Otherwise known as: ADAM LAMBERT NEVER CHANGE!

His AMA performance! I just-- *flails*



( HE MADE OUT WITH HIS STRAIGHT KEYBOARDIST PEOPLE )

In conclusion: ADAM LAMBERT IS MY HAPPY PLACE! GO BUY HIS ALBUM!

I'm listening to Adam's album streaming on Facebook and dude, it fucking ROCKS. I JUST DON'T EVEN. HE USES THE WORD RAISON D'ETRE! AND MENAGE A TROIS!

In conclusion:

ADAM LAMBERT = FUCKING FABULOUS

Damn. I don't have any icons. This situation must be remedied.

I've just finished rereading Terry Pratchett's Soul Music, and I've decided I totally need Adam Lambert icons based on it. There's some really awesome quotes towards the end of the book that would be perfect. When the guitar is trying to make a deal with Buddy, you get this passage:

Buddy hung from a rear wheel, feet over the drop, and jerked as the music played an eight-note riff on his soul.

Never age. Never die. Live forever in that one last white-hot moment, when the crowd screamed. When every note was a heartbeat. Burn across the sky.

You will never grow old. They will never say you died.

That's the deal. You will be the greatest musician in the world.

Live fast. Die young.

The music tugged at his soul.

An icon with bits of text pulled out that would be kick awesome (heh). "Every note was a heartbeat". "Live forever in that one last white-hot moment". "Burn across the sky."

And then a few pages later, the Music is arguing with Susan:

"But he threw away the guitar."

I wanted him to live for me.

"You wanted him to die for you! In the wreckage of the cart!"

What is the difference? He would be dead anyway. But to die in music . . . People will always remember the songs he never had the chance to sing. And they will be the greatest songs of all.

Live your life in a moment.

And then live forever. Don't fade away.

Those last three sentences would be awesome on Adam icons!

(And just so we're all understood, I don't in any way want Adam to die. I put in the whole quote both times because I think it's poetic, and gives the bit I especially like a little context. May Adam Lambert live forever and make hundreds of awesome albums which I will totally buy and play unironically in my car, even when I'm driving other people!)

Before you go "listing ten random songs from your music library is a stupid exercise", I agree. I think it's boring. (And I'm mainly doing this because I don't have new cat pictures.) So I'm going to actually upload the songs. That way you can download them, hopefully making it marginally less boring. I'm also going to use the new iTunes Genius thingy, which is supposed to give me songs that are "similar" to the selected song, and see what it comes up with. Without further ado:

Starting on random, we get Nirvana - Milk It

1. Nine Inch Nails - A Warm Place
2. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Don't Forget Me
3. The Ramones - The KKK Took My Baby Away (LOVE LOVE LOVE this song! It's just so RANDOM that it can't help but be awesome.)
4. The Clash - Tommy Gun
5. David Bowie - It Ain't Easy (Part of one of my absolute favorite albums. I could listen to Ziggy Stardust all the way through over and over. Could, and have.)
6. Puddle of Mudd - Bring Me Down (Don't judge me for owning Puddle of Mudd songs. Please? I liked, um, whatever that one was--Blurry. So I bought the damn CD, because this was before you could buy individual mp3s, and I hadn't figured out how to get mp3s any other way. For lo, I was new to the ways of the Internets, and had not yet discovered Napster or Kazaa. And I still love She Hates Me, just because I tend to love songs with the word "fuck" in them. Because I'm twelve.)
7. The Cure - Sinking
8. Mazzy Star - Bells Ring (Um...where the hell did this one come from?)
9. Poe - Trigger Happy Jack (Drive By A Go-Go) (Another one I absolutely love. "You can't talk to a psycho like a normal human being." This concept helped me get past times when I was trying to understand why some people in my life had acted the way they acted. I had a roommate in college who was just hands-down crazy, but I kept trying to reason with her and get along. I hadn't yet learned that some people you just can't use logic on, and it's not your fault.)
10. Godsmack - Serenity

Huh. So this is interesting. I can't figure out how Genius actually works. But we got some interesting choices, anyway. And I'm ashamed to say that several of these songs I'd never actually listened to before.

