Best of 2015: The Everything Edition

Oh look, I decided to do one of these after all. I still stand by that I don't do this out of a sense of need, I am doing it purely for the fun. And the LOLs. Never forget the LOLs.

The Best of 2014: The Everything Edition

I know I said I will not do these anymore, and I still stand by that. However, I feel like I should go ahead and talk about the 2014 media experiences I loved. And thus, this will be the last one I’ll ever do on here. The end of an era! And thank Heavens, I was getting tired of this s***.

~~

VIDEO GAMES

Let's kick this off by giving a shout-out to one of the best games I've ever played, bar none, last year. While it wasn't a 2014 release, I want to give it a ton of love: The Cat Lady. It's a point-and-click adventure game that is nothing that you think it is. When I bought it during the Steam sale back in December last year, I was raring for a fun adventure with a cat-loving lady. But whoa, when I started the game up, I was in a complete shock. I finished it in less than two days, it was that engrossing. Not only did this game have a very intense and excellent story, but a solid cast of wonderful characters. It is also *one of the best representations of depression and suicide and how it affects a human being. I wanted to high-five the entire crew for doing such a touchy topic the justice it rightfully deserves. Not once is it romanticized, it's brought to earth and also very metaphorical.

(*I attempted to play Depression Quest long ago and felt it was inadequate in presenting the experience of having depression. However, what happened to the game's creator was pretty awful.)

~~

MOVIES

Okay, y'all know I rarely watch movies. But when I do, I gorge myself in film until I can barely move from my recliner. The only major release I saw last year of note was The LEGO Movie. No, no "awesome" jokes. It was a genuinely good movie that, next to Pacific Rim, is one I look forward to its sequel.

Other films of note:
A Band Called Death (y'all, this was awesome! Too bad they never got big, stupid record industry...)
Blood & Black Lace (I went on a giallo binge late last year and this was my favorite of the bunch)
Tiny: A Story About Living Small (watch to see one of my favorite people talk about her house!)
Jodorowsky’s Dune (oh, if only it was made! *shakes fist to sky*)

~~

TV SHOWS

The only one that matters in 2014: Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. End of story. Next topic.

~~

BOOKS

Alrighty, we'll split by two lists: one for 2014 releases and the other is for older books.

Top 11 Books of 2014:

1. Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay
2. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo
3. Nochita by Dia Felix
4. Green Girl by Kate Zambreno
5. The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte
6. Zen Pencils by Gavin Aung Than
7. Shoplifter by Michael Cho
8. The Big Tiny: A Built-It-Myself Memoir by Dee Williams
9. Promise Land by Jessica Lamb-Shapiro
10. MFA vs. NYC: The Two Cultures of American Fiction edited by Chad Harbach
11. Writing Wild by Tina Welling


Top 10 Books Not from 2014:

1. Thunder and Lightning by Natalie Goldberg
2. The Kick-Ass Writer by Chuck Wendig
3. Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames by Thich Nhat Hanh
4. Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron
5. You Can Buy Happiness (and It’s Cheap) by Tammy Strobel
6. Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson
7. The Case for God by Karen Armstrong
8. Twilight of the Elites by Christopher Hayes
9. Women Food and God by Geneen Roth
10. Amsterdam by Russell Shorto

~~

MUSIC

To make this easier, here are my Top 12 Albums I Absolutely Loved and Want You to Buy:

1. (Tie) In Cold Blood by White Sea and Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
2. Taiga by Zola Jesus
3. Run River North by Run River North
4. Too True by Dum Dum Girls
5. Last War by Haley Bonar
6. The Future’s Void by EMA
7. St. Vincent by St. Vincent (hell yeah, get that Grammy, girlfriend!)
8. LP1 by FKA twigs
9. Nabuma Rubberband by Little Dragon
10. Comet, Come to Me by Meshell Ndegeocello
11. Cry is for the Flies by Le Butcherettes
12. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit

~~

So there ya go, two months late, but here it is. And that's the end of these kinda lists from this point out. It's been not fun, so that's why this is the last one. Now, onto other things I rather do instead!

Four Songs I've Sang in Public (and Three I Want to Sing)

In honor of the release of Rob Sheffield's new book (which I'm digging into right now with gusto), I will list the four songs I've actually sang in public ala karaoke (although they were through the Rock Band video game during a series [read two] of parties. But I'm told this technically counts. Hot dog.) and the three I wish I can do.

"Girlfriend Is Better" by Talking Heads

"Nightwatchman" by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

"Tom Sawyer" by Rush

"Kiss Them for Me" by Siouxsie and the Banshees


And for the three I want to do... (but Rock Band doesn't have em. Booooo.)

"Isn't It Midnight" by Fleetwood Mac

"Kodachrome" by Paul Simon

"Walking After Midnight" by Patsy Cline

Two songs with "midnight" in the title... hardy-har-har-hur-hur. Whatever.

