Last blog post of the school year! I might post during the summer but probably not very much if at all.  So I was going to write a longer one today because its the last one of the year, but honestly I am just uber tired right now and can hardly keep my eyes open.  So here's some really great music that I'm sure you have heard at least once in your life.  Yay.

Today seems very melancholy.  I don't think it's the weather, though that adds to it I guess.  It just seems like today is not a day to be happy.  I've been feeling that lately, and I don't know why, or maybe I do and I just don't want to know why.  I have this sense of complete dread.  Fear of the truth and fear that I want the truth more than the lies that are easy to live?  Fear of accepting it because if I face it, then its real, then I can't turn back, then I have to move on with my life.
And if things don't turn out the way I perfectly and desperately want them to, does that mean that they don't turn out right?  Probably not.
When there are those distractions of life, I can forget, but then I lay in bed trying to go to sleep and there's no one here but me and I can't even control my mind.  No willpower?  Or simply no hope.
And of course, it will all work out.  Time will pass, this intangible concept that humans base their lives around.  And I will figure it out.  Or not.  Hopefully I don't die having no idea that I lived.

No.  I know I won't die not knowing that I lived.  I have just got to get off my ass and face this shit and make things right, or at least to the best that I can for myself and hope everything else falls into place around me.  I guess I have just been holding on so tightly to this concept that everything has to work out and be the same as it was and I have to stay this because if I don't its a personal failure?  But I feel like I'm failing everyday, like I will never get there no matter how hard I try, and maybe that's because I've been going in the wrong direction.  Or going in the right direction with the wrong concepts.

Anyway, here's a couple songs by Alexi Murdoch.  They were both featured in Away We Go, which is a movie I quite enjoyed.

On Saturday my dad and his girlfriend are getting married.  Exciting right?!  So her parents are here and everyone's been bustling around our one story incredibly long but incredibly skinny house crowded with "stuff" and many many many people and making cakes and arranging food and cleaning and messing things up and cleaning again and love is in the air, but stress and anticipation is also in the air............
However.
It's all pretty fun once everyone has a couple drinks and relaxes and we can sit back and look at the pretty lights set up outside for the wedding and each of us think "secretly" of how many opportunities we will get to sneak off into the darkness with our significant others....... and of course we get to listen to the record player my dad got for his birthday!  I love it; I will just sit by that thing for hours listening to records I just love the grainy sound and the fact that I get to put the needle on and EVERYTHING.  So one of the records we've been listening to is Herb Alpert's Whipped Cream, with the picture that every young boy used to have on his wall.

 

Yup, there she is.

And here's one of my favorite songs on the album, and a famous one too.

As we are nearing the end of the year, I am nearing the end of this blog.  I guess I may still post on it sometimes during the summer, and it is an English assignment that I enjoy doing because I do love music, but to tell you the truth, I probably won't post hardly at all if anything this summer (no offense to Mr. Elkin, I do love this assignment!) So I just wanted to give all my diligent followers (because I have soooo many) the heads up that this is one of the last few posts I will be doing.  What to post?  Hmmm...  Thinking about my last post about Beach House, the Yeah Yeah Yeah's come to my head because for some reason they remind me of Beach House in a weird way... shall I?  I also want to post some Creedence Clearwater, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, Beatles, Springsteen, Cat Stevens, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Ziggy, Micheal Franti, Van Morrison, oh the list just goes on and on and there's soo many I haven't posted yet!  Hey, maybe I will continue this blog this summer....
Ah.  I have one.  Why? the band Why? is one of my favorite alternative indie rock hop etc. etc. band.  Kind of like The Pixies, they have this feeling of creepy-ish weird tones and a edgy sound.  Enjoy!

Ahhh Beach House.  I haven't talked to many people who have heard of them, but I love them!  I can remember the moment I heard them for the first time and fell in love with them so clearly!  They are a band from Baltimore, but actually I think the lead singer Victoria Legrand is French-born.. which just makes her name even more awesome.  And some people think she is a man when they first hear her voice which kind of makes sense to me for some reason... she has kind of a manly face I guess.  Buuuuuttttttt, she is awesome.  And Baltimore is awesome too.  Or so I've heard.  And so are white fur-lined recording studios........
This song is from their LP Teen Dream, listen to it a couple times and then go look up their other stuff because it's all great!!

My best friend is named Kalyja and she is amazing!  She is this absolutely beautiful talented hilarious great young woman and she has an amazing voice!  She writes her own songs (music and lyrics) and plays the guitar with them and she is just such an awesome person, if you knew her you would know what I'm talking about. She is so jazzy and spunky and I am honored to call her my best friend.  Here's a video of her singing a song she wrote, not very good quality video but still awesome!  Enjoy! :)

 

And here's the link to the video on YouTube so that you can check out her other videos on her channel if you want!