I hope it was good for you too. *coughs*

I need an excuse to play music, since B is listening to an interview Gillian Anderson did with David Letterman last night and it's really annoying me. Yes, our offices are in different rooms now. I can still fucking hear it, and I'm going to murder him pretty soon if I don't find something to drown it out. So I'm doing the five most embarrassing songs meme, which I got from Hugo Schwyzer. The rules? Very simple: list the five most embarrassing songs you’ve got on your Ipod.

I have a bunch of truly embarrassing songs on there solely because of Mystery Science Theater. So I think I will do two lists. The first list will be embarrassing songs that are on there because I actually like them:

1. Jennifer Lopez - Waiting for Tonight (I...don't even know. I used to love this song when I was a teenager and thought Lois and Clark were SO IN LOVE and should get MARRIED and live happily ever AFTER ZOMG. And, um, I still like it. Go me.)
2. Paula Cole - Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? ("Heather Killingbeck! What an awesome name!" "I wish it could be 'Heather KillingPaulaCole'")
3. Bette Midler - The Rose (This was on the, I don't know, Ambient Dentist Office Music cassette when I was in high school and had to go to the dentist every month to get my braces adjusted. And I have liked it ever since, because I'm a giant sap.)
4. Poison - Every Rose Has Its Thorn (This is one of my favorite songs ever. I have no idea why.)
5. Verve Pipe - The Freshmen (They played it on the radio all the time when I was in high school. Can I claim nostalgia? I'm gonna go with that.)

Bonus embarrassing song: Edge of Etiquette - I Hate You (This is the song the punk on the bus is playing on his boom box (god) in Star Trek IV. I enjoy the song very much. I also believe someone should have taken away their rhyming dictionary.)

This is the list of embarrassing songs that are on my iPod because of MST3K:

1. Rupert Holmes - Escape (The Pina Colada Song) ("They don't even know that each other likes Pina Coladas? What, would they always panic and order Manhattans or something?" "Hey, Rupert Holmes wrote Timothy! That was about cannibalism! When was that popular?")
2. Zager & Evans - In the Year 2525 ("Is man still alive?" "Did woman survive?" "Can you pick your son, pick your daughter too, from the bottom of a long glass tube?")
3. Donna Summer - MacArthur Park (Someone left the cake out in the rain!)
4. Journey - Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) (Everybody! "Someday love will find you!")
5. Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart (How does the owner of a lonely heart compare to the owner of a pencil? Come on, Yes!)

Bonus embarrassing song that is totally MST3K's fault: Dan Hill - Sometimes When We Touch ("Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose." "Sometimes when we touch, the honesty's too much.")

I could also do a list of embarrassing Christian music, but let's not even go there.

Okay, now I tag everybody! Because I have that power! Embarrass yourself, won't you?

This is fun!

Via Cogitamus:

1. Take out your iPod (or Zune, I guess...really, who buys a Zune?)
2. Press shuffle songs.
3. Answer the following: a) How many songs before you come to one that would absolutely disqualify you from being President? b) What is that song?
4. Leave your answers.

My first song is "Tomorrow, Wendy" by Concrete Blonde, which I'm told is a song about AIDS, not that I've ever been able to tell. So that one right there probably disqualifies me. Oh, plus the Bible Belters wouldn't like the part that goes:

I told the priest, Don't count on any second coming
God got his ass kicked the first time he came down here slumming
He had the balls to come, the gall to die and then forgive us
No, I don't wonder why, I wonder what he thought it would get us

(That's one of my favorite parts of the song, BTW.)

Okay, assuming Concrete Blonde is too obscure, let's see what's next. Ooh, next up is "Underdog" by Audio Adrenaline! Good Christian band, good Christian song. I can still be president with that one on my iPod!

Next!

