I’ve been mulling over a semi-regular blog thing. Really what I need is something to make me write every day. Not too much, maybe 200 words or so, but more often than I usually blog. It’s a prompt problem, really. What kind of a prompt can I use that would make me write something different every day?
So here’s my attempt: today’s earworm. What song is stuck in my head and why. Let’s give it a shot, shall we?
Last week “Don’t Tell Me” by Blancmange popped into my head. I do have this record (vinyl), though I can’t recall the last time I listened to it. And I think it’s one of the records that a pal gave me a few years ago when she was ditching all of her vinyl — that is, I don’t think I bought it when it was released.
But I did like this song. My guess is that I listened to it via Rock Over London, a radio show I used to listen to in 9th or 10th grade (Wikipedia says 1984). We lived in this strange house on a hill surrounded by trees, and because my bedroom was on the 1st floor it was hard to get radio reception so I used to listen to it on the family stereo upstairs in the living room. Of course I taped the show on cassettes to listen to later — who didn’t? It’s funny to think of this now with all the hoo-hah over illegal downloading. I remember hearing that all of our cassettes would disintegrate over time, but it’s surprising to me how well some of mine have held up. Of course, the only tape player we have anymore is in the car. Let’s hear it for old media!
P.S. I didn’t know what Blancmange was when I first heard the song, and was later dismayed to discover that it’s a custardy dessert. I have a dread fear of puddings and custards.
OMG my mom made me watch a Tmobile ad the other day with someone singing “The Passenger” and now I am going absolutely nutty wanting to hear it. The Siouxsie & the Banshees version, specifically. I don’t have it on my phone and pandora isn’t cooperating and aiieee!!!
(Okay, found it on youtube, much better now, phew! Also, ripping all of my Siouxsie discs at home, wondering why I hadn’t done so before.)
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Over the past couple of days we’ve been playing long distance games of Carcassonne w/my brother. The basic game mechanic is that players draw tiles to create a landscape that includes cities, roads, cloisters, and open spaces (which can be farmed). Each player has 7 little dudes (“meeples,” their real name, is just too twee even for me) to use throughout the game to claim the aforementioned locales as their own and earn points. Some points aren’t earned until the game is over, when all tiles are placed.
It’s been interesting to compare gameplay between the iphone and real life. In the real life version of the game it’s easy to see the entire board and ponder your tile placement options. It’s also a bit more random — while in theory it’s possible to know how many of each type of tile is left in the (facedown) draw pile, in practice you would never take the time to count the tiles and look in the rules to determine the likelihood of drawing that perfect tile.
The phone version has the same rules + mechanics, but there are distinct differences to playing on a 2×4.5 inch screen connected to the internets. When you’re all zoomed in on your tile (which you kind of need to be in order to decide where to put your meeple), it’s impossible to see the whole board once the game’s more than a few turns old. I’ve gotten myself into the habit of zooming way out to see everything, but I still wonder whether the closeup view encourages weirdly spaced-out tile placements. It seems like each of us tends to hone in on a couple of areas and ignore the rest, which I don’t remember doing in the real world version.
Also in the phone version it’s possible to pull up a list of remaining available tiles at any point in the game. This strikes me as sidling up to cheating, though I definitely indulge, especially when it’s close to the end of the game. And I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that this feature has proved extremely helpful to my endgame strategy.
It’s been pretty fun, definitely one of those situations in which you realize the magic of the internets. There’s a great built in chat function, so we can even trash talk when someone draws too many cloisters.
Music music music: I’m in a music rut again. It started at the end of the summer, my summer of female vocalists, when I slid into the fall (which was itself very summery, anyway) on the coattails of Janelle Monae’s first record. But the weather’s changed and I’m giving the gals a rest. The problem is that I haven’t figured out what can replace them. The past week or so I’ve been listening to Joy Division,* but sometimes they bring me down, man.**
* Except while I’m working/writing, when it’s mostly Air these days. Which led to a funny today when we were having brunch w/an old friend of mine from archaeology school and they played an Air song and I immediately had this very visceral feeling that I should be working.