So I wanted to post some Pink Floyd tonight but I haven't yet found the song I want to post, so I was looking for something to post and my brother showed me this video that I think should be on Dylan's blog it cracked me up for some reason! It's not music but it's awesome!  These guys apparently do so many of these funny videos, but these two are my favorite so far.

So last time I posted a Pixies song and Elkin gave me a suggestion to check out Teenager of the Year, Frank Black's solo album.  I did and it was great!! Totally cool music and I loved how long it was because then I could listen to more awesomeness.  If you didn't know, Frank Black used to be the lead vocalist and one of the guitarists for the Pixies; he had the stage name Black Francis then.  His real name is Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV.  I can understand why he chose a short succinct stage name!  I like Teenager of the Year because its so different from the Pixies songs I have heard, but so to my liking as well (I like a very wide range of music).  One of my favorite songs from the album is Fiddle Riddle, partly because it seems to have a sort of reggae-ish influence, and I like reggae as well!

The Pixies are an American alternative rock band, but they were more successful in the United Kingdom and Europe.  They are one of my favorite bands!  The offbeat subject matter of their songs and the way in which they are sung and presented just draws me in I guess.  Also... one of my favorite movies is Fight Club. Aaaand in the end of Fight Club, Where Is My Mind by the Pixies is played!  When I heard one of my favorite songs at the end of such an awesome movie I was very excited.  Especially since the song fit the scene PERFECTLY! So I will post Where Is My Mind, because it is truly a awesomazing song.

I don't know if you can believe it, but I hadn't seen Rocky Horror Picture Show until about 6 months ago! I knew about it and wanted to see it, but never got around to it until my brother Sol had me sit down and watch it with him (its one of his favorite movies).  From the moment the mouth came on screen and started singing during the opening credits, I loved it!  Tim Curry is absolutely fabulous, as is everyone else.  But what I like the most about it is the amazing soundtrack.  So that is why I am posting one of the songs, so that you too can enjoy the awesomazing-ness as well...

I don't know which one to post though... a more popular one? Or...? They're all good!  One that has been stuck in my head is Touch Me and yes, I have been walking around school singing it aloud, but fortunately I go to a school that appreciates awesomazing-ness, so that's not a problem... So here's Touch Me!

Look up the whole soundtrack though!!! And watch the movie!

Concert

Last night I went to this awesome amazing concert in my town featuring Zion I, The Grouch and Eligh, Amp Live, DJ Fresh, and others.  It was one of the best concerts i have been to, no room, I was up against the stage the whole time, it was really personable and just such an amazing experience!  The genre of music was conscious rap, sort of hip hoppy and fun.  So I'm going to post a song by Eligh, who was the one I first listened to before I got introduced to The Grouch and Zion I and such (they all kind of work together).  The song is called Angel of Death

Ok I just couldn't resist posting Miss Bisdriver (Rachel) too!

So I have been listening to The Rolling Stones a lot lately, and just rediscovering how much I like them!! I was trying to figure out what song of theirs to post.... it was really hard... but I chose You Can't Always Get What You Want because its just such an awesome song!  I just love the intro for some reason, it just seems kind of Rocky Horror Picture Show-esque... but I love so many of them! Wild Horses, So Cold, Satisfaction, Paint it Black, etc etc etc!
But here's You Can't Always Get What You Want :)
Enjoy

Equal

Remember when I said I would post Same Love by Macklemore x Ryan Lewis (ft. Mary Lambert)? Welllll here it is!!  This song has such a good message to me, just listen to the lyrics!  And the video is really sweet too.  Thanks for listening! I'll try to post some more fun stuff next time. :)

Nostalgia

My friend Julian showed me this video and it is awesome!!! You must watch it, otherwise you will be missing a huge part of your life! I just can't get over David Bowie in the trench-coat...:)

Enjoy! I will post more Macklemore next week!

Changes!

I am changing my blog!!! It's going to be the same I think, but maybe I'll change the layout out or something.  But what's really changing is the content of the blog... no more black and white! (Well, it can have to do with black and white things, but it doesn't have to).  Now I will be focusing primarily on music (videos) and other random videos.  Hope you enjoy, here's a new song by Macklemore x Ryan Lewis that I found to be very powerful called Otherside (along with Same Love, maybe I'll post that on Thursday)...