"So far Away" by Staind. I think that one's probably pretty safe. It was a Top 40-ish song, no obvious problems in the lyrics.

Next we have "London Calling" by The Clash. Hmm. I'm gonna consider that one safe. Feel free to argue with me, but I don't think punk is associated too much with the '60s, and "London Calling" is one of their tamer songs.

Ahh, here we go. "Complicated" by Heavens to Betsy. Riot Grrl music. Still, no one's ever heard of it, so probably would scoot under the radar.

Aaaand, I think we've hit it. "The Last Junkie on Earth" by The Dandy Warhols. Ahem:

But I never thought you'd be a junkie
because heroin is so passe
now a-day.
You never thought you'd get addicted,
just be cooler in an obvious way.
I could say, shouldn't you have got
a couple piercings and decided
may-be that you were gay.

So either the 1st song disqualifies me, or, if you don't want to count Concrete Blonde, the 6th song disqualifies me. (And FSM help me when it scrolls up "Fuck You" by the Headstones.) Ah, politics. Gotta love it, right?

Holiday Random Ten: Winning the War on Christmas Edition

1. Trans-Siberian Orchestra - O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night
2. Johnny Cash - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
3. Bing Crosby - Jingle Bells
4. Evie - Away In a Manger
5. The Norman Luboff Choir - O Tannenbaum!
6. Elvis Presley - Silver Bells
7. O Holy Night (I have no idea who's singing this, but it's someone who's obviously trying very hard, and yet sucking mightily. As my greatest joy in life comes from mocking other people, it is therefore hilarious.)
8. Frank Sinatra - O Come All Ye Faithful
9. VeggieTales - Can't Believe It's Christmas
10. Mahalia Jackson - O Holy Night

Bonus Track:
11. B.C. Clark Jingle (This song means it's Christmas in Oklahoma. I am not a nut.)

And here's Zoe! Zoe loves Christmas, except for the part where there's a vacuum cleaner stationed next to the Christmas tree to keep her away from it.

( the traditional killing of the reindeer )

( ...and of Santa )

Remember Alaska Senator Ted "It's a Series of Tubes" Stevens' speech on net neutrality? Yeah. I laughed and cried at the same time.

For your listening pleasure, DJ Ted's Techno Tubes!

Concrete Blonde - Tomorrow, Wendy

It is complete now. Two ends of time are neatly tied.
A one-way street, she's walking to end of the line.
And there she meets the faces she keeps in her heart and mind.

They say, "good bye." Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die.
They say, "good bye." Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die.

Underneath the chilly gray November sky
We can make believe that Kennedy is still alive and
We're shooting for the moon and smiling Jackie's driving by and

They say, "good try."
Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die.
Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die.

I told the priest, "Don't count on any second coming."
God got his ass kicked the first time he came down here slumming.
He had the balls to come, the gall to die and then forgive us.
No, I don't wonder why, I wonder what he thought it would get us.
Hey, hey, goodbye.
Tomorrow, Wendy's going to die.

Hey, hey, goodbye.
Tomorrow, Wendy's going to die.
Tomorrow, Wendy's going to die.

Only God says "jump,"
So I set the time.
'Cause if he ever saw it
It was through these eyes of mine.
And if he ever suffered it was me who did his crying.

Hey hey, goodbye.
Tomorrow, Wendy's going to die
(Tomorrow, Wendy's going to die)
Tomorrow, Wendy's going to die
(Tomorrow, Wendy's going to die)
Tomorrow, Wendy's going to die

Hey, hey, goodbye
Tomorrow, Wendy's going to die

Hey, hey, goodbye
Tomorrow, Wendy's going to die
Tomorrow, Wendy's going to die
Tomorrow, Wendy's going to die

I caught a little bit of this song at Barnes & Noble and fell in love with it. The album was written during the two-year period in which Rosanne Cash's mother, father (Johnny Cash), and step-mother died. It's country, but not real twangy. Let me know if the link runs out and I'll re-upload it.