Things that made my day

Apparently, a new Talking Heads DVD compilation is coming out this year. With live performances! Interviews! Other thingys! October 18th is the date, save it! Oh and... it's limited, apparently. With a deluxe version. And I wouldn't be a serious fan if I wasn't getting the deluxe version.

This eases the disappointment of falling for the old "hey, Fleetwood Mac's Mirage is gonna get remastered this year!" again.

Oh hi, Lindsey Buckingham. I see your new album coming out tomorrow. And your DVD coming out in November. (And no, I wasn't named after him.)

Wait. That's it? Man, okay. Here y'all go: my contribution.

Further Thoughts on Retromania

(The book spurred so much thinking that a separate post is needed. I didn’t want to clutter the review with my own load of “cool story, sis”, so here you go!) 

Bands Reuniting: 

Why Bother When There Ain't a New Album?

I do want to see Talking Heads record a new album, especially from all their years of doing their own thing (Tom Tom Club and their dance-pop resurrection, Byrne’s appreciation for world music, and Harrison’s love affair with alternative rock). But at the same time, I also don’t want them to reunite. Maybe, in the unusual grand scheme of things, Naked was meant to be their last album. I love them enough to want nothing more than for them to not become empty shells of themselves that tour just for money. Those Remain In Light days are long over. There ain’t never gonna be another Stop Making Sense. If Byrne still hates the hell out of Harrison, Frantz, and Weymouth; well, as Porky Pig once said "that's all folks".

And even if my favorite bands did reunite, I usually expect (90% of the time, actually) that they would record a new album. And I would probably expect the album to have their signature sound, only much older and obviously different-sounding from the many years of musical experimentation. By the way, the only band to record after reuniting… Fleetwood Mac. Yeah, bad odds, eh?

Don’t get me wrong. This doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t go buy tickets to their Texas tour stop if Talking Heads ever did reunite. I’m no fool.

When I got into The Police, I read over and over again that there would be no chance of a reunion. Well, in ’07, it happened. I bought tickets to one of their stops in Texas, thrilled to finally see them live. After all the touring dust settled, they would go right back into the studio and make a worthwhile 6th album (that was my hope, at least). Imagine my utter disappointment when that didn’t happen. I then wondered “what the f*** is the point of reuniting if you ain’t gonna make a new album?” Well, blah blah touring makes more money than album sales blah blah. And who knows, maybe Sting still hates Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers.

As for Steely Dan, I’m still fairly upset they haven’t recorded an album, even with all this touring they’ve been doing. Sure, the duo have released solo albums, but not joined forces and made something that would make me forgive them for the elevator jazz that is Everything Must Go. But again, see what happened with The Police. Plus, as I noted about their last album, that and Two Against Nature were honestly not their best efforts. They became shadows of themselves, a strange jazz-rock lounge act instead of the edgy poetry-popping studio phenomenon they were back in the seventies. I understand that age has a role in this. Also, it is flat-out unfair to expect long-running bands to always sound like they did in their best albums.

I guess, it makes more sense to reunite and tour than make a new album. The former is all about money and nostalgia, while the latter may be fraught with unresolved issues (Talking Heads, The Police) and interest in other things (Steely Dan). It is unfair of me to expect that from my favorite reunited (and not) bands. But I always hope for reconciliation. Damn me and my optimism.

On Originality: 

Or Why I Hate Vampire Weekend For Trying Too Damn Hard to Be Talking Heads 2.0

I was thinking about Reynolds’ criticism that there isn’t that much new innovation in music, just resurrections of various genres. There is a striking similarity to that and the complaints about genre fiction and its “same-ness”. I can understand how copying a style and trying to pass it off as innovative without any outstanding originality is just silly. Do musicians not have the same freedoms as novelists when it comes to adopting a genre? I mean, writers are given grief also, but it seems like music critics give their idols a harder time. Personally, this whole problem strikes me as unrealistic and a bit snobbish. This doesn’t mean there isn’t any room for innovation, heavens no. I think music fans and critics are mistaking innovation for brand-new genres, when all that humans are capable of is original refashioning and storytelling.

Here’s a thought: The Dead Weather, sonically, sound like a heavier Creedence Clearwater Revival. It’s cool that they sound a bit similar to CCR, but it’s even better that they add their own personal touches (a female vocalist, lyrical content, talk box, and fuzz distortion). That is likely what Reynolds meant in this part here:

Where they [certain bands] really failed was on the expressive level; you rarely got the sense there was anything much in the way of felt emotion behind the songs; they seemed born of fandom, a love for the stylization of emotion in music.