** Gus is fond of watching videos of people playing videogames on YouTube, and he discovered a hilarious British guy who sounds exactly like Neil from the Young Ones narrating as he played Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. It’s too much, and he keeps saying things like: “Here come the seagulls, oh no! I hope they don’t poo on me” which sends Gus into fits of giggles.
What should I listen to? The other day I was home doing some work and Jonathan was listening to some indiepoppers or another, and I felt like a hugely old lamebutt because I didn’t know who they were. And he replied “oh yeah, I downloaded some mix from some indiepop kid.” Why am I not downloading mixes from indiepop kids? If you were an indiepop kid, what would you tell me to listen to?
Q: What’s going on around here? Why so quiet lately?
A: Oh, you know, the usual: work, research, chores, weekend bike rides + park visits, fencing (now with mask + glove!), homework, last-minute costume prep, etc.
A: Also, the unusual:
– The bathroom renovation, which has really been much less stressful than it could be (and also mad props to J for acquiring most of the needfuls, including tile, which is very heavy). I haven’t been in there in a while, but I hear things are progressing swimmingly. Right now there’s a hi-tech plastic sheet spanning the hallway in front of the bathroom door from floor to ceiling, with a long red zipper for entry and exit. So CDC!
– Gus’s prehistoric technology studies at school are in full effect. Yesterday was one of the wigwam field trips, and Jonathan helped the kids make fire. (Fire! Fire!) Also I got a slate pendant necklace that Gus had drilled a hole in with a stick, bringing this month’s homemade necklace haul up to 2 — yay!
– So I am on a team that got a very very big grant at work which is very very exciting. My responsibilities have shifted somewhat, though, and I am still getting my bearings time-wise. Which is a complicated way to say that I am very very busy.
Q: Are the cats freaked out by the bathroom renovation?
A: The big one kind of is, and spends lots of time sitting on Jonathan’s lap during the day. The little one could care less.
Q: Have you quit Twitter and/or Facebook?
A: No! See above about the busy. Mostly succeeding in keeping up w/Twitter these days, but can’t really seem to find time to look at Facebook more than a couple of times a week. But our library has a Facebook now so you should be our fan!
Q: What is Gus planning to be for Halloween?
A: Well originally he wanted to be a bat. And we looked all over the internets for a costume only to find that it’s apparently pretty easy to make one with an old black umbrella. So I brought my spare umbrella home from work to sacrifice it, but then in true Gus fashion he changed his mind, and now he’s going as the grim reaper. Which I think is kind of spooky for him these days, but what do I know? Maybe he just wants the scythe. He’s going to a Halloween party before the trick or treating on Sunday afternoon, so maybe we’ll go have a grownup halloweenniversary lunch or somesuch.
Q: Is minute 2:13 in “Leaders of Men” still your favorite part of any Joy Division song ever?
A: Yes.
Q: Are you sad now that Mad Men is over?
A: Sort of. I do miss it, but it’s nice to be caught up on the other TV. House has been decent this season, though Fringe is disappointing. It’s just so *flimsy* with the dual universe storylines. Jonathan keeps saying that they are spreading their story butter too thin across the toast of the show. Also we got a new toaster oven, which performs well enough but has an annoying digital readout (power vampire!) and makes a beeping noise when it’s finished toasting that is much too close to the standard smoke detector noise around these parts. Which is sort of funny given that excessive toasting could in theory set off the smoke detector.
Q: Are you tired? Right now? Because you’re getting a little loopy with that progression from TV to toast, is all I’m saying.
A: Right again! Gold star for you! But you’ll have to wait for it, I’ve got some work to do right now.
It’s been a whiny summer here at mauraweb!, and I’m sorry about that. Really, I am. Seriously! Stop laughing. I can still see you snickering behind your hand.