Rosanne Cash - The World Unseen

I'm a sparrow on the roof.
I'm a list of everyone I have to lose.
I'm a rainbow in the dirt.
I am who I was and how much I can hurt.

So I will look for you in stories of the kings,
Westward leading, still proceeding to the world unseen.

I'm a mirror in the hall.
From your empty room I can hear it fall.
Now that we must live apart
I have a lock of hair and one half of my heart.

So I will look for you between the grooves of songs we sing,
Westward leading, still proceeding to the world unseen.

There are no gifts that will be found
Wrapped in winter, laid beneath the ground.
You must be somewhere in the stars,
Cause from a distance comes the sound of your guitar.

And I will look for you in Memphis and the miles between.
I will look for you in morphine and in dreams.
I will look for you in the rhythm of my bloodstream,
Westward leading, still proceeding to the world unseen.

iTunes is my HERO right now. I was annoyed and worried because I needed to transfer my music from the old computer to the new one, and I was just sure I was going to have to fight with iTunes about it and end up importing all the music again and then recreating my playlists. But! Once I put the music in My Documents, iTunes found its database ALL BY ITSELF! It is ALL SET UP. I didn't have to do anything! No fights! No hassles!

I include for your amusement the conversation picara and I had about this:

( yes, we're always like this, why do you ask? )

This is for picara, who needs more derivative crap for her music collection. Anyone else is welcome to download it too. Just remember, the point of the whole thing is derivative crap. This mix is in no way representative of the totality of my music collection. I have good taste in music! Really! *protests too much*

Derivative Crap

( Song List )

acostilow tagged me, so here goes:

( 5 guilty pleasures )

( 5 weird habits )

Evie - Come on Ring Those Bells -- This is my favorite Christmas song ever. My parents had it on LP, which they dubbed onto cassette before the record got scratched, fortunately. Then I stumbled across an Evie CD in the bargain bin at Living Word, and now I have my own copy! Yay!

Bing Crosby - White Christmas -- The original. I love his voice.

Rosemary Clooney - Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep -- Anyone who hasn't seen White Christmas has been seriously deprived. Seriously. I just bought the DVD, and it has a commentary track by Rosemary Clooney. Weird. I can't wait to find out if it's any good.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 -- You've probably heard this, even if you don't realize it. It's a wonderfully energetic instrumental version of Carol of the Bells, with electric guitars.

VeggieTales - Can't Believe It's Christmas -- This gets stuck in my head so easily. It makes me happy, though.

Frank Sinatra - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas -- Another voice I love. This is one of the most beautiful versions of this song I've heard.

B.C. Clark jingle -- The song that means Christmas in Oklahoma. Come on, you know you like it.

Let me know if any of the links expire and I'll redo them. Enjoy!

Cross-posted to audiography. This week's theme is music from Canada, and since I went to the trouble of uploading these songs, I'll copy the post over here for anyone who's interested.

Captain Tractor - The Last Saskatchewan Pirate - This is a cover of an Arrogant Worms song that someone already posted. They give it more of a Celtic rock sound, plus their version is hilariously earnest and fun.

Captain Tractor - London Calling - A very different version of The Clash. I think a good cover is one that puts the band's own stamp on the song, and Captain Tractor definitely manages to do that. It's the same song, but with Captain Tractor's great Celtic rock instrumentals.

Arrogant Worms - The Mountie Song - My favorite Arrogant Worms song. The music is catchy, and I especially love the spoken part in the middle where they make fun of American tourists.

Headstones - Cubically Contained - The first Headstones song I ever heard, after which I started buying all their albums as quickly as I could. The Headstones are a hard rock band with amazing lyrics--poetic and often darkly funny. This one is about addiction. "Good for me for a time. All hell's cubically contained, staunched and bottled, pressed and altered, and at the ready for the rains. The first tiny little shadows of my creepy little thoughts inhabit all that matters, and I lose by default. And I'll never promise anything again."

Headstones - Fuck You - This is a perfect song for being angry to. It's about the end of a relationship, with the singer defiantly stating, "Fuck you, fuck you, I will get over you."