- from page 137 of Retromania by Simon Reynolds

And those kinds of artists? They are obvious, especially if you have an ear for music. I have experienced a few of these. Mainly, Vampire Weekend, with their Paul Simon-from-Graceland and Talking Heads-goes-Afro-punk sound and lyrical content. Man, talk about not even trying. Even the delivery of the lyrics is David Byrne-esque.

Either way, Reynolds may have been a little too hard on this front.

~
COPYRIGHT NOTE: all bold quotes are from the novel and were written by the author himself. Those words are not my own.
~

And thus, you have it. More reviews, random thoughts, and writing things coming your way! So duck or at least, get yourself a sturdy umbrella.

Go Patti Smith!

Joyous news! Smith's memoir Just Kids was awarded the National Books Award for Nonfiction. This is an excellent book, probably one of the best musician memoirs I've read so far. I originally read an excerpt (in all places) in Rolling Stone. Bought the magazine out on a whim and came across the excerpt, read it, and then I bought the book on its first day of release.

In honor of such an achievement for this amazing lady and equally-amazing novel, I shall reread it and review it. In addition, a bonus review of her prime album Horses. Expect this all on the first week of December!

~

Go here for information about the book and its author and watch a clip of Ms. Smith reading the book, along with a nice a cappella performance of "Because the Night":

Quick Hits (or I'm Lazy, Here's A Short Entry)

Currently, I'm reading The Alchemist. I have no idea how to react to this book, so I plan on finishing it tonight and making a final decision. Before that, I finished Steve Martin's memoir, which I enjoyed very much.

~

As for music, I finished Arcade Fire's latest. I wasn't overtly impressed with it (I still prefer Funeral and Neon Bible on odd days), but there were some great songs, especially the title track and this one:



This was my favorite off the entire album.

Oh yeah, and Guster's new song is great:



~

As for movies, I saw Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Repo! The Genetic Opera. I loved the former, it was entertaining and very funny. In fact, I make plans to either borrow or buy the comics and read them. The latter was a poor man's Rocky Horror, most of the singing was horrible. It says a lot about a musical when only two of its songs are really good. But it is better than Grease. Then again, anything is better than Grease.

I'm probably gonna get attacked for not liking Repo. Ah, who cares? When Repo's purported sequel makes an unforgettable scene like this



I'll retract my opinion.

P.S.: Speaking of retracting opinions... after giving it considerable thought: Fear of Music by Talking Heads is not my all-time favorite album. It's actually Remain In Light. Whoops.

26 Days

The countdown is for the day of my graduation, which is May 6th for those not near a calendar.

This took a bit longer to write since I had a WTF moment: my toolbar all but disappeared and couldn't fix the text font or anything. After about twenty minutes of combing through the Help section, I found the solution and switched to the new editor. Quite nice, actually. Wish I was told about this sooner. But whatever.

It's getting closer to 200 entries. Funny enough, I'm up to 188 tweets. I may get to 200 entries and 200 tweets at the same time. That would be awesome.

Of course, I promise to do the stuff I listed here.

One more thing... I'm working on a "Best 25 Songs (That I Have) of All Time" that I will post at the end of the year. The big thing is I've been listening to all my music (and do I mean all of it) so I can properly judge. 'Cause damn, it's over 5,000. Not 9,000. Yet.

*3 entries left until 200*

Some updates

I've been listening to lots of music these days, trying to have at least one play count for each song I have uploaded onto iTunes. Lordy, I have over three thousand to go! I also earned an iTunes gift card, so I bought even more songs (and even an album, just for its exclusive track).

Ridiculous amount of reading going on right now. Done with Camus and off to Nabokov-land. I'm reading Lolita and Speak, Memory right now. One is for class discussion, the other is for an oral presentation I plan to give next week. I also have a stack of unfinished books that needs to get finished like whoa.

Like I mentioned in my last entry, to make up for my lacking presence, I would do a book review. I know I said that I had grand plans for a separate website just for reviews. It was silly for me to stop doing them here. Until I figure out a place for them to go, I'll continue posting them here. Anyway, back to the book review. I have chosen another J.G. Ballard book, ironically having to do with cars and crashes also: Concrete Island.

So, the reviews are back. This shall be their temporary home.

Mindy Smith did an amazing and gorgeous cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Little Lies" that I can't. Stop. Listening. To. To say it's better than the original would be silly, since Christine McVie is classy awesome personified... instead, shall I say Smith's cover is in a class unto itself? Yeah, much better.

Welcome to 2010!

Hello everyone, just stopping by to say hello and to wish all a Happy New Year.

I just got the Monsters of Folk album and I'm in love with this song. It is my official theme song for this year.

A nice way to start off the year, don't ya think?

Bullet list, your glorious presence is needed!

Alrighty, time for a few updates:

• I gots me a Twitter. No, I ain't posting a link. I protected my tweets, so you couldn't even see them anyway unless I know you and you have a Twitter.
• Finals week is upon me. So far, two down with two more to go. One is tomorrow, but it is emailing my professor my final short story and a revision. And guess what? The revision isn't working out! *rageguy*
• I found out "Little Lies" (my fav Fleetwood Mac song) was sampled for some British chick's song. And yeah, the music is the only good part, obviously.
  