P.S. This video is a remix by Remix The Video, but I like it better than the original because I find it to be more powerful music and also it incorporates pieces of Otherside by Red Hot Chile Pepper's, so that's cool... I will include a link to the original video below if you would care to watch.  Both are very inspirational.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvDQy53eldY

Yay Music!!

Ok so I was just introduced to this band and they are AMAZING!!! They are called Blackalicious.. And I love their individuality and the lyrics of their songs are so inspiring!  Just listen...

Click on this link pleaseeeee!!!! I promise you won't be disappointed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwwWbL2Ifq0

Chess....

I have never understood how to play chess... I have never really sat down and had someone explain it to me, so I guess that would probably help, but it seems like no one even plays it anymore anyway; the last time I saw someone play chess was... too long ago to remember.  It just seems so complicated, and then there are all the different ways to play!  I have chess on my computer as an application that comes with it, so I have kind ok tried to learn with just playing against the computer, but the computer is really good and I'm not sure I learn much... maybe I could make that into a project: learn how to play chess, become a master at it, and then compete in chess tournaments.  It could be the "inspiring story of the young girl who conquered the world's obstacles and overcame her fears"... nope.  Playing chess always reminds me of Pixar, in the beginning of A Bug's Life when they have the little animation of the old man playing chess with himself... brings back memories...:)

OH NO!!

Oh no! I totally forgot to do a blog post on Thursday! I was just so wrapped up in the fun of the day, because it was one of the first really good days I've had in quite some time...:)  Last day of the school week, V-Day, V-Day dance, hanging with my buddies, etc. etc.  Anyways, how was your Valentines Day?

Global Harmony

So this week I am going to a sort of self-improvement, forum, intensive thing for a couple days called Global Harmony.  I hove done the adult course before and I love it!  It's amazing what I can learn and discover and grow about myself, and I am very exited, especially given the recent events in my life.  I am writing about it because in Global Harmony, not everything is black and white.  Actually, the gray areas are what we focus on.:)

What?

Ok.  I'm sorry, but no matter how many explanations or how much money they are worth, I will never understand those paintings that are simply... white.  Yes, there are the artists who have painted an amazing piece and then painted over it in white, as a statement of some sort.  Or the ones who paint a whole scene using just texture, but only white paint.  And yes, that's cool, that's fine, I'm not here to tell anyone that they can or can't do anything, and I'm certainly not saying I am the ultimate judge of art and that I know all, I am simply saying that I don't understand.

And some of these white paintings sell for so much money it's quite scary.  Scary that people are investing so much effort and money into buying a couple panels of white painted canvas when there are so many other things that effort and money could be devoted to.

Here's what I'm talking about:

Poetry

Since I posted a white thing poem, now I have to post a black thing poem.  I like this one, and the message it is portraying.  Here goes.

The Chimney Sweeper: A little black thing among the snow

By William Blake

A little black thing among the snow,

Crying "weep! 'weep!" in notes of woe!

"Where are thy father and mother? say?"

"They are both gone up to the church to pray.

Because I was happy upon the heath,

And smil'd among the winter's snow,

They clothed me in the clothes of death,

And taught me to sing the notes of woe.

And because I am happy and dance and sing,

They think they have done me no injury,

And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King,

Who make up a heaven of our misery."

I came across this poem while looking at slam poetry and other poetry on the web, and I thought it would be perfect for this blog.  It kind of holds a lot of truth for me right now.  I won't go into it.

Also while reading it I came to the conclusion, (I think), that the 6th stanza is talking about Emily Dickinson.

Enjoy.

The White Room
by Charles Simic
The obvious is difficult To prove. Many prefer The hidden. I did, too. I listened to the trees. They had a secret Which they were about to Make known to me-- And then didn't. Summer came. Each tree On my street had its own Scheherazade. My nights Were a part of their wild Storytelling. We were Entering dark houses, Always more dark houses, Hushed and abandoned. There was someone with eyes closed On the upper floors. The fear of it, and the wonder, Kept me sleepless. The truth is bald and cold, Said the woman Who always wore white. She didn't leave her room. The sun pointed to one or two Things that had survived The long night intact. The simplest things, Difficult in their obviousness. They made no noise. It was the kind of day People described as "perfect." Gods disguising themselves As black hairpins, a hand-mirror, A comb with a tooth missing? No! That wasn't it. Just things as they are, Unblinking, lying mute In that bright light-- And the trees waiting for the night.

2013!!!!

It's the new year! Time to turn over a new leaf and start making goals that you make every year, which only make you feel worse when you don't complete them!! Yay!! So anyways, what are you're goals for the new year?

One of mine is to learn how to read music...:)