The Hugh Dillon Redemption Choir - Radio Plays - Hugh Dillon was the lead singer of the Headstones, who've broken up now. This is his new band, so named because he's gotten over his heroin addiction and cleaned up his act (he wears a suit to shows and doesn't spit on the audience anymore). The HDRC is still recognizably his work, but it's a different sound. It leans more toward pop than hard rock, but with the same great lyrics he's always had. I'd say Radio Plays is about the importance of music in his life. "And the radio, the radio made me. And the radio, the radio plays, station to station, into the night, into tomorrow and the rest of our lives. Into the future, into the light, into forever until everything's quiet. The radio plays, the radio plays."

I took back one of my Oz DVDs and got two more. I have to watch them quickly because I want to get past the part where Beecher is Schillenger's prag, because, ow. This is why I'm watching season 1 and season 2 at the same time. I watch a painful episode from season 1, then move on to the boykissing in season 2. Though that's about to get painful too. And Blockbuster only has seasons 1-3.

A few fun things for everyone. First, Google "worst president ever."

Now, enjoy some weird music, courtesy of yours truly.

++Greenskeepers - Lotion - If you haven't heard this, you so must. "It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again."

++Dan Bern - Cure for AIDS - Sometimes this song makes me really happy, and sometimes it makes me really sad. "The day they found a cure for AIDS everybody took one little pill and was okay. I slept with Cindy and Martha and Sue. I slept with Julie, Melissa and Jake, the day they found a cure."

++Bowling for Soup - Ohio (Come Back to Texas) - It mentions Denton County! Okay, fine, it's kind of stupid, but I <3 this song. "So when you're done doing whatever, and when you're through doing whoever, you know Denton County will be right here waiting for you."

++Meat Loaf - I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) - This one's for picara, who really likes that Dr. Pepper commercial. Hee.

++Closer to Mario - A mashup of various Mario-related sounds and Closer by Nine Inch Nails. I know. It's funny!

++Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie - Every OS Sucks - Okay, he'll gripe you out about not getting it from mp3.com, but their songs aren't on mp3.com anymore, or on CD, so whatever. Enjoy it anyway. "Every OS wastes your time, from the desktop to the lap. Everything since Apple DOS, just a bunch of crap. From Microsoft to Macintosh to Lin-Line-Lin-Linux, every computer crashes, cause every OS sucks."

++I am currently listening to a mashup of two Nickelback songs called How You Remind Me of Someday. Somebody noticed these songs sound...quite a lot alike. So pretty much the mashup just plays both songs at the same time. And I can't stop laughing. The drums even pick up at the same time.

++uncut_diamond posted a description of what's *really* happening in Canada since gay marriage was legalized. A warning to my Yankee Friends. Just as you suspected, society has fallen apart.

++Somebody pointed out this story about Jesus and JC Chasez. (Not slash! Eww! Get your mind out of the gutter!) The Adventures of JC and JC. You know you want to read it. There's even pictures! What I find most amusing is that she took her JC and Jesus dolls to the supermarket and took pictures of them there.

++Ah, webcomics. Indietits is pictures of little birds saying amusing things. (Yes, THAT kind of tits. The NOT DIRTY kind OMG.) And sometimes the comments are even funnier than the original comic. For example, Things that aren't funny in webcomics, containing tons of extremely horrible comment jokes about dead babies, Helen Keller, women, blacks, and the Holocaust. Or, Meeting Madonna. Or Albert Einstein. What would happen if you played scrabble with Albert Einstein? He'd make up words and be a total punk about it, of course.