• I mean... "put the loving on zoom" <-- some epic poetry, y'all.
  
• While this has proven to be a good antidote to the aforementioned atrocity, it isn't working much. All I can think about is: how in God's name did a four-minute song turn eight in a live performance?
  
• Changed the icon picture. Some easels at Oxford University, a picture I took during my overseas trip from last year. Iconized by my sister. You heard it here first: "iconized". Go to it, Merriam-Webster!

If you don't hear from me for a while, be assured that I'm well, just likely recovering (see: sleeping) from finals and preparing for the madness known better as the holiday shopping season.

Until then, goodnight...

The music geek riseth!

As much as I love Lindsey Buckingham and his solo works (and his work with Fleetwood Mac too), but I cannot lie...

Go Insane honestly scares the hell outta me. It also doesn't help that I knew, well sorta, why the album has the content that it does. From what I recall, a longtime relationship ended badly, a good friend passed on, and maybe personal issues never disclosed (?).

This is my third time listening to the album in its entirety and my opinion still stands... the man had some serious stuff go down, like WHOA.

Oh yeah, and it's pretty good. My least favorite by him, but still good.

*descends back behind the stack of records she was hiding from before*

P.S. For those unfamiliar, no, I wasn't named after Mr. Buckingham.

Whoo!!

Talking Heads for Rock Band DLC next week!

Link here.

But no "Burning Down the House"?

As the Beastie Boys famously said in "Sabotage"...

WHHHYYYYYYYYYYY?!

Either way, yea!

Sad day for the entertainment world...

R.I.P. Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.

Y'all will be missed, by loved ones and fans alike.

Stories here and here.

Damn it.

Thanks to The Secret History for name-checking (well, lyric-checking) this song, I can't get it out of my head.

Thank you, Ms. Tartt. I may like Brian Eno now. :P

Seriously, History gets awesome life points for referencing him.

~

For the record: "King's Lead Hat" = Talking Heads.

~

I'm a day (1,000 words) behind on Blues, trying to get to the goal for today (though it's now the day after, but whatever). I passed out around 8 PM, tired from work and getting only four hours of sleep last night. I'm playing catch-up here. I'm thinking, if I do not have to go to work tomorrow, I might try to get in an extra 500 words to close the gap.

Otherwise, it's going well. I got to know a little more about the main character and her pen-pal. They're pretty fun characters. It'll suck when I finish this work for good, but I'm certainly enjoying my time writing their story.

/fades out, like an awesome song with a synth riff...

Edit: This is why working at a bookstore can be awesome. We play music out loud, and this album was one of them. I finally bought it, and it's a nice one.

Commence to squee...

There is a title to the upcoming Editors album:

In This Light and On This Evening.

No track list, but the release date is September.

Caps usage in three, two, one...

HELLS YEAH!!!

Now all Editors need to do is tour here in the US, especially the Southern area... *obvious eyebrow wiggling*

~

I'm a day behind on Blues, due to getting up at ungodly hours in the morning to go help shelve at work yesterday. I may try to do 2,000 words today, but I'm not betting on it.

Now, back to work...

Edit: I also made an iTunes playlist for Blues. I did that before You-Know-Who made it hip.

Yet another update list... yea!

-Alright, it's E3 time. There better be an update on Alan Wake. I've been waiting three years for it and it was the main reason I bought an Xbox 360. I want a release date! *raegs*

-Oh, man. I may just have to buy The Sims 3. I can't bypass it. *finds the price* Good God! D:

-*facepalms* It's even worse than I thought. I always pictured Silent Hill being cold, but Winter Wonderland? No, just no.

-*almost facepalms, but instead rubs sore forehead* Oh, God. Help us all. It's out. And here comes the merchandise... in about two months.

-Donald Miller's new book will be out in September. *thumbs up*

-Working on a novel project! I will actually post some information about it, which will be a milestone here. I never talk about my writing in fear of someone lifting my idea, but I think I could prove I had the idea first, if it got to that.

-Still reading The Secret History, but I can't help but feel that reading this may actually hurt me. I don't know how or why. It's quite immersible. And you know how it's the predecessor to the book from hell? Well, History is miles better than that.

In case you ever wondered...

Here is the origin of my pseudonym here.

God, I forgot how much I loved these guys...

Oh God...

I'm obsessed with an Australian pop song. It's my preteen years all over again!

This hurts to say...

Fleetwood Mac's Tango in the Night is not that really good of an album anymore. Oh well.

P.S.: In unrelated news... this is my 100th post. Whoo!

And, apparently, so far this year, I've read 29 books. O_O