'll be keeping an eye on the new R/S/P class and might update based on my inspiration level. Until then feel alright.

Sad (and not so Sad) Facts For 11 at Night

• I've watched 18-3 of NMTB way too many times. No one should be able to say what someone is going to say before they say it. Unless of course they're naturally psychic in which case it's fine
• I made Dean's List and have been asked to join the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. I feel I should snub the latter, just because I can
• My internet has been mostly shit all day. I really wish it wasn't
• I had one of the freakist experiences yesterday. I went to turn in my English paper and bumped into Prof. Campbell. I asked him were the seminar was in the course and basically, my blog from last semester was stumped by Prof. Campbell in front of the entire class. It was really scary
• I have one class tomorrow :)

Off to bed now. Ta

I'm Such A Nerdy Emo

So this past week has been shit for the most part. Friday night was fantabulous before I got back to my room, but was otherwise quite fantastiche. I had dinner with a bunch of upper class band geeks and tried a little rum, which is fruity good. Then I went back to my room and it all went to shit because I had to wake up at 8 the next morning thus meaning I needed to go to bed at 11, yadda yadda. My relationship with Allison has now stagnated at putting up with each other, just barely. Saturday was cool. My white sneakers broke this past week, so I went to Journeys to get another pair, which coincidentaly I spilled Diet Coke on later the same night. I ended up spending around a hour in the mall and bought two shirts and bra that doesn't fit because I couldn't remember my bra size. One of the shirts has Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty on it which is neato since she's kind of made of awesome. The other shirt has "Music is My Boyfriend" written across it, in bright yellow, and, quite coincidentally, is made by the same company that the Kaiser Chiefs use to print their shirts. I basically had the room to myself though and gourged on pizza, cheese sticks, and Dr. Pepper. It was a great night all in all, if only because I discovered how much I really love Torchwood despite it's rather obvious flaws (at least during the first season.) Had it out with Allison, which means jack-shit, but at least some of the stuff I've been thinking about this past week is off my chest. Today was uneventful except for the fact that I watched more Torchwood and found out my paper deadline has been extended till Wednesday which means I have tomorrow to write it. Very exciting. Spent most of the day in the library procrastinating and am now back in my room trying vainly to work on my NPR internship resume and cover letter. I have most of the resume done and really, really wish I didn't have to write a cover letter. Really. Currently thinking about ordering dinner and listening to Amy Winehouse. So, ta.

Fan Girl SCREAMS!!!!

I must warn you this will all sound crazy in the morning, but it will be worth it. Mind the capslock.
(The following two explosions relate to Torchwood characters, with season 2 in mind)
I LOVE IANTO JONES!!!!! He's a snarky wonder boy.
I LOVE OWEN!!!!!!!! He's a medical snarky wonder boy.
(This next bit only makes sense if you've seen Hogsfather and Love and Monsters {from DW season 2}) You know why Elton? Because you're eeeevil and crazy in the head.
And now, bon nuit.

Life? Don't Talk To Me About Life!

You know what sucks? The world. You know what makes it slightly better? Wonderfully cheesey TV shows, specifically Torchwood. True, Auntie Beeb makes it incredibly hard to find on YouTube, but if you're clever you can find it and realize how wonderfully silly the whole thing is. Kate Nash also makes the world slightly better but not as much as Torchwood.
So yesterday, in a fit of boredom, I was checking all my "shopping" sites and I found the best shirt ever. Instead of trying to describe, I'm just going to post the picture. Long time readers will instantly understand why the shirt is so awesome. However I will explain after the break.

The reason why this shirt is so awesome is because I love cheese. So a shirt that says "Sweet Dreams are Made of Cheese" not only my other love of 80's rock hits will my previously mentioned love of cheese. All on one shirt! I've decided that I must have that shirt, one way or another. So yeah, that's the best shirt ever.
Last night I also decided to be a complete bitch to Allison because she ruins everything in my life and makes me feel like a horrible piece of second hand shit. It was both wonderful and horrible because now she's acting like the complete bitch she is and I'm at the wrong end of her bitchiness. It's at times like this I wish I had a point-of-view gun. Either that or a different roommate.
Well I'm off. Time to eat and watch something distracting.