I realized the other day that I’m having a summer of female vocalists. First it was the new Tracey Thorn record in May. Then in June I got the second Lady Gaga record for my birthday, and almost immediately had to buy the first. In each of these cases I pulled a total deep-ender and found myself listening to little else (except for the occasional Orbital, which is my anti-writer’s-block go-to music).
For July it’s most definitely been Janelle Monae. I was a little late to this party–my pal Luke and millions of others have been blogging her praises since the record came out in May. But now I’m fully hooked. Everything everyone says is true: it’s an incredibly rich, diverse, funky album. I love the references to folks like Bowie and Prince, but I also adore the orchestral sections, esp. the strings. She’s arranged the record into two suites and it feels like a soundtrack, which reminds me of my obsession with the Diva soundtrack when I was in high school. And I double-dog dare you *not* to tap your feet along with the single. Go ahead, try it–I’ll wait:
See?
I suspect that my August will continue to be filled w/female voices: Kristin Hersh’s new record was just released. Actually it’s a book and a record. A recbook. A bookord. Whatever it is, I’m ordering it right up.
This past Monday was pretty crappy. I was still sick, the cat barfed, and I didn’t get much work done on the article or conference presentation I’m working on. Can someone please tell me why, exactly, our weird cat likes to eat the plastic from window envelopes? (Also I’m still sick — who can fix that for me?)
But something very good happened, too: the new Tracey Thorn CD, Love and Its Opposite, came in the mail. Yay! You may remember a few months ago when I complained that I couldn’t possibly be expected to wait til it was released. And then suddenly here it is, in a lovely package from Merge Records with a poster (for my office wall!) and a sticker (for my bike! or computer, haven’t decided yet).
I imposed a media blackout on myself and didn’t read the review in the New Yorker or anywhere else until after I’d had a chance to listen to the record all the way through a couple of times. It’s different than the last record, not techno-y at all, which I initially missed a bit (even though when you look at the whole of her/EBTG’s career the dancey stuff is not in the majority by any means). On this records there’s lots of piano, the songs are mostly quiet, and some are just achingly sad and gorgeous. But there’s some rolicking good times in there too, including the most enjoyable song about menopause *I’ve* ever heard (don’t know about you, though).
Just like with the last record there won’t be a tour, and I’m surprisingly un-unhappy about that. I’ve written before on my mixed feelings about live music these days: I miss it, but more in a nostalgic way than a run-right-out-and-go-to-a-show way. So in some ways it’s easier when there’s *not* a tour, then I don’t need to feel guilty or lame about not going. I feel g + l enough about missing The Primitives at the Bell House earlier this month, and of course I will also be missing Unrest at same in July.
But all’s not lost: from what I’ve read there will be videos of Tracey Thorn performing these new songs from time to time. Scroll down on her website to see the first one: the new single. I do miss the strings from the recorded version, but it’s lovely all the same.
I did not sleep well last night. It was hot, yes, but that wasn’t really the problem. (All hail ceiling fans!)
Last night we finished up watching 2102. It was my pick, and I’m not going to apologize for it: I like a good big budget special effects apocalyptic flick every so often. Yes, at 2 hrs 38 mins it was a good hour too long, full of lame end-of-the-world conversations that could’ve been left on the cutting room floor. But the actiony parts were pretty sweet. Giant fissures opening up in the earth! California literally sliding into the ocean! Supervolcano exploding under Yosemite! Planes flying through Las Vegas skyscrapers as they collapsed! Good times. And it’s always nice to see John Cusack getting work.
So the big giant ending of the movie (SPOILER ALERT) is that the things referred to as arks that save the human race (plus a few giraffes and elephants) that we *thought* were spaceships throughout most of the movie are *actually* boats! (really submarines, absolutely enormous submarines.) So the ultimate Earth-ending climax is a series of gigantic tsunamis that overrun practically the entire landmass of the planet. Again, the effects were nice. Well worth the Netflixing.
(More spoilers: John Cusack does not die, just in case you were worried.)