++I keep seeing I Harth Darth icons everywhere. And the funniest one, the one that never fails to make me laugh, is from this comic. With his little roboclaw-hand sticking out... *dies*

++Everyone (except picara) can be extremely amused that I just spent several days downloading two episodes of Highlander and one episode of Forever Knight because Callum Keith Rennie appears briefly in all of them. He's got an Irish accent in one of them! *loves*

++Girls' Bike Club IX: Negative, Ghost Rider, the Pattern Is Full. Mocking of both Tom Cruise and Stephen King. And, you know, I find it more amusing everyday that everyone in the whole entire world agrees that Tom Cruise has gone batshit crazy. Though it does make me sad that I now feel sorry for Katie Holmes, whose family really should have kidnapped her for deprogramming by now.

++This came from an I Harth Darth thread, I think. OMGWTF Humor!

( Read more... )
(Ooh, Erin, look at Fraser in my mood icon! Isn't he just a doorbell?)

Okay, here's the deal. This week sucks. Really really really sucks. I couldn't get to sleep Sunday night, so then I felt icky on Monday and had to miss work. I seem to be missing work about once a week for illness, which does *not* make me feel like I'm making a good impression at work. I'm also behind in my Reference class. Grr. Bite me, world.

My current annoyance is LJ. The Memories function *still* isn't working. It wasn't working last night, and it's not working now, and LJ is making my life worse. Shut up, LJ.

Also, I downloaded a video file and it won't play. It's all jerky for a few seconds, then the picture freezes while the audio goes on. HATE!

Two things that are good:

++The new Coldplay album, which I love OMG. And yes, I bought it because Jon Stewart recced it. Shut up. He also recced the new Foo Fighters, but I haven't bought that one yet. See, I'm showing restraint!
++GIP! Yesterday, Canada provided yet another reason why it rocks.

First, some background. Most libraries have a Collection Development Policy, which is a set of guidelines for deciding what goes into the library collection. Usually it will say what formats they don't collect, like Reader's Digest Condensed Books or textbooks.

I've had to read quite a few collection development policies recently, and most public library policies say they don't collect spiral-bound books. This is odd, because the only reason I could think of for omitting spiral-bound books is that they don't fit right on the shelves or tend to fall apart more quickly than hardback books. But we collect lots of other things that don't fit right on the shelves or fall apart quickly (giant art books, magazines).

Dr. Akin cleared this one up for us. The reason public libraries added this to collection development policies is because of this book. They wanted to avoid having to buy Madonna's book, and since it's spiral-bound they just decided to say that don't buy spiral-bound books. And so it remains, 13 years later. *shakes head*

I really really need to do laundry, but I don't have time till Wednesday. I have to do my Collection Development assignments tonight and go to class tomorrow night. Wednesday's my day off, though I've already got two appointments that day. And I need to find some time to get ahead so I can go to Shawnee next weekend.

I'm attempting to acquire several new shows this summer. Trouble is, I'm not used to having appointment television anymore, so I tend to forget to watch things until a couple hours too late, when I then shout "damn it!" at myself. Because it's the end of the world when one misses a television show. I'm trying to start watching House, which comes on while I'm in class Tuesday nights. That means I have to remember to record it, which has so far not happened. Heck, I don't even know if I LIKE House, because I have yet to remember to watch it. I've watched Lost once, because picara claims I need to get into it. Morgan Spurlock, the guy who made Supersize Me, has a new show called 30 Days, which I'm also trying to remember to watch. Wednesday night again. It just premiered last week, so I have watched every single episode of it. HA! July will be the Tour de France. I have no idea how I'm going to find time to do schoolwork, what with the three hours a day of Tour coverage I need to watch. Lance! Ivan Basso! Thomas Voeckler! Fabian Cancellara! Floyd Landis! Phil & Paul, who are somarriedomg!

I have much much love for Lotion by the Greenskeepers. I don't have an .mp3, since I bought it from iTunes, but maybe I'll get around to creating one here eventually so others can experience the wonder of a song based on The Silence of the Lambs.

It's Jenny's birthday! Happy birthday, Jenny! In honor of your birthday, I offer The Arrogant Worms singing The Happy Happy Birthday Song. Because it's funny, and not because I want to insult you on your birthday, as the lyrics might seem to indicate. ;)
( lyrics )