Showing posts with label linkshare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label linkshare. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

At This Moment I'm...

What I'm doing right now:

[o] Eating delicious Chinese food from this fanTAStic place called Taste of Asia where the counter people actually speak English as a first language
[o] Harassing my roommates to vote in the preliminaries for my March Man Madness event
[o] Reading and rereading this horoscope and hoping that it refers to my future plans involving this blog
[o] Contemplating this recipe and this recipe
[o] Working on this profile which could lead places hinted at in my horoscope

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Half Distinct.

The rush today was, from what I was told, done before I even arrived. We were a bit busier than usual for quite a while, but quieted down quite a bit once the game started (for those who care, Notre Dame buried Purdue, something like 23 to 17?).

The traffic getting home was ridiculous. I left at 8 and didn't get home for half an hour. At one point, while in standstill traffic on Cleveland Road, I took a side road in a desperate attempt to bypass the traffic light I was attempting to reach...and ended up back on Cleveland, behind the exact same car as before.

I laughed and laughed...

Pomplamoose has been my honest obsession the past few days. I had it in my head all day, after having their YouTube channel on loop during last night's ICC raid in WoW. This song, in particular, has been stuck in my head. It's called "Another Day," and I like it for several reasons.

First, it's a great song. Second, I have a tendency to play the music videos in my head while listening/thinking of songs, and this video makes me happy to think about. Something about their enthusiasm--especially recording the stomps and claps--just makes me glad.

Third, and finally, the lyrics are great, and they remind me of my relationship:

Another day
Shows its face
I'm half awake
Half in space
And if you told me I was beautiful well that would just be in poor taste

Another hour
Flying by
I've yet to shower
Yet to dry
And if you told me I was wonderful I probably would wonder why

I am yours
You are mine
I am yours
You are mine
So it's alright

Another plate
In the sink
We're half the same
Half distinct
And if you told me I was perfect I'd assume you'd had too much too drink

Another day
Fades away
We're half asleep
Half in space
And if you told me we were dreaming I would pinch you to prove we're awake
Yeah if you told me we were dreaming I would pinch you to prove we're awake
Yeah if you told me we were dreaming I would pinch you to prove we're awake
If you told me we were dreaming I would pinch you to prove we're awake
Yeah if you told me we were dreaming I would pinch you to prove we're awake


I think this song reflects us fairly well. If he told me was I beautiful when I was still in Full Morning Grog, I would give him a dirty look. If he told me we were dreaming, I wouldn't hesitate to pinch him, just to make the point. Then giggle when he gave me a Look for it.

I love us. :)

It feels like tomorrow is a day off, but it's not; I work at Ironwood (Sameh's Starbucks!) from 3 to 11:30. I'm apprehensive about closing at another store, but I'll live. Then it'll be Monday, and that is my day off, and I'll like that. Hee.

(Also holy crap check out Pomplamoose's cover of Beat It, it's fantastic.)
(Linky!)

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Would you always? Maybe sometimes? Make it easy...

I found this video through Fazed, a collection of submitted online oddities. It's a fan video for a song called "Two Weeks" by the band Grizzly Bear. Let me emphasize something: this is a fan video. Not professional. Made in spare time by someone who loved the song just that much. Hot damn.

It was posted a couple of months ago, so it isn't exactly a new find. It's just that I wanted to use this blog to share things I love as well as rants and navel gazing, so why not start with a video that might just be one of my Favorite Things Ever?

Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.




Something else I've wanted to do with this blog is talk about something I think about more than I let on: lyrics.

While I'm not one for making music, I do love it. I almost always have a song in my head whether I like it or not, I can recite entire songs on command, and I blast music in my car whenever I go somewhere, singing along as loud as I possibly can--when I'm alone.

You can "blame" my father for this: he plays several different instruments with a degree of capability that range from well to wow, he has literally THOUSANDS of CDs (along with plenty of tapes and vinyl records), and he will spend hours upon hours playing with a single sound using his plethora of computer synthesizers that he can--and will--talk about for as long as anyone will listen. Despite all his best efforts, the best I can do when pointed at a musical instrument and told to have at is twitch in a controlled manner.

I recently realized that not everyone listens to music the same way. Shocking, right? I just never thought about it until I was talking with Ryan. Unable to remember the name of a song that I knew he knew, I tried to remind him by reciting some of the lyrics. He just gave me a blank stare. Upon further discussion, I discovered that Ryan listens to songs in layers--first, how each instrument sound individually, then how they all sound together.

The first and last thing I hear are lyrics. To me, music is about poetry set to music. And poetry is about the language. Which is why I'm not partial to most classical music--as beautiful as it is, it just doesn't stick to my brain as it does to Ryan's. This is also why I'm more partial to musicals--I'm a story addict, have a very hard time reading anything that doesn't have a plot, so stories? Set to music? GIMME!

I listen to lyrics, and, if it isn't already clear what the song is about, I do my best to figure it out, put a story behind it. For all I know, I'm completely off target, but I like to think that I'm at least a little close. Especially when the subject is something I'm intimate with, such as love or depression. When you're in something, it's easier to recognize language that relates to it, you know?

Now with that long and lengthy explanation, here is my view on this song: Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear.

First, the lyrics.

Save up all the days
A routine malaise
Just like yesterday
I told you I would stay

Would you always?
Maybe sometimes?
Make it easy?
Take your time

Think of all the ways
Momentary phase
Just like yesterday
I told you I would stay

Every time you try
Quarter half the mile
Just like yesterday
I told you I would stay

Would you always?
Maybe sometimes?
Make it easy?
Take your time

Would you always...
Maybe sometimes...
Make it easy...
Take your time...

Always
Sometimes
Easy
Time


My first thought with this song was: a plea. The singer is pleading to the subject to be happy. This isn't just a case of reading the lyrics--you can hear it in the singer's voice. They love this person, and they just want them to be happy.

There's also the repetition of the line just like yesterday, along with phrases like the routine malaise and every time you try. This makes me think that the person in question is stuck in a cycle (the routine malaise) that is making them unhappy. Not only that, but the cycle isn't solely self-imposed: Every time you try/quarter half the mile hints at an outside force making things harder whenever an attempt is made to break out of it, shortening the distance they've already traveled.

Think of all the ways/Momentary phase makes me think that the subject has given up on the idea of breaking out. They'll think about another way of life, then pass it off as just a phase, a moment's weakness.

The singer understands that all they can do is urge the subject to break out of the cycle, and be there to support them (the repeated phrase I told you I would stay), even if they don't. They understand that it's not an overnight decision/process (take your time). There's no message of "you're a bad person to still be in this cycle" or "I'm leaving unless you do this."

I don't just love this song because of the tune, or the voice, or even because the beautiful fan video plays in my head every time I hear it. I love this song because of the emotion behind it. If I'm right, there is nothing selfish in this song. It's pure love, pure hope for the one they care about to do what's needed to just be happy.

Pure, patient, unselfish, unconditional love.

Does it get any better than that?