But I think my brain was working overtime as I slept, because I awoke with a lingering weird feeling about water. Maybe it’s the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which is such a huge bummer that I can’t read anything more about it. Also, once we lived in an apartment that had a roof that leaked insanely when it rained. Seriously, water used to drip from the light fixtures, and our landlords regularly failed to see that as a problem.
Continuing the watery theme, in the early morning hours it rained torrentially. We listen to white noise when we sleep that just happens to be the sounds of rainfall, so despite the thunder it took us a while to wake up. But I realized that the rain was louder than usual at 5:12am and spent the next 10 minutes stumbling around the apartment closing windows and drying off windowsills. Happy Monday! I was kind of tired today, natch.
All of this means that I’ve had the “Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down” song from the old Disney cartoon for Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day running through my head all day. I tried to find it for you on YouTube, but I could only find it in Swedish and Finnish. Here’s the Swedish version — enjoy!
A pal sent me a link the other day to the 120 Minutes Archive, an online compendium of info about the classic late-night MTV show that first aired in 1986. The site is brilliant: the core content is a collection of playlists with each song is linked to a YouTube search. There are still some playlists missing, and I imagine (hope) that the site will continue to grow. But so far I’ve only struck out once trying to watch a video: the Age of Chance cover of “Kiss” (which is just so very awesome and which I could slap on the turntable right now if I weren’t too lazy to go all the way out into the living room).
The section dating 1986-1995 is a treasure. I think I actually had many of these early episodes on videotape until well after college — the playlist for 12/28/87 looks awfully familiar. Be careful when you click that link: it’s easy to lose whole buckets of time watching video after video (The Lucy Show! Siouxsie! Jesus & Mary Chain! Housemartins!). In fact, I started this post last night but spent so much time in nostalgiaville that I didn’t have time to finish it.
It would be hard to overestimate the impact that 120 Minutes had on my musical life. I didn’t really listen to music of my own until the summer before 7th grade, when we moved 1/2way across the country and got a color TV, cable, and a VCR all at the same time. That was the same year MTV launched, and while I did listen to the radio (most notably the show Rock Over London which played the top songs on the British charts), watching MTV was what really got me into music. Yes, I was a classic victim of ’80s new wave + pop music hysteria: Duran Duran, Madonna, Prince, Eurythmics, etc., the whole kit + kaboodle.
When we moved again just before 9th grade, MTV moved with me. Even though I was still mostly a teenybopper I already fancied myself something of a musical connoisseur, scouring record stores for import 12″s and B sides and the like. Because what’s cooler than the song on the B side of the import 12″ 45rpm for Duran Duran’s “Planet Earth?” Nothing, I say!
But, thanks to 120 Minutes (and a British cousin who sent me indie mixtapes), during high school I got a teeny tiny bit (musically) cooler. The show was my introduction to “college rock,” which led to actually listening to college radio and, eventually, co-hosting a college radio show of my own. Yay!
These days we don’t have cable, but of course MTV doesn’t even play music videos anymore anyway. And with the internets we can watch practically any video we want whenever we want to. But this site makes me miss MTV, just a little bit.
last weekend about time to write, I forgot to even mention that I posted on one of my other blogs. I actually ended up getting a fair amount of writing done last weekend, which was nice.
I have been absolutely unable to stop listening to the last Tracey Thorn record (Out of the Woods) recently. I bought it for Jonathan for his birthday a couple of years ago, right after it came out. But while I liked the single then, I just couldn’t get into the rest of the album. It’s a mix of quiet pianoey songs and faster electronic stuff, and for some reason back then I kind of resented the incursion of the softer stuff into the happy techno goodness. I guess I’ve been missing later-stage EBTG.
But that was stupid, because it turns out that the slower stuff is fabulous (duh for me). It’s always been those songs that really foreground her incredible voice. When I was looking for the YouTube link above to “It’s All True” I stumbled across this video for the version of The Style Council’s “The Paris Match” with Tracey singing. It’s still amazing all these many years later, and so much more convenient than having to go into the living room to fire up the turntable:
Her new record is coming out on Ben Watt’s Buzzin’ Fly label in Spring 2010, yippee!
